Blue Diary

by Alice Hoffman

The revelation of a long-hidden dark secret about Ethan Ford's true identity and his past threatens to turn a small Massachusetts town upside down as the devastating truth shatters Monroe's small-town peace and tests the bonds between family and friends. By the author of The River King. 100,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Mystery, Book Club, Adult Fiction, Adult

303 pages, Hardcover

Published July 23, 2001

About the author

Alice 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.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can we forgive the unforgivable? Can you? The 'perfect man' with the perfect family confesses to an heinous unforgivable crime in the past. This is the tale of how this impacts on his family, neighbours and friends in a tight knit community. Maturely and dare I say beautifully written, Hoffman manages to tell this important story somehow without using hyper real reactions and occurrences, she manages to pace and balance this work precisely. A firm Three Stars, 7 out of 12 for me, for this book, That I am now, in 2025, dying to read again.

2008 read

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ethan Ford - a handyman, kids' baseball coach, and volunteer fireman - is a town hero.



After 13 years of marriage he's still deeply in love with his wife Jorie.....



.....and a good dad to his son Collie.



Then one morning Ethan is arrested for the rape and murder of a young girl fifteen years ago. Jorie and Collie are devastated and the townsfolk can hardly take it in, believing a terrible mistake has occurred.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

To many people's surprise, Ethan pleads guilty to the crime, asserting that he's a 'different man' now. In one way he is, having acquired a new identity.



Collie is distraught and becomes completely withdrawn while Jorie torments herself trying to figure out how Ethan could have done such a thing.



In flashbacks we learn that Ethan was a truly despicable youth who - after he committed the murder - instantaneously transformed himself into a good, caring man.

Other characters in the novel include Jorie's best friend Charlotte, who is suffering from cancer; Jorie's mother and sister who try to support her in this time of crisis; and Kat - an insightful young friend of Collie's. There are also lawyers who advise/defend Ethan, and townspeople who form an 'Ethan support group' to raise money for his defense. This group includes Kat's sister Rosarie, a beautiful but cold 17-year-old heartbreaker who becomes infatuated with Ethan.



The heart of the story involves how Jorie comes to terms with her husband's crime and the actions she decides to take. To me Ethan's sudden transformation into a 'good guy' after the murder is completely unbelievable and the story's finale also rings false. However, the characters are interesting and the book does a good job illustrating the heartbreak and devastation that can occur when a gigantic lie is exposed.

END SPOILER ALERT END SPOILER ALERT



You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Kindle edition of this book, and there were so many typos/misprints that I almost didn't finish reading it. Overall, though, the story itself was pretty good. This was my first Alice Hoffman book but definitely not my last!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. Ms Hoffman failed to make me care enough about the characters, with the possible exception of Kat, to want to continue past page 116. Yes, I gave it a few extra pages beyond my 100-page limit because I wanted to like this book. Alice Hoffman is an author highly recommended by many friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed another of her novels, "The Probable Future." This novel, though, irritated the fluff out of me with the 3rd-person omniscient POV written in the present tense. I much preferred the 1st person narrative through Kat's eyes. Sadly, there was too much "the curtain wafts in the gentle breeze. Ethan looks at his wife in the sunlight and marvels at her beauty" and not enough Kat. When the style of narrative annoys the fire out of me, it's a sure sign that my time would be better spent finding something I'll actually enjoy reading.

Pretty cover, though.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can someone commit a terrible crime and then completely change themselves for the better? If that person has changed and now lives an exemplary life, are they still responsible for that crime even though they are no longer the same person? This is the question posed in Blue Diary. Ethan Ford is THE perfect husband and father or is he? The secret he has kept from his wife for 15 years comes back to haunt him and the whole town is drawn into the ensuing chaos. I thought the premise of the book was interesting. The first half of the book was good but it kind of lost its way towards the end. I expected to feel more challenged by this moral dilemma but in the end, finished the book out of curiosity more than interest.

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t hate it but I did skim most of it and couldn’t wait to finish and move on...but at least I finished it. The characters are too perfect or either too perfectly flawed. They are boring and unbelievable more than endearing and sympathetic. The author takes too much time making everything perfect...even the dang strawberries grown by Jorie are the best and sweetest in the world. Give me a break! The story is about Ethan Ford (the most perfect man on earth through the first 30 pages) who is accused of committing a horrific crime 15 years ago. He now has a (perfect) wife and (perfect) son who know nothing about his past. The book is more about what the accusation and arrest do to the people around Ethan more than the crime itself. There is no courtroom drama and very little legal story. This one is about feelings and emotions, how life goes on after horrible tragedies. I did not connect with the characters but I was interested in the story so I kept with it.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unrealistic plot..Rapist/Murderer turns into Perfect Husband/Father/Fireman/Hero..no explanation as to why or how this occurred. Disjointed characters briefly interact as they come to terms with their disillusion. I kept waiting for someone to get to the heart of the matter...to know about Ethan and how/why he transformed himself, but instead got inner dialogue of his devastated wife, teen girl who turned in the murderer, but was still friends with his son, and whose 17 year old sister had been kissed on the toes by the murderer and wanted to run away with him.....well, you get the idea and it was not a good one.

[Katherine Steins · Rating 4 out of 5]

But guys... wait, just one second.. (warning: major spoilers)





There are a ton of reviews that center around the "morality" of sending a "changed" man to prison. These, in my opinion, are infuriating to read because Ethan Ford is NOT a changed man, and im pretty damn sure Hoffman doesn't think he is either and this qualm was not meant to be the moral quandary of the book!

It's my belief that the point of this book is that Ethan Ford SEEMED like the "perfect" husband/father/local handyman/baseball coach/neighbor/etc... but in his heart, he wasn't actually these things at all. I'm seeing a lot of reviews about how "unrealistic" the plot is because rapists and murderers don't just reform themselves because they get married and start a family. But yeah... that's the point... he's not "reformed."

Now... Let's talk about how the book allows us to see this.

At the end of the book, it is very much explicitly outlined that Ethan had formed an inappropriate relationship with Rosarie, while also simultaneously trying to convince his wife that he is the same man she thought he was the entire time they were married... it is very obvious Hoffman doesn't support this character's actions. The entire last third of the book is Jorie reckoning with the heinousness of Ethan's crimes. And its not just Jorie who is forced to face with the fallout of Ethan's deceptions.

The last couple pages literally depict how Kat "saves her sister's life" by sabotaging her attempt to follow Ethan to Maryland for his extradition. It's not even implied, but explicitly stated that Rosarie's life would have been RUINED had she continued to support Ethan by following his lead and trusting his love for her. It is also explicitly stated that Ethan is the type of man who needs a woman's support, who loves women based on the amount of support they show him. When Jorie stopped visiting Ethan so much in jail, Ethan very quickly latched onto Rosarie, who continued to advocate for him. Ethan cares about whoever cares about him. His motivations are entirely selfish and ego driven.

Another thing. For all those who really think Ethan had become a better man..

A "reformed" rapist/murderer who transformed into a perfectly attractive, small town, super hot Mr. FixIt, would most definitely not be attempting to cheat on his wife with a 17 year old child. Ethan was not a man with the "pure" heart of someone who has, so-called, seen the "error of his ways." Nope, Ethan reminds me a lot of Josh Duggar actually, now that I think about this a bit more.

Now, we need to talk about a major plot point that makes absolutely zero sense..

My one issue with this book is that it is entirely unrealistic to imagine that the man Hoffman is writing would have admitted to a rape and murder that he had seemingly gotten away with for 15 years. It is entirely unlikely that someone who was genuinely a "changed" man (in the sense that he would want to atone for his crime, and 'ya know... CONFESS...) would also hold on to a literal TROPHY of his victim.

YEAH.. so... here's the thing.

If you raped and murdered some poor 15 year old child after sneaking in their room in the middle of the night and then stole their diary key like a total CREEP you probably wouldn't keep the damn thing hanging in plain site, with all the rest of your keys in your weird renovation key collection if you weren't still a $h1tty person. A child rapist/murderer who... you know... actually is sorry for what he has done, does not hide away in a small town in Massachusetts, coach little league, renovate people's houses, volunteer for fire departments, all while holding on to a trophy of his victim. Nope, a changed man wouldn't be doing that.

Now let's talk about the kind of man Ethan Ford really is...

A man who collects a trophy and displays it in plain sight is proud of his deception, and uses it to fuel his ego. This man does not admit to rape and murder because some child calls in to a crime hotline and claims he's fled Maryland and moved to Massachusetts.
Just. No.

No, no... Ethan Ford is not a changed man. And I think that's the point. The only issue I have with this book is that Ethan's confession literally does not match ANYTHING ELSE he has done, pre rape/murder, post rape/murder, literally whenever. It is very clear that his deception was not done with pure intentions and that he still remained a deceptive man. Kat literally talks about how he doesn't have a "reflection" because there is something wrong with him. He is not what he appears to be. There is something that does not match what he presents to the world to the person he really is.

Jorie knows this. This is what she is forced to realize throughout the novel. This is her journey and arc. She must come to terms with the deception she has experienced and the truth that she, at first, is unable to accept. Her trip to Maryland is the reality check she needed to finally see who Ethan really is by seeing the depravity of his crime.

Now, I loved this book. I definitely think it's worth 4 out of 5 stars. I think him confessing to the crime was ... a poor narrative choice that in no way coincided with his actual personality or persistent sense of entitlement. But, alas, nothing is perfect. If it were, we would have nothing to talk about. The rest of the novel is fire though and I totally recommend it.

Oh yeah, one more thing...


Men like Ethan Ford never confess.

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

What can I say about this book other than it made me cringe? Quite a few things, since I was taking notes for a book club discussion, searching for its themes amid the overblown, flowery prose such as that found in this example: "He has walked through the fire with her name on his lips; he has drunk of it and found sustenance in it, until at last he was carried to the other side of the black river." Oh boy. Multiply this by the 303 pages found in this book, and you'll understand what I'm talking about when I say that I couldn't wait to be done reading it.

The story is pretty simple. Ethan Ford is an ideal husband, father, and citizen of a small town in Massachusetts where he's been living for the past thirteen years. But he has been living a lie that whole time, having taken on a false identity fifteen years earlier after committing a horrible crime that he walked away from in another state. But now, the truth has come out for those willing to face it. Each person whose life Ethan has touched must decide for himself whether or not his faith will be shaken or strengthened by the events that follow the revelation of Ethan's past. And so on and so forth. After a while, I didn't really care what happened since none of it seemed real to me. Everything seemed staged.

This was an older book by the author, so maybe that was the problem since I've read a handful of her other books which came later, uneven in quality, but solid three star reads and none of them as disappointing as this one.

This book was all tell and no show, spoon feeding each character's thoughts and feelings to the reader so the reader need not think or feel for herself. Consequently, I felt nothing for these characters who felt trapped in their lives by fate or some form of predestination, if not by choice. I only know that I wish I'd had some choice about reading this book. If you want to read something decent by the author and more representative of her skills, try The Red Garden or The Dovekeepers.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, not the quality book that is life-altering or really touches your soul, but a good solid book nonetheless. The book centers around earth-shattering truths revealed to a woman about her husband. Its a bit unsettling to think about how quickly life can change. Equally as upsetting is how little you may know someone you think you know and love. Imagine you found out your husband had committed a horrible crime, only moments before you met and fell in love with him. Years later, with a child, and a well defined life, you find out about his secret past. What do you do? Can you forgive him? Do you abandon him? Do you even pretend to know him?

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Hoffman’s books can be kind of depressing, but you almost don’t mind because they’re so beautifully written. The first chapter describes the idyllic perfection of the life Ethan and Jorie Ford lead along with their son Collie. Everything is wonderful, Ethan is a perfect, gorgeous, hardworking man and Jorie is a perfect, gorgeous, lovely wife. Collie is perfect, gorgeous, and happy. They live in a small, Massachusetts town and everybody loves them. Then, everything falls apart. Ethan is accused of a murder committed 15 years prior when he was “a different person.” The family and the townspeople have to decide whether to stand by Ethan or turn their backs on him. Those who love him most may be the ones who feel most betrayed.
I found it difficult to believe that the kind of man who would commit the crime that was described could possibly have changed so much as to become who Ethan was at the beginning of the book, which, frankly, is what the other characters are having a hard time believing as well. However, I still don’t buy how that kind of act can hold up for such a long period of time without reversion to past behaviors. Unfortunately, Ethan himself does not play a large part in the book. We are not really privy to how he was able to make these changes. It seems he just woke up one day wanting to be a better man and then he was. This is not a story of redemption, it’s more about forgiveness and whether one can find that in him or herself. Hoffman’s characters feel things deeply and act in a manner that is congruous with their feelings, and that is to be commended, but I still didn’t find it very plausible. It was still lovely to read and pointed out some things about the human condition that can’t help but be true

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was attracted to “The Blue Diary” when I was listening to a book talk at our school. Later, I took the book and read the introduction of it which I though the plot was quite exciting. Then the librarian came to me and told me that she liked reading the book written by the author, Alice Hoffman, because her writing is really good. So, I decided to give the book a try.
However, the book is totally not what I had expected, and not in good way. For me, it is a disappointment because it is far too boring. The story is about Ethan Ford, the main character of the book, who has committed a crime thirteen years ago and is now being found guilty by the police. The beginning of the story, describes Ethan’s present life which shows he is a good guy in society. Hoffman uses positive description to mention about his personality. “Everyone knows that if Ethan promises a job will be done on time, it will be, for he’s man of his world, as dependable as he is kind. The sort of individual who never disappears with the last ten percent of a project left undone.” But in my point of view, she spends too many pages to describe his real life and the relationship he has with his wife. Hoffman keeps repeating the same things that the couple takes part in every day. She writes in great detail about their kissing moment which I think is not necessary. Besides, the way that she describes the background is boring too as she uses the same description to describe the same things frequently. For example, in the first chapter, she uses “brilliant” to describe the sky twice already. (Can’t she just use another word to describe it?)
Well, you can give this book a chance if you want to be bored.

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Alice Hoffman, but this wasn't my favorite. And it wasn't really a great listen. I feel like this is a story that I could have told while gossiping at the train station getting my cup of coffee. "So, did you hear about the Fords? Well, apparently Ethan--and that's not even his real name--murdered and raped a girl 15 years ago in Maryland! And you'll never guess who turned them in. The next door neighbor's girl Kat, who is best friend's with the Ford's son! I know! So, now Ethan, or whatever his real name is, has been arrested and his wife barely comes to visit him and the son doesn't want to talk to him. Well, the town is rallying in support because Ethan has done such good deeds around here. Yea, I guess he was trying to turn over a new leaf by changing his name and not raping and killing people anymore. You know how it is...." I don't know, it was not my cup of tea. One of the things that I really like about Hoffman is her use of magical realism, and it comes out in this novel, but none of it really connects and it feels forced. Although a librarian is mentioned in the book! And two of the characters steal books from the library! Grr!

My favorite of hers is still Illumination Night. Anyways, if you want to read something similar to this, I would recommend Jane Hamilton's, Map of the World.

[Flannery · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alice Hoffman loses her mind in this one. I really think she just took pretty words, put them in a jar, shook it up, and pulled out a handful everytime she needed to describe something.

It starts with the first sentence and goes downhill from there.

T'S THE LAST MONDAY OF THE month, a brutally gorgeous morning brimming with blue air and the sweet scent of honeysuckle, which grows wild in the woods beyond Front Street, when Ethan Ford fails to show up for work.

If the purple prose overkill wasn't enough, she pulls the breast cancer card to try to wring a few more tears out of her readers.

You won't get me, Ms. Hoffman.

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoffman’s novel Blue Diary takes place in a small rural village where life seems perfect—at least for one family. A wife whose beauty is envied by angels themselves, with a husband that all women secretly glance at when they think he’s not paying attention and lastly, a cherubic son who creates an entire new meaning for the word ‘innocence’. But due to the hands of fate, their life shatters like broken glass when the husband, Ethan Ford’s past life is exposed. The skill with which Alice Hoffman brought the characters to life in front of my very eyes is evident and deserves great respect. I, as a reader, could not put down the book.

This read does not come with flaws however, and one of them is the unanswered questions left floating, lost in my head. Usually, one inquires for information about another’s past, especially if they are in a relationship. However, with Jorie completely surprised and devastated about the news of Ethan’s past, it’s safe to assume she had limited to no prior knowledge. The reason for that, though, is not addressed in the book.

What interested me the most was figuring out if Ethan truly threw away his past life for a new one, or if he was merely playing Jorie like all the other women? Details such as “...here it was at last, in the place where he’d least expected to find it...True love had appeared in front of him...” (Blue Diary, 71) ascertains my convictions of his love for Jorie, yet the actions he commits later on propels me back into the fog of doubt.

Overall, Blue Diary is worth spending a couple of hours during ones time to read, despite the uncertainty during some sections. Whether Jorie's ignorance of Ethan's past was due to lack of curiosity towards it or a constant deflection of questions on Ethan's part is yet unclear. Fortunately, the theme of betrayal is depicted extraordinarily well, and one is able to relate to the troubles of each individual character.

[Charissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a premise. Ethan Ford and his wife, Jorie, have the perfect life. Even after 13 years of marriage, they are blissfully as in love as the day they met in the bar on the outskirts of town. It was love at first sight, and has only grown over the years with the birth of their son and their idyllic life in a small town in Massachusetts. Ethan is a master craftsman, coaches his son’s Little League team and motivates all the town’s boys; he serves on the volunteer fire department and over the years has proven his bravery by saving several lives. Jorie has the best garden in town, and helps all those around her. Their life seems to be heaven.
But one day, with a knock on the door, their lives change forever. Heaven is shattered into a million jagged pieces, that tear and rip their lives open as a terrible secret is revealed which leads Jorie and her son to question all that they have ever known and believed. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this book delves deep into tragedy, repentance, forgiveness, rehabilitation and starting over...and left me with lots of questions and thoughts about what is right and what is wrong. Amazing book that I can’t stop thinking about now.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a disappoint to me. The author wrote from a different perspective than I was used to. She has a wonderful skill in describing everything in perfect detail except the plot. For example she tries to reveal the feelings of an entire town which becomes a burden to the reader to keep up with a plethora of characters. You never really figure out the main characters. Could you forgive and overlook a heinous crime committed by someone you love? Good question but the story fell short. I stuck it out to the end only to feel more betrayed by the ending. I definitely wouldn't suggest this book to anyone.

[K M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite some not believable details, this was quite an engrossing tale. Here's an example of something not believable: a fifth grade girl goes to the jailhouse to visit a man accused of murder, and she is let into the cell with him...alone. Wait, what?? Yes, it was a small town, where everyone knows everyone else, but that (and several other things) just seemed ridiculous. But, to the author's credit, I couldn't seem to put it down.

[Rochelle Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved.

[Crystal Pistal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really care for this book even though I like her other ones. The beginning was very frustrating to me the way she dangled things in front of your face. And it made me not really want to push to finish it.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this story is about Ethan Ford and his past, which he has been running from for 13 years, it is also a story about the rest of his small town. Also, chapter titles! 😁


Spoilers…




His wife who cannot stand by him once she realizes that he did kill the young girl 15 years ago. His son Collie who cannot forgive him and does not visit him in jail. About Collie’s best friend Kat who saw Ethan’s picture on the news and turned him in but she and Collie remain best friends. Kat’s sister who steps outside of her mean self to help Ethan’s cause along side his townspeople. Many Believe that Ethan is a changed man, not the same man who killed that girl many years ago. Even though it was an accident he now has to face the consequences. The story ends before that happens, at least the legal consequences. Those of his personal life have already been felt.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a while back so don't remember details, only that I liked it a lot.

Second reading:

Ethan Ford is the perfect husband, the perfect fireman, the perfect neighbor. In a little town in New England, he has risked his life more than once to save others, as a volunteer fireman. He steps up to help others in need. He works as a handyman and builder and has many happy clients.

Ethan arrived in Jorie's life over 13 years ago and the two are still deeply in love. They both feel so lucky to have found the other.

And then the bottom drops out of their lives. Ethan is arrested for something he did many years ago in another state.

Ethan contends that the person he is now is not the person he was then. The town splits into two: 1) those who consider who Ethan is now and determine that he made a mistake in his youth, and should be forgiven; and 2) those who think he's a criminal and should pay.

Jorie is on the fence. Who is Ethan really? Who has he been all these years? Their son Colin comes down on the anti-Ethan side immediately and wants nothing to do with him. But Jorie is struggling.

Much of the story is seen through the eyes of the next-door neighbor, Katya. Katya is a pre-teen with a sharp eye and keen mind. She may see some things more clearly than any of the adults around her.

*****Spoiler alert*******Discussion for after you've read it*****

The blue diary is a diary owned by the young teen murdered by Ethan all those years ago. After Jorie has the opportunity to see this diary and to think about this girl and what happened to her, she makes a decision about where to go from here.

I felt that ultimately Jorie has determined that Ethan has certainly lived the life of a saint while with her, but he is fundamentally still the person who murdered a young girl. From what I read of Ethan's behavior while in jail I have to agree with her.

I did wonder how anyone could change course so completely in a blink of an eye. Perhaps he didn't change that much?

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you find forgiveness in the unforgivable? This is what Alice Hoffman tackles in the superb book "Blue Diary". Ethan Ford and his wife Jorie have everything since meeting one night 13 years ago at the local bar. A perfect house, garden, the towns respect and admiration and an entranced love that allows them to make love as each day is the first day they met, but how far does love go when you are asked to forgive to unthinkable? Josie and the town struggle with this when Ethen is arrested one summer morning. In the midst of this discovery Hoffman draws us into the other characters in the noves lives. There is Jorie's best friend Charlotte that has just discovered she has cancer, her son Collie who battles with the discovery of his father's lies, and Kat, Collie's next door neighbor, that starts the entire process by a simple phone call and battles her own forgiveness for demons that are deeply buried within. Hoffman's stories may be hard for some. Her prose is very flowerily, but for me enjoyable. Her love for nature is described within, and orange lilies, apples and blackbirds are a strong presence within the pages. Forgiveness is a long road for anyone to journey, but once we do travel it we realize it is not just the people involved we must forgive but ultimately ourselves.

[Aria Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It is life-altering and it really touched my soul.
I have to say that the turn in this story truly surprised me after Ford's secret was revealed and he was arrested. I expected greater forgiveness from his family and neighbors because of his exemplary behavior before. However, forgiveness did not come easily in this gossipy town. As many other reviewers asked: "Can someone commit a terrible crime and then completely change themselves for the better?", people are not always capable of changes, and trust is limited. Ford and Jorie's previously envied marriage became the subject of derision and a personal breakdown that forever changed their lives and that of their young boy, Collie. And Kat, who made the fateful call and revealed Ford's identity, watched in shock while her neighbor' lives collapsed like houses that had been consumed by termites until there was no more than a shell.
This story is a cautionary fable, a fairy tale with a true-life painful ending, providing a sensitive assessment of the moral qualities constituting an ordinary life. This is Hoffman's intention to show that once a thing is done, it is done; and repentance is often not sufficient to earn true absolution.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

right now i'm really interested i the plot, but plodding through all the flora and and fauna to get to what actually happens is a bit much. about 1/4 of it would add to the story the rest should be dumped out. Interesting so far though.

Ok finished it today, and man, i like the way it was wrapped up. now i see why she had Kat and Jorie take turns with the perspective. I also have to say, please cut out the flowers and shrubs and pick some normal names.
Lots of heavy stuff in here, Murder obviously,suicide, self mutilation,cancer, even Anne the failure of a sister and Barney with the failed marriages. But in the end you do sort of feel like, this is life, I will survive and appreciate the little things that i have that are good.
totally by far my fav character was James Morris. and sorry, but i hope if faced with this situation i would have the gumption to disappear and do what was right for my son. This book reinforced my belief that people don't change, circumstances may change them but they don't change all on their own. and I wasn't buying mr perfects act even from the beginning.
So i will bump it up to three stars and possibly check out more by this author.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story reminds me of a true story I read in a magazine.
In the magazine article we see a man with a terrible problem. His daughter is sick and needs a kidney, her mother and other family members are not a match. The father is not her natural father as the girl is a child of rape. This father was the one who befriended the traumatized girl who had been raped by an unknown assailant, offered her friendship, comfort and love and eventually became her beloved husband and the devoted father of her children. He tests for the kidney match and is found to be a perfect match because he is actually the rapist and the natural father.
In many ways Blue Diary is a similar story, although the particulars are different. We have a good man who is trusted and loved, a person who is of almost heroic proportions. Then his crime is revealed and the persona he has built, the person he has become, is destroyed by the overwhelming nature of the crime he is guilty of.
Alice Hoffman writes in her usual poetic, magical style and it is very good.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most inspiring book of the year, based on its topic, but definitely interesting. Raises the question, "Could you keep loving someone once their secret past is revealed?"

At points I was disturbed by this novel because of the territory the heroine traverses in her search through her husband's past, but at the same time riveted to the story to see what would happen next. That's good, right?

As always, Hoffman's lyrical prose leads you down a primrose path of words that can only be described as art.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are always thought provoking and her characters written with such emotion. When I’m reading her words I get immersed in the beauty of the language and her descriptions of the world in which her characters live. I’m always anxious to see how the story progresses and is completed but also sad to have the book end.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her writing is absolutely beautiful. Just beautiful. Even when the topic is dark and horrible.

[Charlene Pino · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan. For a “plot” that probably had potential to be a good story, nothing much really happens. Unfortunately I rolled my eyes often at the way certain things are compared to others. I did not abandon the book because I really thought SOMETHING had to happen to make it worthwhile. I have enjoyed plenty of the author’s other books, but this one was disappointing. Only writing this review to prevent others from wasting precious reading minutes of their lives. Read the Practical Magic books instead, they are a much better representation of the author’s creativity.