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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Beautify written with lyrical prose that almost seems magical.
I just loved this book so much. It’s my favorite Alice Hoffman. It’s just a lovely story. Super atmospheric with magical realism and an intriguing plot.
This book drew me in. The writting enveloped me but I thought the story lost something at the end. I'm not sure what but it seems it ended to quickly or undramatically considering how it got there.
In "The Probable Future" Hoffman is again in her familiar territory - little town with picturesque, lovable characters, family of strong women (descending from a long line of Sparrow women with their supernatural powers), lovers, dogs, cooking recipes, a magic that appears so natural that nobody even pays attention, a bit of thriller thrown somewhere in there, but nothing really scary or disturbing, Hoffman is intentionally more concerned about humanity and interactions between people. Almost everybody is at first paired with a wrong person, until the right combination takes place naturally. Probably the most intriguing is the carefully camouflaged statement that every woman in the family, from Rebecca Sparrow onwards, had a hard time with town's male authority who openly opposed any female independence - the easiest way to punish them was to outcast these women as witches, because women who can't be controlled were perceived as dangerous. That the latest of Sparrow women brings piece and harmony to town comes as long awaited and deserved truce.
Alice Hoffman used to be one of my favorite writers. This book has all the trappings of a Hoffman novel, strong eccentric women, possible magic, unpredictable weather, liars and con men, flowers, food, frogs, bees, superstition, and above all love. A sentence like the following can only be found in a Hoffman novel: "The air was soft and damp, fishy in the way March air can be, clinging to clothes and urging the buds of the magnolias to open."
Nobody describes first love the way Hoffman does: "Had he always been so dumb in Jenny's presence, startled into stupidity?" or "Kissing until the stone beneath them got so hot that mosquitoes lighting on the granite burst into flames in an instant." (I have experienced this many times myself.)
Still, this book was only average for me. I'm not sure if Hoffman has changed, or if I have, but I suspect at least some of the latter. Take the first quote above about the air. I think when I was younger it would have been somehow magical to read. Now it just seems affected. Or maybe the problem was with the book. Not much really happens, there is little suspense, and the characters aren't particularly interesting. Still, the scene where Matt meets Jenny in the town square was almost worth reading the entire book. I may no longer find magic in fishy air, but I think I'll always find magic in the love of a man for a woman.
Nobody describes first love the way Hoffman does: "Had he always been so dumb in Jenny's presence, startled into stupidity?" or "Kissing until the stone beneath them got so hot that mosquitoes lighting on the granite burst into flames in an instant." (I have experienced this many times myself.)
Still, this book was only average for me. I'm not sure if Hoffman has changed, or if I have, but I suspect at least some of the latter. Take the first quote above about the air. I think when I was younger it would have been somehow magical to read. Now it just seems affected. Or maybe the problem was with the book. Not much really happens, there is little suspense, and the characters aren't particularly interesting. Still, the scene where Matt meets Jenny in the town square was almost worth reading the entire book. I may no longer find magic in fishy air, but I think I'll always find magic in the love of a man for a woman.
Good, though not as good as "Practical Magic." This book has a lot of the same themes as "Practical Magic": how ignoring the past instead of learning from it can hurt you, the unpredictability of love, the symbolic meaning behind roses and other flowers, women who aren't entirely comfortable with their "special powers," etc.
"Every time a new house was built, a bucket of peach stones would be found, and even children on their way to school knew that finding one meant luck, no matter the outcome: love forgotten, love gone wrong, love despite all odds, love ever after, love after all this time."
I really, really like the way Alice Hoffman writes. It's almost magical. Her descriptions made me smile. I loved the setting of the book, in a fictional, small Massachusetts town called Unity. The book itself was not the most exciting piece of writing that I have ever read, but it was enjoyable, nonetheless.
I really, really like the way Alice Hoffman writes. It's almost magical. Her descriptions made me smile. I loved the setting of the book, in a fictional, small Massachusetts town called Unity. The book itself was not the most exciting piece of writing that I have ever read, but it was enjoyable, nonetheless.
Probable Future felt a lot like a Sarah Addison Allen book, a dreamy sort of magical realism with heavy dollops of heteronormative straight white romance. A quick read, pleasant but without much substance.
Terrific story, believable and magical all at the same time. I would love to read a sequel! Hoffman is always a good bet for the type of story that is real-world reality based with that touch of fantasy/magic that makes for great escapist reading.
Alice Hoffman is quickly becoming one of my favorite Authors. The Probable Future is an absolutely beautiful story, and I believe only the second book I have ever read that has brought me to tears.