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Skylight Confessions: A Novel
Writing at the height of her powers, Alice Hoffman conjures three generations of a family haunted by love.
Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticutcountryside, to the avenues ofManhattan, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.
Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticutcountryside, to the avenues ofManhattan, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.
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First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Alice Hoffman
117 books25.1k followersAlice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The World That We Knew; The Marriage of Opposites; The Red Garden; The Museum of Extraordinary Things; The Dovekeepers; Here on Earth, an Oprah’s Book Club selection; and the Practical Magic series, including Practical
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,079 reviews
July 23, 2023
Written in typical Hoffman style this beautifully written little book tells the tale of a number of dysfunctional and unhappy people living their problematical lives and coping with various degrees of success. Sounds awful but it is actually fascinating.
The characters are all strange to one degree or another and bad things happen to some of them. On the other hand some of them make it successfully to the end of the book and there is hope for the future in a very open ended finale.
Of course, being Hoffman, the book includes magic realism. The best 'character' is a fantastic red haired ghost who manages to break china, causes soot to descend at random and encourages visitations from a variety of birds. Loved it.
If, like me, you have enjoyed other books by this author then you will probably like this one too. Oh and by the way, I totally agree with other reviewers who have wondered why it was given that peculiar and irrelevant title!
The characters are all strange to one degree or another and bad things happen to some of them. On the other hand some of them make it successfully to the end of the book and there is hope for the future in a very open ended finale.
Of course, being Hoffman, the book includes magic realism. The best 'character' is a fantastic red haired ghost who manages to break china, causes soot to descend at random and encourages visitations from a variety of birds. Loved it.
If, like me, you have enjoyed other books by this author then you will probably like this one too. Oh and by the way, I totally agree with other reviewers who have wondered why it was given that peculiar and irrelevant title!
February 10, 2020
My third Alice Hoffman book, and I absolutely loved it. It's hard to explain exactly why -- something about her writing seems to resonate very deeply with me.
This book was beautiful and incredibly sad. It instantly became a favourite of mine, and I'm not really sure how to review it. As is so often the case with favourites, it's a very personal and subjective thing, sometimes tricky to put into words. I had this feeling with the previous books I've read by her too; The Ice Queen and Practical Magic. I found them brilliant, but not in any way that I know how to articulate.
I suppose this isn't really a review, but to be honest, I can't think of one!
This book was beautiful and incredibly sad. It instantly became a favourite of mine, and I'm not really sure how to review it. As is so often the case with favourites, it's a very personal and subjective thing, sometimes tricky to put into words. I had this feeling with the previous books I've read by her too; The Ice Queen and Practical Magic. I found them brilliant, but not in any way that I know how to articulate.
I suppose this isn't really a review, but to be honest, I can't think of one!
July 14, 2013
Read “Practical Magical’ and was expecting something similar, a dark entertaining adult fairytale. It’s dark alright, bleak to be honest - more like Magical-Melodrama. We’re talking death, haunting, adultery, drug addition. Played out in a story spanning three generations and spiced with Hoffman’s trademark touch of magic.
It begins with Arlyn, a waif like orphan who believes fate dictates that the 1st guy she meets after her father dies will be the man of her dreams. Enter John Moody (yes, Moody. A little subtlety please?) who drives up to her house just to ask for directions, big mistake... Like a siren she 1st seduces him then persues him relentlessly into marriage and fatherhood, roles he’s neither prepared nor suited for. All this is sweetly cloaked by her mystical belief in destiny. The silliness of this premise annoyed me so much I was ready to throw in the towel - then it changed.
Told in 3 sections thankfully the telling through Arylyn’s eyes was limited just to the first part. Rest of the novel is way better. The unconditional love her daughter Blanca shows for her brother Sam as he struggles with heroin addiction is beautiful - compassionate & non-judgmental. She lightens up on the demonizing of John Moody. Good ending as well, liked that it was left open to imagination.
Hoffman is a gifted storyteller with a distinct and lyrical style. In this one she does a good job tackling deeper subjects than her norm. Recommended with a reservation, give it a pass if you’re feeling the least bit depressed - be in a happy place before tackling this one:) 3 ½ stars rounded to 4
“People are haunted because they want to be”
“Who was her brother, this strange creature who could perch on glass and was never afraid of the things that terrified most people? Sam was scary, but he was worth it.”
If you feel like something a tad lighter try “Practical Magic” instead. my review: “http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...”
It begins with Arlyn, a waif like orphan who believes fate dictates that the 1st guy she meets after her father dies will be the man of her dreams. Enter John Moody (yes, Moody. A little subtlety please?) who drives up to her house just to ask for directions, big mistake... Like a siren she 1st seduces him then persues him relentlessly into marriage and fatherhood, roles he’s neither prepared nor suited for. All this is sweetly cloaked by her mystical belief in destiny. The silliness of this premise annoyed me so much I was ready to throw in the towel - then it changed.
Told in 3 sections thankfully the telling through Arylyn’s eyes was limited just to the first part. Rest of the novel is way better. The unconditional love her daughter Blanca shows for her brother Sam as he struggles with heroin addiction is beautiful - compassionate & non-judgmental. She lightens up on the demonizing of John Moody. Good ending as well, liked that it was left open to imagination.
Hoffman is a gifted storyteller with a distinct and lyrical style. In this one she does a good job tackling deeper subjects than her norm. Recommended with a reservation, give it a pass if you’re feeling the least bit depressed - be in a happy place before tackling this one:) 3 ½ stars rounded to 4
“People are haunted because they want to be”
“Who was her brother, this strange creature who could perch on glass and was never afraid of the things that terrified most people? Sam was scary, but he was worth it.”
If you feel like something a tad lighter try “Practical Magic” instead. my review: “http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...”
October 9, 2018
(Please note: my rating is actually three and a half stars)
Anyone who mistakenly thinks reading an Alice Hoffman novel will be a light and enjoyable bit of fluff, has obviously never read one. Even at her most buoyant and optimistic, Ms. Hoffman writes books that will haunt you forever. And "Skylight Confessions" (a truly awful title for a book that deserved better) is not a buoyant and optimistic book by any stretch of the imagination. It is a sad book full of damaged people living lives full of secrets and regrets. It is, at its core, a book about loss. A book, in fact, about death. Hoffman is clear about this; the novel starts with a funeral and ends with one. We lose several characters along the way. But, like so much of Hoffman's "Yankee fantabulism," it is also a book filled with the magic of the inexplicable. Make no mistake, none of this magical fairy dust is going to save any of our characters, but without the quality of the unknown, the twists of fate that define a life, the strange turn of events that can rewrite a history, there is no Alice Hoffman novel to be had. You might as well read the newspaper.
"Magic" is not the stuff of Harry Potter in a Hoffman novel, it can merely be the "spell" someone feels he is under when he behaves in an uncharacteristic way, or how a character may feel bewitched by a moment in time. Why did my car take a wrong turn and end up in this place that led to a marriage? Why was I looking out the window just in time to see an event that would change my life forever? The inexplicable "what if's?" haunt our characters and also Hoffman's readers, because how much of what qualifies as "magic" in the lives of these characters also qualifies as magic in our own lives? How much of it is fate, and how much of it is simple free will? Hoffman likes to play with the concept of destiny. She likes us to consider if our actions are guided by destiny or are simply our own, if events can have a synchronous manipulation or if they are merely coincidences or things we will into being through our own creation.
Like most of her novels, this one has a ghost. You need not believe in ghosts to accept the presence of this one, because it could all have a perfectly terrestrial explanation, couldn't it? Several of our characters are the victims of lore, tied to the one story their deceased mother told of a race of people who could sprout wings and fly at the moment of imminent disaster. What's more, our characters also happen to live in a glass house. No, not a metaphorical glass house. A real one. And it all seems perfectly natural, since it was designed by the father of one character, a famous architect known for his fusion of glass and metal. Here, the world of dark fairy tales meets the real world. Some children make it out of the woods and some do not. Some princesses make it out of the glass house and others remain captive there. But the evil stepmother is sometimes kind, the prince is rarely charming, and the character who finally sprouts wings cannot really fly. Life is an inconsistent jumble of people who have good and bad in each of them, who are the pawns of fate but cannot be saved by it, who live and die not having achieved their happily ever after. You know, like life.
Anyone who mistakenly thinks reading an Alice Hoffman novel will be a light and enjoyable bit of fluff, has obviously never read one. Even at her most buoyant and optimistic, Ms. Hoffman writes books that will haunt you forever. And "Skylight Confessions" (a truly awful title for a book that deserved better) is not a buoyant and optimistic book by any stretch of the imagination. It is a sad book full of damaged people living lives full of secrets and regrets. It is, at its core, a book about loss. A book, in fact, about death. Hoffman is clear about this; the novel starts with a funeral and ends with one. We lose several characters along the way. But, like so much of Hoffman's "Yankee fantabulism," it is also a book filled with the magic of the inexplicable. Make no mistake, none of this magical fairy dust is going to save any of our characters, but without the quality of the unknown, the twists of fate that define a life, the strange turn of events that can rewrite a history, there is no Alice Hoffman novel to be had. You might as well read the newspaper.
"Magic" is not the stuff of Harry Potter in a Hoffman novel, it can merely be the "spell" someone feels he is under when he behaves in an uncharacteristic way, or how a character may feel bewitched by a moment in time. Why did my car take a wrong turn and end up in this place that led to a marriage? Why was I looking out the window just in time to see an event that would change my life forever? The inexplicable "what if's?" haunt our characters and also Hoffman's readers, because how much of what qualifies as "magic" in the lives of these characters also qualifies as magic in our own lives? How much of it is fate, and how much of it is simple free will? Hoffman likes to play with the concept of destiny. She likes us to consider if our actions are guided by destiny or are simply our own, if events can have a synchronous manipulation or if they are merely coincidences or things we will into being through our own creation.
Like most of her novels, this one has a ghost. You need not believe in ghosts to accept the presence of this one, because it could all have a perfectly terrestrial explanation, couldn't it? Several of our characters are the victims of lore, tied to the one story their deceased mother told of a race of people who could sprout wings and fly at the moment of imminent disaster. What's more, our characters also happen to live in a glass house. No, not a metaphorical glass house. A real one. And it all seems perfectly natural, since it was designed by the father of one character, a famous architect known for his fusion of glass and metal. Here, the world of dark fairy tales meets the real world. Some children make it out of the woods and some do not. Some princesses make it out of the glass house and others remain captive there. But the evil stepmother is sometimes kind, the prince is rarely charming, and the character who finally sprouts wings cannot really fly. Life is an inconsistent jumble of people who have good and bad in each of them, who are the pawns of fate but cannot be saved by it, who live and die not having achieved their happily ever after. You know, like life.
July 18, 2023
Sad and beautifully written.
February 20, 2023
The last book I read by Ms. Hoffman was the first book out of 12 previous books that I've read by her that I didn't like.
Ms. Hoffman's, "Skylight Confessions," was so good that I read it in one day. The writing is superb, the characters are unforgettable, and the story is powerful and haunting. It deals with three generations of a family whose dysfunctional attitude toward love breaks it apart.
The Supernatural part of the book blends right into the story, and in many ways decides the future of the family. Ms. Hoffman is an expert at using supernatural stories and events to expand the meanings behind her stories...that highlight the psychological and sociological effects that leads to a maladjusted and deteriorating family unit.
I might not have liked the previous book by this gifted author by I simply loved this novel. She is an amazing talent.
Ms. Hoffman's, "Skylight Confessions," was so good that I read it in one day. The writing is superb, the characters are unforgettable, and the story is powerful and haunting. It deals with three generations of a family whose dysfunctional attitude toward love breaks it apart.
The Supernatural part of the book blends right into the story, and in many ways decides the future of the family. Ms. Hoffman is an expert at using supernatural stories and events to expand the meanings behind her stories...that highlight the psychological and sociological effects that leads to a maladjusted and deteriorating family unit.
I might not have liked the previous book by this gifted author by I simply loved this novel. She is an amazing talent.
March 12, 2010
I could not engage with this book. I found it trite and superficial. I hung in through the end, though, hoping it would redeem itself. It is the first book I have read by Alice Hoffman, and I don't feel inspired to pick up another, though I know I should probably consider it, as Hoffman comes up a lot on people's favorite author lists.
From the beginning, I couldn't connect with Arlyn. Following the death of her father, she's devastated and on her own, and decides arbitrarily that she is going to fall in love with the first man who walks through the door. (Do women really do that?!) She seduces a man who appears on her doorstep hours later, he is "lost" -- they have a superficial affair, and yet she marries him and has two children with him -- no surprise that the marriage is a mess and a failure. Her son Sam has the potential to be interesting because he's an odd child who doesn't fit in -- but he just becomes a depressed, boring self-absorbed drug-addicted young man I don't care about. Arlyn dies of cancer following the birth of her daughter, and several years down the line in enters another lost character -- a young woman who is bright but disengaged with life because she hasn't fully dealt with a childhood tragedy -- who decides to become the nanny of Sam and his sister because she is intrigued by her visions of Arlyn's ghost haunting her husband.
It's not that Hoffman's prose was lacking or I can't deal with serious, sober story lines or characters. But Skylight Confessions really fell flat. The magical elements seemed contrived, unable to revive the story.
Fans of Alice Hoffman: recommend a book you think I'd have a better chance of liking, and I'll give her one more try.
From the beginning, I couldn't connect with Arlyn. Following the death of her father, she's devastated and on her own, and decides arbitrarily that she is going to fall in love with the first man who walks through the door. (Do women really do that?!) She seduces a man who appears on her doorstep hours later, he is "lost" -- they have a superficial affair, and yet she marries him and has two children with him -- no surprise that the marriage is a mess and a failure. Her son Sam has the potential to be interesting because he's an odd child who doesn't fit in -- but he just becomes a depressed, boring self-absorbed drug-addicted young man I don't care about. Arlyn dies of cancer following the birth of her daughter, and several years down the line in enters another lost character -- a young woman who is bright but disengaged with life because she hasn't fully dealt with a childhood tragedy -- who decides to become the nanny of Sam and his sister because she is intrigued by her visions of Arlyn's ghost haunting her husband.
It's not that Hoffman's prose was lacking or I can't deal with serious, sober story lines or characters. But Skylight Confessions really fell flat. The magical elements seemed contrived, unable to revive the story.
Fans of Alice Hoffman: recommend a book you think I'd have a better chance of liking, and I'll give her one more try.
March 10, 2015
all I can say is I am on an Alice Hoffman readathon!! This book was depressing and slow but brilliant and sad.
December 17, 2010
Every time I pick up an unread Hoffman novel I am amazed by her skill with the written word. The way she can form a sentence, twist it into something ethereal and beautiful, it always leaves me breathless. I always feel cleansed and well-read after a Hoffman novel, as though the books I finished leading up to her works were trivial and here is something of worth to spend my time on.
Following four generations of the Moody family who live in the Glass Slipper in suburban Connecticut, Skylight Confessions begins with Arlyn Singer and John Moody as they meet under strange circumstances and form a bond that will affect their children and their grandchildren to come. Under the glass roof and clear walls of their house, secrets are kept and hidden. Mysterious occurrences are swept under the rug, and lives are forever changed by the decisions of others. Following the Moody children into their separate lives as they’re drawn back to the Glass Slipper, Hoffman tells a truly character driven story, so intent are we upon Arlyn and John, and the residents of the glass house that we easily forget there’s a world beyond them.
Skylight Confessions contains the usual hint of magic that Hoffman is known for, but the writing is a little less sad than the previous works I’ve read by her. Or maybe I’m just accustomed to her tone now. The story of the Moody children is beautiful and touching, and in such a short book it’s amazing that we come to know them as well as we do.
Another remarkable Hoffman with all my favorite trademarks, empathetic with a hint of magical realism. All in all, a fabulous book and another great addition to my library. Highly recommended to those who have not read an Alice Hoffman novel yet.
Following four generations of the Moody family who live in the Glass Slipper in suburban Connecticut, Skylight Confessions begins with Arlyn Singer and John Moody as they meet under strange circumstances and form a bond that will affect their children and their grandchildren to come. Under the glass roof and clear walls of their house, secrets are kept and hidden. Mysterious occurrences are swept under the rug, and lives are forever changed by the decisions of others. Following the Moody children into their separate lives as they’re drawn back to the Glass Slipper, Hoffman tells a truly character driven story, so intent are we upon Arlyn and John, and the residents of the glass house that we easily forget there’s a world beyond them.
Skylight Confessions contains the usual hint of magic that Hoffman is known for, but the writing is a little less sad than the previous works I’ve read by her. Or maybe I’m just accustomed to her tone now. The story of the Moody children is beautiful and touching, and in such a short book it’s amazing that we come to know them as well as we do.
Another remarkable Hoffman with all my favorite trademarks, empathetic with a hint of magical realism. All in all, a fabulous book and another great addition to my library. Highly recommended to those who have not read an Alice Hoffman novel yet.
July 20, 2013
Why I am reading Alice Hoffman right now after experiencing tragic losses of two dear friends last year under the age of 40, I don't know. Do we find the book we are meant to read at the certain time? Are there signs given to us from our subconcious or could it be God leading us to a lesson that will help us heal when we read inside the pages of a book? I think these things at the end of a novel like this. I think and ponder why, just like all of Alice Hoffman's characters did in "Skylight Confessions." I feel sucked into the beauty of her prose, her words, her dark voyager side of life that lifts up the rocks and looks beneath them to find what's hidden underneath. Alice Hoffman writes like that. She conjures up the intense magical side of this world that many are too afraid to examine. They would rather look away. I can be like this, too. Nothing wrong with wanting pink champagne and bubbles, frills and without heartache. However, AH, her storytelling abilities delicately weave in a thin veil of hope at the very end of each novel. If you can recognize it as a reader, you are left with a sense of reprieve, like the sunlight will come and the characters will feel the light shining in their souls again. I like that she does not tie up the story nice and neatly because ...After pain, after loss, after the tears, and the missing ache of losing those you love, there will come a moment of silence when peace will find you in your sorrow, and the a new day will begin again, just like in an Alice HOffman novel.
***2013 just getting ready to read story sisters.
***2013 just getting ready to read story sisters.
February 14, 2010
The story begins with an introduction to the character Arlyn Singer, who at age seventeen has just lost her father. And as she stands on the porch after the funeral, gazing outward, she vows that the next person walking by will be "the one."
Then a stranger stops by, asking for directions, and they are drawn together. Even when circumstances appear to step in and interrupt what has begun, Arlyn persists. She follows John Moody, the architecture student, to his university and waits. Then she goes to his family home, The Glass Slipper, meets his parents, and makes their destiny happen.
Years later, they are living in The Glass Slipper with their unusual son Sam. And they are miserable. But they persist (or at least Arlyn does) in the belief that they are living out their destiny.
Each individual's destiny unfolds, including that of Sam, the brilliant explosive artist. Then comes little sister Blanca, the bookish "good" girl. Her destiny is to keep Sam out of trouble.
When a tragic twist of fate takes them all off the course they had envisioned for themselves, their lives seem to spin off, flying into some other self-destructive pathway.
Watching the devastation as it shimmers and spins, like a legacy of broken pieces or a mysterious puzzle—it is like watching some kind of train wreck.
Much later, we see evidence of ghostlike visitors who leave behind broken glass, soot, and feathers.
Hoffman weaves this family tale in and out through the generations, until finally we reach a kind of resolution.
I was completely swept away by the plight of the characters—almost obsessed. And through it all, the imagery (glass house, broken glass, birds flapping) formed a haunting backdrop for lives gone awry.
If I could, I would give "Skylight Confessions" a 6 or 7 star review.
Then a stranger stops by, asking for directions, and they are drawn together. Even when circumstances appear to step in and interrupt what has begun, Arlyn persists. She follows John Moody, the architecture student, to his university and waits. Then she goes to his family home, The Glass Slipper, meets his parents, and makes their destiny happen.
Years later, they are living in The Glass Slipper with their unusual son Sam. And they are miserable. But they persist (or at least Arlyn does) in the belief that they are living out their destiny.
Each individual's destiny unfolds, including that of Sam, the brilliant explosive artist. Then comes little sister Blanca, the bookish "good" girl. Her destiny is to keep Sam out of trouble.
When a tragic twist of fate takes them all off the course they had envisioned for themselves, their lives seem to spin off, flying into some other self-destructive pathway.
Watching the devastation as it shimmers and spins, like a legacy of broken pieces or a mysterious puzzle—it is like watching some kind of train wreck.
Much later, we see evidence of ghostlike visitors who leave behind broken glass, soot, and feathers.
Hoffman weaves this family tale in and out through the generations, until finally we reach a kind of resolution.
I was completely swept away by the plight of the characters—almost obsessed. And through it all, the imagery (glass house, broken glass, birds flapping) formed a haunting backdrop for lives gone awry.
If I could, I would give "Skylight Confessions" a 6 or 7 star review.
May 19, 2017
As an avid fan of Alice Hoffman and her "magic realism" I order her books hardcover I am so sure of their enjoyment. I know the prose will be a lyrical, colorful, elegant and memorizing while tackling dark issues. I know I will be utterly consumed and unable to read just a bit here and there. I know I will come away pondering and appreciating the read for all it's beauty and ugliness. "Skylight Confessions" did NOT let me down. Based on the premise of do we destine our fate or is it predestined for us, this story starts with Arlyn and John Moody and a marriage that both forced into being. From this union a prodigy of unhappiness, discontentment and violence explodes. Indeed dark subject matter, it is beautifully projected in what may be or not be. Are their specters? If so then is there presence to revenge or guide? Is there true evil? Are the sins of the father visited upon the sons or are the sons excused by the sin? Is destiny fated or do our decisions determine our future? Are we responsible for our actions or are we forced to play them out to their appointed destiny? I read this book in an evening and into the wee hours as I could not put it down. Hoffman's lyrical prose tenderizes the rough grist of a story told with raw realism as well as magical. Her conjectures open the mind of the reader to introspection without imposing her own dogma. A magnificent read that exercises mentally as well as entertains with liquid prose.
May 6, 2014
Another heartbreakingly beautiful story from Alice Hoffman.
February 5, 2011
i liked this one but did not love it. i do consider myself a fan of alice hoffman, but this one just wasn't on the top of my list.
i liked the first portion of the book, but then it just fell flat. i couldn't really relate to any of the characters. i loved sam's character initially but the teenage sam, i really didn't care for. he was just self absorbed & uninteresting, in my opinion.
now that i think about it, i really didn't like ANY of the characters. cynthia was a bitch but hoffman tried to portray as caring as well. john moody was the distant father who still cared for his children but never showed it. meredith was a directionless grad student who happened upon the glass slipper (their house) and became part of the family as a nanny.
i think the characters just felt forced. this was supposed to be a story of tragic loss and grief and how several generations of a family had to deal with that & it had potential but it just never really fleshed out.
i think the other thing about this book that makes me just "like" it is the fact that i never got totally absorbed in this book while i was reading it. i read it but i never really *fell into* the story the way you do with a good book.
all in all, an okay read - not my favorite. glad i got this one at the library. not the best alice hoffman, start with some of her older books!
i liked the first portion of the book, but then it just fell flat. i couldn't really relate to any of the characters. i loved sam's character initially but the teenage sam, i really didn't care for. he was just self absorbed & uninteresting, in my opinion.
now that i think about it, i really didn't like ANY of the characters. cynthia was a bitch but hoffman tried to portray as caring as well. john moody was the distant father who still cared for his children but never showed it. meredith was a directionless grad student who happened upon the glass slipper (their house) and became part of the family as a nanny.
i think the characters just felt forced. this was supposed to be a story of tragic loss and grief and how several generations of a family had to deal with that & it had potential but it just never really fleshed out.
i think the other thing about this book that makes me just "like" it is the fact that i never got totally absorbed in this book while i was reading it. i read it but i never really *fell into* the story the way you do with a good book.
all in all, an okay read - not my favorite. glad i got this one at the library. not the best alice hoffman, start with some of her older books!
June 25, 2009
Hoffman again creates moving, real characters engaged in the messy business of life. The book revolves around the Moody family and of course, the name fits. This is an unhealthy, struggling family – secrets, affairs and drugs abound, but also truth.
What happens when fathers ignore their children? Is this a choice or is it a left over wound? Born of your own longing for a life not lived…And better yet, where is grace found? Can the unforgivable find forgiveness? As always, yes, grace can find you in the strangest of places.
Be fairly warned though, I would not read this book if you are looking for something “happy, feel-good.” However, the characters and the rawness of their experience stay with you in a good way. In my own life, it has taken me years to discover – in every experience - I can only see in-part. It takes many different voices to see all and even then it may take years.
For peace is only found when you choose to be peaceful. It’s an annoying truth that you and only you, can transform your life from one of pain to peace. It sounds almost too easy, possibly condescending, but blaming your past for where you are today only binds you to a broken place that could be, if you choose, to be left behind.
What happens when fathers ignore their children? Is this a choice or is it a left over wound? Born of your own longing for a life not lived…And better yet, where is grace found? Can the unforgivable find forgiveness? As always, yes, grace can find you in the strangest of places.
Be fairly warned though, I would not read this book if you are looking for something “happy, feel-good.” However, the characters and the rawness of their experience stay with you in a good way. In my own life, it has taken me years to discover – in every experience - I can only see in-part. It takes many different voices to see all and even then it may take years.
For peace is only found when you choose to be peaceful. It’s an annoying truth that you and only you, can transform your life from one of pain to peace. It sounds almost too easy, possibly condescending, but blaming your past for where you are today only binds you to a broken place that could be, if you choose, to be left behind.
February 27, 2019
I love Hoffman's books, I always enjoy the slightly mystical & ethereal tones to the story which is matched beautifully by her poetic, lyrical prose. This one is a haunting tale in more ways than one, as well as being one which I'm sure will stick in my mind, it's also the tale of a ghost as John is being haunted by his first wife Arlyn.
Those who've read some of my other reviews will be aware that I'm not always good with ambiguous endings! In Hoffman's case I usually both expect & accept an inconclusive ending as it fits in with the whole ambience of the writing. However this time I was slightly disappointed with a feeling of being misled by the cover blurb "...it falls to their grandson Will, to walk a path of ruin & redemption in order to solve the emotional puzzle of his family." Maybe I missed something re Will but it seemed to me that things were resolved, to a lesser degree anyway, by Blanca. A wonderful read nevertheless but not one of my favourites.
Those who've read some of my other reviews will be aware that I'm not always good with ambiguous endings! In Hoffman's case I usually both expect & accept an inconclusive ending as it fits in with the whole ambience of the writing. However this time I was slightly disappointed with a feeling of being misled by the cover blurb "...it falls to their grandson Will, to walk a path of ruin & redemption in order to solve the emotional puzzle of his family." Maybe I missed something re Will but it seemed to me that things were resolved, to a lesser degree anyway, by Blanca. A wonderful read nevertheless but not one of my favourites.
September 3, 2011
Either this is not one of Alice Hoffman's bests or I have just tired of Hoffman's flowery style and silly plots. The story of a woman who impulsively marries the wrong man, they have a child, she gets pregnant with another man, she dies, the husband has an affair with the neighbor while his wife is dying, needless to say, the two children are totally messed up. The problem is not only is the plot riduclous but I didn't like any of the characters, so their tragedies and tramas didn't evoke much sympathy. I only finished the book because I was desperate - away from home, visiting friends whose bookshelves were full of books I had read. This was the only one I could find that I hadn't read. I should have reread one of the others. Don't waste your time on this one.
March 26, 2022
Wow.
I don’t think I realized how truly beautiful this writer’s words are. Lyrical.
There is love, loss, drugs, and torn bits of magic in this book. It’s a book about truth. Rebirth. Change. Hope.
Another book that speaks to me as I try to figure out who I am now that both my parents are dead.
Btw, I saw reviews complaining about the title before I read the book. I disagree. I think the title “Skylight Confessions” is perfect. Think about the house. The bedrooms. All the glass.
I don’t think I realized how truly beautiful this writer’s words are. Lyrical.
There is love, loss, drugs, and torn bits of magic in this book. It’s a book about truth. Rebirth. Change. Hope.
Another book that speaks to me as I try to figure out who I am now that both my parents are dead.
Btw, I saw reviews complaining about the title before I read the book. I disagree. I think the title “Skylight Confessions” is perfect. Think about the house. The bedrooms. All the glass.
August 19, 2023
3.5 stars
Another tearjerker family drama. Great writing and story telling. Emotional ending but I wanted more.
Another tearjerker family drama. Great writing and story telling. Emotional ending but I wanted more.
May 29, 2021
I enjoy reading stories where the characters are all highly unlikable, if those characters are also very interesting. I could not find either main character in this book interesting, and so could not finish it.
Paperback version, donated to my local public library.
Paperback version, donated to my local public library.
February 20, 2024
Alice Hoffman is a word-witch.
January 3, 2009
This novel starts as an interesting story of a troubled Connecticut family. In a boring moment, it becomes a ghost story. The characters play only one note each, but there are enough of them to keep the story moving at first. When the ghost is doing something uninteresting single-mindedly, you recall that everyone here is single minded. The house of cards falls down, and the book goes on the "I give up" list.
Is it just me, or is the physicist apparently unemployed _because_ all of his research is on ghosts getting stuck in time. Who would hire such a goofball?
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Novelists who refer to the large glass house inhabited by the family on almost every page maybe shouldn't throw stone metaphors in every chapter. Maybe it would get heavy-handed.
Is it just me, or is the physicist apparently unemployed _because_ all of his research is on ghosts getting stuck in time. Who would hire such a goofball?
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Novelists who refer to the large glass house inhabited by the family on almost every page maybe shouldn't throw stone metaphors in every chapter. Maybe it would get heavy-handed.
February 6, 2017
The title comes from the spectacular glass house which is almost like a separate character with a pull on its occupants. I think of this novel as a fairy-tale for adults. It even has the evil stepmother in its cast of characters! It's about family relationships through three generations. There is plenty of grief and many heartbreaking scenes. The characters are well-developed as we read about life's complications as family members try to connect.
It held my interest throughout even though it was a downer at times. Reading about a teenage boy's addiction to drugs made me so sad. Alice Hoffman has a way of magically pulling you in and making you become intrigued with her characters even when you don't particularly like them. It's evident that Ms. Hoffman is a distinguished writer and I plan to read more of her work.
It held my interest throughout even though it was a downer at times. Reading about a teenage boy's addiction to drugs made me so sad. Alice Hoffman has a way of magically pulling you in and making you become intrigued with her characters even when you don't particularly like them. It's evident that Ms. Hoffman is a distinguished writer and I plan to read more of her work.
November 6, 2019
This book is powerful. I can’t imagine anyone not loving this book much less not even liking it. It’s like when you’re watching a movie and you think I won’t cry and you begin to cry as if you have no will of your own. Alice Hoffman is able to immerse you into the characters in a way that you feel how they must feel. She addresses hard subjects with a bit of supernatural intertwined in the story. Life is never easy and bad things do happen to good people. And this book makes you feel Aryls grief and her son Sam’s after losing his mother. I believe people do have signs left for them when someone dies that they love more than anything. It helps the one left behind who is missing them so much. I have had little signs left from my Mom since she passed. I am only half way through this book but wanted to write how I felt about it anyway. I love Alice Hoffman’s books.
April 13, 2018
This was an absolutely amazing read, hypnotizing and magnetic. The characters left me aching with the way they resonated inside of me. Sam. I won't and can't ever forget Sam. My heart. Arlyn. Blanca. John. I've never had characters impact me like they have. I've never been able to discern the change in voice when a book changed perspectives until now. Each character was so real. So complex. I can't. I simply can't.
February 21, 2020
) As you know Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors, so when I find one of her books I haven't read--I'm on it.
Alice gives the reader a look into people's lives,even though they don't seem like your typical couple. Arlyn met John on the day of her father's funeral. There was an instant attraction, yet they are polar opposites. They go through their lives pushing and pulling against each others desires. John and Arlyn children are in the middle of thisss tumult. It's left to their broken children to try and live with results.
Alice gives the reader a look into people's lives,even though they don't seem like your typical couple. Arlyn met John on the day of her father's funeral. There was an instant attraction, yet they are polar opposites. They go through their lives pushing and pulling against each others desires. John and Arlyn children are in the middle of thisss tumult. It's left to their broken children to try and live with results.
April 6, 2025
I am still thinking about these characters, long after I have finished this book.
October 25, 2018
Hardback copy loaned to me by a friend. Must be careful not to spill coffee and crumbs on it! :-~
This was a pretty good book, but very dark and rather depressing.
This was a pretty good book, but very dark and rather depressing.
July 31, 2023
I love Alice Hoffman’s writing. This wasn’t my favorite of her novels but it was still pure Alice.
May 3, 2018
I used to say that Alice Hoffman was one of my favorite authors. "Used to" as in have always, ever since I first fell in love with the book "Practical Magic," which is SO much better than the movie, which is really damn good it its own right, but for the record, only covers about 1/3 of the content of the book.
Initially in my late teens I read her books with a voracious appetite, and regularly recommend her to others. There are elements of magical realism present, be it ghosts, or people with powers, or just mysterious elements that go unexplained. She writes well, tells stories of whole and flawed characters, love gained, love lost, and pain. Sometimes triumph over said pain, but sometimes only time to heal the wounds, if at all. This book is no different, but somehow it fell flat for me.
Arlyn has just suffered the loss of her father, her whole world, and a wayward traveler finds his way at her door. She, by way of decision or destiny, falls in love with this stranger and thus her life is set, as is the stranger. They are reserved and resolute to their circumstance of being with each other, for better or worse, aaaaand it mostly seems to be worse. Rather than find this story of generations and a fragmented family engaging, I spent most of the time just annoyed that people were clearly unhappy, but reluctant to put a name to it and try anything different.
I feel like Alice is still the same, though saying "still" seems funny as this book was written in 2008; somehow I missed it in my initial dive into her work. But, alas, I just think that maybe the stories aren't what I have a hankering for any longer. I still will recommend her and like her as an author, but I believe I have moved on to other literary tastes.
Initially in my late teens I read her books with a voracious appetite, and regularly recommend her to others. There are elements of magical realism present, be it ghosts, or people with powers, or just mysterious elements that go unexplained. She writes well, tells stories of whole and flawed characters, love gained, love lost, and pain. Sometimes triumph over said pain, but sometimes only time to heal the wounds, if at all. This book is no different, but somehow it fell flat for me.
Arlyn has just suffered the loss of her father, her whole world, and a wayward traveler finds his way at her door. She, by way of decision or destiny, falls in love with this stranger and thus her life is set, as is the stranger. They are reserved and resolute to their circumstance of being with each other, for better or worse, aaaaand it mostly seems to be worse. Rather than find this story of generations and a fragmented family engaging, I spent most of the time just annoyed that people were clearly unhappy, but reluctant to put a name to it and try anything different.
I feel like Alice is still the same, though saying "still" seems funny as this book was written in 2008; somehow I missed it in my initial dive into her work. But, alas, I just think that maybe the stories aren't what I have a hankering for any longer. I still will recommend her and like her as an author, but I believe I have moved on to other literary tastes.
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