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Seventh Heaven
Nora Silk doesn’t really fit in on Hemlock Street, where every house looks the same. She's divorced. She wears a charm bracelet and high heels and red toreador pants. And the way she raises her kids is a scandal. But as time passes, the neighbors start having second thoughts about Nora. The women’s apprehension evolves into admiration. The men’s lust evolves into awe. The children are drawn to her in ways they can't explain. And everyone on this little street in 1959 Long Island seems to sense the possibilities and perils of a different kind of future when they look at Nora Silk...
This extraordinary novel by the author of The River King and Local Girls takes us back to a time when the exotic both terrified and intrigued us, and despite our most desperate attempts, our passions and secrets remained as stubbornly alive as the weeds in our well-trimmed lawns.
This extraordinary novel by the author of The River King and Local Girls takes us back to a time when the exotic both terrified and intrigued us, and despite our most desperate attempts, our passions and secrets remained as stubbornly alive as the weeds in our well-trimmed lawns.
276 pages, ebook
First published August 17, 1990
2505 people are currently reading
6119 people want to read
About the author
Alice Hoffman
119 books25.2k 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 835 reviews
December 3, 2007
Alice Hoffman being one of my favorite authors was the main reason for me to pick up this book. I must say that it is one of my least favorites of her catatlog.
The story starts out interesting, slating the story in a small town during a time in America when women are supposed to stay in the kitchen and raise the children.
When the character Nora Silk is introduced, she is the antithesis of the other female characters. She dresses in black, wears pants and hoop earings and makeup. The whole point of the story is that these simple people's worlds get turned upside down because of this woman, and the thoughts that she creates in their minds.
The story overall was way too long, and there were too many characters that you had to follow all over the place...many of them you really don't care about. Instead of focusing on Nora and her story, Hoffman jumps around from character to character and there is no real narrator. It is messy and hard to follow and it was hard for me to stop myself from just throwing it aside and moving on to another book.
I would reccomend skipping this book all together and reading another one of Hoffmans books like "The Probable Future."
The story starts out interesting, slating the story in a small town during a time in America when women are supposed to stay in the kitchen and raise the children.
When the character Nora Silk is introduced, she is the antithesis of the other female characters. She dresses in black, wears pants and hoop earings and makeup. The whole point of the story is that these simple people's worlds get turned upside down because of this woman, and the thoughts that she creates in their minds.
The story overall was way too long, and there were too many characters that you had to follow all over the place...many of them you really don't care about. Instead of focusing on Nora and her story, Hoffman jumps around from character to character and there is no real narrator. It is messy and hard to follow and it was hard for me to stop myself from just throwing it aside and moving on to another book.
I would reccomend skipping this book all together and reading another one of Hoffmans books like "The Probable Future."
March 12, 2017
4.5 stars
While on vacation, I picked this up at a help yourself book shelf next to the pool. The book was yellowed and musty, but I have always enjoyed Alice Hoffman's writing. Once I read the first paragraph, I was hooked and pretty much read non stop until I was finished. How did I miss this little gem by Alice Hoffman.
The story begins in 1959 in a middle class, suburban neighborhood. A divorcée with 2 children moves into a neighborhood where people can hardly utter the word "divorced" without cringing. Just the perfect mix of endearing characters, forbidden relationships, tragedy and magical realism all woven into an intriguing tale that leaves you wanting more.
While on vacation, I picked this up at a help yourself book shelf next to the pool. The book was yellowed and musty, but I have always enjoyed Alice Hoffman's writing. Once I read the first paragraph, I was hooked and pretty much read non stop until I was finished. How did I miss this little gem by Alice Hoffman.
The story begins in 1959 in a middle class, suburban neighborhood. A divorcée with 2 children moves into a neighborhood where people can hardly utter the word "divorced" without cringing. Just the perfect mix of endearing characters, forbidden relationships, tragedy and magical realism all woven into an intriguing tale that leaves you wanting more.
April 3, 2019
(Keep in mind that this book is set in 1959.) When newly divorced Nora moves to Hemlock Street, her neighbours view her with suspicion. This was one of my favourite Alice Hoffman reads. I loved her magical, quirky storytelling.
There were some interesting "blasts from the past" in this story. Nora becomes a Tupperware saleswoman - and this is how she expects to pay her mortgage and support her family!?! Tupperware must have been very expensive back in the day! To this day, this is the one element of this story that I remember about this old favourite. For fans of Alice Hoffman, this is a must read.
There were some interesting "blasts from the past" in this story. Nora becomes a Tupperware saleswoman - and this is how she expects to pay her mortgage and support her family!?! Tupperware must have been very expensive back in the day! To this day, this is the one element of this story that I remember about this old favourite. For fans of Alice Hoffman, this is a must read.
January 1, 2013
This is another fantastic book from the author of 'Practical Magic,' 'Blue Diary,' and 'The Probable Future.' Nora Silk is not the typical woman of 1959 Long Island. She's divorced, has two children, and never seems to care if they get dirty while they play. She wears high heels and black stretch pants, and her nails are always done in bright colours. Her eldest son, Billy, tends to pick stray thoughts out of the minds of people around him, and James, only months-old, eats anything he can find in one chubby cute hand. When they move onto the street where the norm is two parents, two children, and nothing unexpected, Nora Silk is ostracized, Billy is bullied, and it seems that the status quo will always regain its balance.
But the men start to notice Nora's distinct grace with more than a bit of lust, and Nora's comments and advice to the women start to break cracks in the veneer of "we should do what we have always done." Sparks fly, a trace of magic is in the air, and before long, 1959 is going to roll over into the sixties, and Nora Silk's influence will be felt by all.
I adored this book - much as I adored the previously mentioned Hoffman titles I listed above - and had that trademarked Hoffman lump in my throat when the book was drawing to a close. As always, it's the characters - and the level of empathy you feel for all of them - that keep you going, and Hoffman's deft touch with a trace of the supernatural always leaves you charmed. A ghost here, a clairvoyant there, and a tangled thread of folk remedies throughout, there's something magical in how she writes, and how the reader feels while watching her worlds.
But the men start to notice Nora's distinct grace with more than a bit of lust, and Nora's comments and advice to the women start to break cracks in the veneer of "we should do what we have always done." Sparks fly, a trace of magic is in the air, and before long, 1959 is going to roll over into the sixties, and Nora Silk's influence will be felt by all.
I adored this book - much as I adored the previously mentioned Hoffman titles I listed above - and had that trademarked Hoffman lump in my throat when the book was drawing to a close. As always, it's the characters - and the level of empathy you feel for all of them - that keep you going, and Hoffman's deft touch with a trace of the supernatural always leaves you charmed. A ghost here, a clairvoyant there, and a tangled thread of folk remedies throughout, there's something magical in how she writes, and how the reader feels while watching her worlds.
January 19, 2016
1991, January 1
2016, January 5
In the 25 years since I first read this, I confess I'd gotten a little vague on the details. Long Island suburban witch, I recalled correctly, but the two boys had become two girls in my mind, probably conflated with the movie Mermaids. I thought there was a lot more magic. And oddly, 25 years ago I didn't notice that Hoffman used "witch" as a sort of substitute for "slut": not in the shaming sense of promiscuous, but in the vague way that any young woman with autonomy, and agency, and sexuality (or even just visible boobs) gets called "slut" in middle school.
2016, January 5
In the 25 years since I first read this, I confess I'd gotten a little vague on the details. Long Island suburban witch, I recalled correctly, but the two boys had become two girls in my mind, probably conflated with the movie Mermaids. I thought there was a lot more magic. And oddly, 25 years ago I didn't notice that Hoffman used "witch" as a sort of substitute for "slut": not in the shaming sense of promiscuous, but in the vague way that any young woman with autonomy, and agency, and sexuality (or even just visible boobs) gets called "slut" in middle school.
January 22, 2016
My first taste of Alice Hoffman's writing and for me, this book at least was mediocre in both content and enjoyment factor. At the start of the book I felt it was going really well and I was looking forward to more of the same but the book kind of derails and gets overcrowded with too many characters that you don't really care about or connect with and a really weak plot.
On Hemlock Street, the houses are identical, the lawns tidy, and the families traditional. A perfect slice of suburbia, this Long Island community shows no signs of change as the 1950s draw to a close—until the fateful August morning when Nora Silk arrives.
Suburbia. Late 1950's America. The house, the husband, the 2.2 kids, the car, the image, the reputation, the gossip. This is Hemlock Street. Nora Silk moves in to an empty run down house on Hemlock Street and is immediately an outcast, she doesn't fit the image that the other women set as the standard. She wears different clothes, feeds her kids bowls of Frosties for dinner, makes snow angels in her garden, dances with her baby boy for all to see. The women don't like her and won't let her in, some of the men and the boys on the other hand can't get enough of seeing her.
The book takes us behind the doors of these seemingly perfect neighbours, for us to find that things are not as they are presented to the world. Marriage difficulties, wayward teenagers, petty crime, deception, lies, betrayal, boredom are just some of the things that REALLY go on behind perfectly painted doors and manicured gardens.
We are introduced throughout the book to many characters on the street, too many in my opinion, I was really getting lost with so many, terribly difficult to connect to them all and some of it just got rather pointless. I just wasn't interested in a lot of the mundane moments of their lives, it wasn't even written in a way that makes the mundane seem fabulous. It was just boring in places.
There are some great moments in this book, some story lines that I wish were expanded upon, but there are many drawn out chapters and paragraphs of bland American surburban life and people. Was that the point? I don't know, but it's not terribly interesting. There is no depth to this at all. But still, those tiny moments of brilliance gleaming amongst the sludge. Best analogy I can think of.
A slow paced book from start to finish, essentially with a few gems hidden amongst the words, some characters that stand out, the rest blurring into a list of names and no faces. A conflicting book for me, I really was thinking it was going to be a stunning read at the start but by the end I was just wanting it over and done with. Not memorable in the slightest.
Maybe the fans will love it. I couldn't. I tried. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars from me. A very okay read that did not live up to my expectations after hearing much about this author. I will try another of her books and see if things improve.
I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks for the opportunity.
On Hemlock Street, the houses are identical, the lawns tidy, and the families traditional. A perfect slice of suburbia, this Long Island community shows no signs of change as the 1950s draw to a close—until the fateful August morning when Nora Silk arrives.
Suburbia. Late 1950's America. The house, the husband, the 2.2 kids, the car, the image, the reputation, the gossip. This is Hemlock Street. Nora Silk moves in to an empty run down house on Hemlock Street and is immediately an outcast, she doesn't fit the image that the other women set as the standard. She wears different clothes, feeds her kids bowls of Frosties for dinner, makes snow angels in her garden, dances with her baby boy for all to see. The women don't like her and won't let her in, some of the men and the boys on the other hand can't get enough of seeing her.
The book takes us behind the doors of these seemingly perfect neighbours, for us to find that things are not as they are presented to the world. Marriage difficulties, wayward teenagers, petty crime, deception, lies, betrayal, boredom are just some of the things that REALLY go on behind perfectly painted doors and manicured gardens.
We are introduced throughout the book to many characters on the street, too many in my opinion, I was really getting lost with so many, terribly difficult to connect to them all and some of it just got rather pointless. I just wasn't interested in a lot of the mundane moments of their lives, it wasn't even written in a way that makes the mundane seem fabulous. It was just boring in places.
There are some great moments in this book, some story lines that I wish were expanded upon, but there are many drawn out chapters and paragraphs of bland American surburban life and people. Was that the point? I don't know, but it's not terribly interesting. There is no depth to this at all. But still, those tiny moments of brilliance gleaming amongst the sludge. Best analogy I can think of.
A slow paced book from start to finish, essentially with a few gems hidden amongst the words, some characters that stand out, the rest blurring into a list of names and no faces. A conflicting book for me, I really was thinking it was going to be a stunning read at the start but by the end I was just wanting it over and done with. Not memorable in the slightest.
Maybe the fans will love it. I couldn't. I tried. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars from me. A very okay read that did not live up to my expectations after hearing much about this author. I will try another of her books and see if things improve.
I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks for the opportunity.
April 16, 2019
Classic Alice Hoffman. Read it slowly and savor it.
April 23, 2021
Alice Hoffman delights me again....loved this quirky story about divorced Nora Silk in 1959 😊
January 6, 2008
My favorite Alice Hoffman, this book uses its setting and characters very effectively to show how the looks of the American dream can be deceiving. When the main character moves to 1960s suburban American, her very presence makes life less perfect and yet somehow more real for the other people who live there. Like most Hoffman, this includes elements of magical realism, including a ghost who haunts not her killer, but his brother, and a mother who uses old spells to keep her child save at school.
August 6, 2012
An entirely satisfying story from a master storyteller. Like many authors Alice Hoffman details the minutiae of her characters' lives, but unlike most she does it for good reason: things connect. Details weave together & become much more than the sum of their parts.
Seventh Heaven is set on Long Island in 1959/1960, in a 6 year old housing development near the Southern State. It was written long before Mad Men was born or thought of, but fans of Mad Men should love this story, though it is much more life-affirming than that often bitter tv show. Hemlock Street is cozily living out the suburban social contract when a chink appears: a homeowner dies, the widow moves away too distraught to deal tidily with the house, and it decays until it is cheap enough for divorced single mother Nora Silk to buy her way in to the American Dream. Having a divorcee in residence cracks the conformity of Hemlock Street still further and all sort of ripple effects emerge. We get to know and care about so many different denizens of the neighborhood, from the kids in school to the parents in the houses and Hoffman manages all their stories with aplomb. Of course, since this is Hoffman, there is magic afoot all abound in Hemlock Street, but its more magic realism than fantasy.
For some reason I don't read as much Alice Hoffman as perhaps I ought. Every time I read a book of hers I love it, but I've never sat down & read several of hers in a row. Even this one I bought ages ago & then passed over for shinier baubles until this afternoon when I was at the beach with nothing else to read. Then of course I loved the book so much I sat down & finished it the same day. Yes, it is middlebrow, but I don't mean that in a sneering way (unlike Virginia Woolf :-) It's just not interested in being high literature, it's not a self indulgent attempt at self-expression and it's not artless or crass either. It's good storytelling, written with such great care that it reads effortlessly.
Seventh Heaven is set on Long Island in 1959/1960, in a 6 year old housing development near the Southern State. It was written long before Mad Men was born or thought of, but fans of Mad Men should love this story, though it is much more life-affirming than that often bitter tv show. Hemlock Street is cozily living out the suburban social contract when a chink appears: a homeowner dies, the widow moves away too distraught to deal tidily with the house, and it decays until it is cheap enough for divorced single mother Nora Silk to buy her way in to the American Dream. Having a divorcee in residence cracks the conformity of Hemlock Street still further and all sort of ripple effects emerge. We get to know and care about so many different denizens of the neighborhood, from the kids in school to the parents in the houses and Hoffman manages all their stories with aplomb. Of course, since this is Hoffman, there is magic afoot all abound in Hemlock Street, but its more magic realism than fantasy.
For some reason I don't read as much Alice Hoffman as perhaps I ought. Every time I read a book of hers I love it, but I've never sat down & read several of hers in a row. Even this one I bought ages ago & then passed over for shinier baubles until this afternoon when I was at the beach with nothing else to read. Then of course I loved the book so much I sat down & finished it the same day. Yes, it is middlebrow, but I don't mean that in a sneering way (unlike Virginia Woolf :-) It's just not interested in being high literature, it's not a self indulgent attempt at self-expression and it's not artless or crass either. It's good storytelling, written with such great care that it reads effortlessly.
August 30, 2025
4.5 Stars- Alice Hoffman is a masterful storyteller. This book is set in 1959/1960 and revolves around the people who live on Hemlock Street in Long Island. What made the story memorable was that the author was able to take multiple points of view from several different families and weave it into a connected story. Nora and her boys were my favorite characters but I found something intriguing about all of them. It also made me really grateful that I did not live in this time period. This did have some touches of magical realism. Nora's son Billy could pick up thoughts of others and the detective Hennessy got bad feelings when things were going to happen. Overall though it was just a really good story.
October 8, 2024
Full of exquisite writing, Seventh Heaven takes us to a suburban Long Island community in 1959, a world of Tupperware parties and Formica kitchen tabletops and Fritos with sour-cream-and-onion-soup dip. It's a neighborhood of identical houses, and conformity reigns. The characters are on the brink of breaking out of their severely strictured 50s society, but as the story quietly begins, they don't know that. They're doing just fine.
This novel has multiple principle players: Nora, a young divorcee with two small children, who tries to break into a very closed group of "happy" housewives, Ace McCarthy, a teenager looking to break from his family but unsure how to do it, and Joe Hennessey, a cop who has been promoted to detective but is uneasy with the break he's made with his old job. There are other wonderful characters we come to know as well - housewives contemplating actually getting jobs, a teenager faced with profound disappointment in his father and himself, and a handsome German shepherd who takes his responsibility as faithful companion very seriously.
There is no plot in this book; it's all about relationships and moving forward. The novel is enhanced by bits of magical realism, something I ordinarily don't like but is perfect here. And while there are many tender moments in these characters' lives, there's not a shred of sentimentality. Alice Hoffman is that remarkable a writer. Her words and sentences are simple but elegant - gorgeous at times.
I liked this story so much that as soon as I finished it, I went back to Page 1 to read it again, just to hold onto the characters and to wallow in the lovely prose. I read it both times on my kindle but now feel I need to have the book on my actual book shelf as well. I don't know why - I just do.
This novel has multiple principle players: Nora, a young divorcee with two small children, who tries to break into a very closed group of "happy" housewives, Ace McCarthy, a teenager looking to break from his family but unsure how to do it, and Joe Hennessey, a cop who has been promoted to detective but is uneasy with the break he's made with his old job. There are other wonderful characters we come to know as well - housewives contemplating actually getting jobs, a teenager faced with profound disappointment in his father and himself, and a handsome German shepherd who takes his responsibility as faithful companion very seriously.
There is no plot in this book; it's all about relationships and moving forward. The novel is enhanced by bits of magical realism, something I ordinarily don't like but is perfect here. And while there are many tender moments in these characters' lives, there's not a shred of sentimentality. Alice Hoffman is that remarkable a writer. Her words and sentences are simple but elegant - gorgeous at times.
I liked this story so much that as soon as I finished it, I went back to Page 1 to read it again, just to hold onto the characters and to wallow in the lovely prose. I read it both times on my kindle but now feel I need to have the book on my actual book shelf as well. I don't know why - I just do.
August 21, 2016
I don't read novels like this one very often but I should probably do so! Alice Hoffman was recommended to me and I happened upon this book at a local thrift store. It was very enjoyable -- being a slice of life from 1959 to 1960, an era that I lived through as a young boy. The novel reminded me a lot of Rabbit Run by John Updike or of Peyton Place, one of my favorites. It definitely does not show the idyllic life of the 50s as portrayed in such TV shows as Leave It to Beaver or Father Knows Best. As I said, it takes place during a year period from 1959 to 1960 in a small bedroom community on Long Island, New York that was built six years previously on what was once a potato farm. All of the houses are the same and it takes the residents some time to get used to the sameness but after six years there are small differences in the lots from landscaping, etc. Suddenly, one of the homeowners dies and the house he lived in is abandoned when his widow moves back to Virginia. The house starts to become overgrown and is taken over by a group of crows! Well the men of the neighborhood band together to try to get the house sold and eventually a young divorcee, Nora Silk, moves in with her two small children. Nora is looked down on by everyone...after all she is divorced, and her young son is bullied by his classmates. My how times have changed since then. The novel peeks into the private lives of the residents and what really takes place behind all of the sameness. It includes the coming of age stories of several of the younger residents and the dissolution of some of their parents' lives. Overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it. I'll also be looking to read more of Hoffman.
September 11, 2024
To have peace with your neighbors you needed to adhere to two unspoken rules: mind your own business and keep up your lawn.
I am just going to get to the punchline. This was almost a do not finish read. Since I wrote this review, my rating has gone from a 3 to a 2 and finally rested at a 1. It was so slow and the characters were spiteful and judgemental and it just seemed like all the adults wanted to cheat on their spouses. Remember, these are the good times that people wax nostalgic about nowadays.
Or maybe I have always assumed that Alice Hoffman goes supernatural or historical. In this book, set in 1959/1960, different chapters focus on several residents of the same street. A few days later no character has stuck with me.
Goodreads review published 11/09/24
I am just going to get to the punchline. This was almost a do not finish read. Since I wrote this review, my rating has gone from a 3 to a 2 and finally rested at a 1. It was so slow and the characters were spiteful and judgemental and it just seemed like all the adults wanted to cheat on their spouses. Remember, these are the good times that people wax nostalgic about nowadays.
Or maybe I have always assumed that Alice Hoffman goes supernatural or historical. In this book, set in 1959/1960, different chapters focus on several residents of the same street. A few days later no character has stuck with me.
Goodreads review published 11/09/24
July 8, 2021
4 Stars
May 30, 2019
"Seventh Heaven" takes place in 1959 and 1960, on a single street in a new neighborhood on Long Island. The families who live there differ economically and culturally but they share values and are more alike than not. The women want nothing more than to make casseroles and pies, raise their children, look after their husband's clothes and clean house. Their kids hang out together. The husbands expect good meals, well-behaved children and in their free time to mow their lawns and take care of their homes. At night they hope for sex from their wives.
When divorced Nora moves to Hemlock Street norms are shaken, women are made uncomfortable, men are attracted or afraid or disgusted, kids are cruel. Nora is a strong and confident woman. She doesn't dress like them or cook and clean like them and she climbs ladders to clear out her own gutters. While the other women are making delectable scratch cakes for the kids' birthdays Nora sticks a candle in a Twinkie. No one on Hemlock Street has known anyone like her before, and they feel threatened.
This is the story of how Nora changes things on Hemlock Street simply by staying there and being herself. She doesn't force her company on anyone or try to fit in and she's not pushy even when selling Tupperware Because of that the changes happen organically, at different paces for different characters and families. She's not a saint and she has secrets so she makes a great protagonist. I love Alice Hoffman novels. Her magical realism gives them a special something where anything can happen and does. They have a dreamy quality. "Seventh Heaven" is a relaxing and enjoyable read.
When divorced Nora moves to Hemlock Street norms are shaken, women are made uncomfortable, men are attracted or afraid or disgusted, kids are cruel. Nora is a strong and confident woman. She doesn't dress like them or cook and clean like them and she climbs ladders to clear out her own gutters. While the other women are making delectable scratch cakes for the kids' birthdays Nora sticks a candle in a Twinkie. No one on Hemlock Street has known anyone like her before, and they feel threatened.
This is the story of how Nora changes things on Hemlock Street simply by staying there and being herself. She doesn't force her company on anyone or try to fit in and she's not pushy even when selling Tupperware Because of that the changes happen organically, at different paces for different characters and families. She's not a saint and she has secrets so she makes a great protagonist. I love Alice Hoffman novels. Her magical realism gives them a special something where anything can happen and does. They have a dreamy quality. "Seventh Heaven" is a relaxing and enjoyable read.
February 7, 2016
Absolutely loved this one, right up until the end, which left me feeling completely unsatisfied. Maybe that's the point. Nobody really gets happiness. Everybody just settles for what they have. The happiest endings go to Donna, who we barely knew, and Jackie, who was utterly despicable. The decent characters all end up sort of resigned to something less than what they want. So although I adored most of the book, the end result is bittersweet and a little bit depressing.
February 18, 2024
Charming trip back to the 50’s where the American Dream was the suburbs where the houses and the people all looked and acted the same. After the war, people wanted no surprises. So when a single glam mother and her children move into the neighborhood, the calm and predictable boat gets rocked. This is sort of charming and even thematically dated but still a pleasure to read
May 29, 2011
I really love Alice Hoffman; she tells a good story. This is my third read by her, after Here on Earth and Turtle Moon. Seventh Heaven is a slice-of-life story set on a suburban street in 1959-1960. The houses are practically identical, and life, from the outside, looks idealic. Then Nora Silk moves into one of the houses, and things begin to change. Nora is a single mother (divorced) of two little boys, which was an anomaly in the 50's. She isn't exactly welcomed with open arms, though some of the neighborhood men secretly lust after her. After her arrival, we begin to see the underlying tension within the residents on the street. People yearn for something, if not MORE, then at least DIFFERENT. They feel stifled by their lives and homes and families, a theme I've seen many times in other novels set in this time period.
I had a slight difficulty keeping track of all the characters while reading. There are several families, with husbands and wives and children, and I kept forgetting who belonged to whom. I wish I had made a little chart from the beginning, of each family, their professions, ages of the kids, etc. It breaks the flow of the story when you have to stop and try to remember the significance of the character you're reading about. I see from other reviewers that many people had this same issue. I feel myself waffling between 4 and 5 stars for just this reason... but it's not a major problem, just a minor irritation.
I had a slight difficulty keeping track of all the characters while reading. There are several families, with husbands and wives and children, and I kept forgetting who belonged to whom. I wish I had made a little chart from the beginning, of each family, their professions, ages of the kids, etc. It breaks the flow of the story when you have to stop and try to remember the significance of the character you're reading about. I see from other reviewers that many people had this same issue. I feel myself waffling between 4 and 5 stars for just this reason... but it's not a major problem, just a minor irritation.
October 17, 2016
Wow! Wow! Wow! I would give this book 10 stars if I could. The writing is divine, the plot amazing and the characters so real I think I know them personally. And maybe I do. This is the story of the same kind of neighborhood I lived in from age two to nine from 1956 to 1963.
It's 1959. The houses on Hemlock Drive are identical. The men take great pride in their lawns. The kids play outside until the moms call them in for dinner. All the moms stay home and bake cookies for their kids. It's a safe and magical time. Or is it? Author Alice Hoffman creates this neighborhood and populates it with ordinary people living what we sometimes look back on as the perfect time.
And then the nearly unthinkable happens. A divorced mother (in 1959!!!) moves into the neighborhood. Suddenly we get a better peek inside those identical homes on Hemlock Drive and realize there are a myriad of different problems behind closed doors. And mysteries. And yearnings. And jealousies. Broken marriages. Broken psyches. Teenage sex (in 1959!!!). Wife beating. A teenage car theft ring. A runaway mother. Marijuana-smoking teens (in 1959!!!) And a clairvoyant kid. It's a very light touch of the supernatural that brings the book to life and the plot to fruition.
Best of all, you don't have to be of a certain age (translation: baby boomer) to fall in love with this book. It's irresistible!
This is why we read--because of books like this.
It's 1959. The houses on Hemlock Drive are identical. The men take great pride in their lawns. The kids play outside until the moms call them in for dinner. All the moms stay home and bake cookies for their kids. It's a safe and magical time. Or is it? Author Alice Hoffman creates this neighborhood and populates it with ordinary people living what we sometimes look back on as the perfect time.
And then the nearly unthinkable happens. A divorced mother (in 1959!!!) moves into the neighborhood. Suddenly we get a better peek inside those identical homes on Hemlock Drive and realize there are a myriad of different problems behind closed doors. And mysteries. And yearnings. And jealousies. Broken marriages. Broken psyches. Teenage sex (in 1959!!!). Wife beating. A teenage car theft ring. A runaway mother. Marijuana-smoking teens (in 1959!!!) And a clairvoyant kid. It's a very light touch of the supernatural that brings the book to life and the plot to fruition.
Best of all, you don't have to be of a certain age (translation: baby boomer) to fall in love with this book. It's irresistible!
This is why we read--because of books like this.
June 16, 2011
In the late 1950s in suburban America, women stayed at home and tended their children and husbands. Brand new houses were built all the same in a cookie-cutter fashion. When Nora Silk moves into one of these neighbourhoods and she has no visible husband and dresses provocatively, she is looked upon with suspicion and ignored. But what happens is the street is turned upside down.
Other families on the street include: the McCarthys, boys, Ace and Jackie, and their patient father dubbed "the saint" by his sons; the Hennessys,Ellen, her cop husband Joe and son Stevie who makes Nora's son Billie's life a living hell; the Shapiros, Danny who could get into any college he wants due to his good grades and financial ability; and Rickie is seems unable to make wise choices about boyfriends and school; Donna Durgin, who walks out on her young children and husband because her life feels too empty.
The description of the time period was 'spot on'. I had a bit of trouble with all the myriad of characters and felt the book was mediocre. The story meandered and though quite good in parts would then lost its path.
Other families on the street include: the McCarthys, boys, Ace and Jackie, and their patient father dubbed "the saint" by his sons; the Hennessys,Ellen, her cop husband Joe and son Stevie who makes Nora's son Billie's life a living hell; the Shapiros, Danny who could get into any college he wants due to his good grades and financial ability; and Rickie is seems unable to make wise choices about boyfriends and school; Donna Durgin, who walks out on her young children and husband because her life feels too empty.
The description of the time period was 'spot on'. I had a bit of trouble with all the myriad of characters and felt the book was mediocre. The story meandered and though quite good in parts would then lost its path.
November 20, 2011
Seventh Heaven is Alice Hoffman’s 9th stand-alone novel and tells the story of when attractive divorcee Nora Silk came to live in Hemlock Street, Long Island with 8 year-old Billy and baby James. Set in the late ‘50s, it captures the dispiriting feeling of suburbia. As a divorced woman, Nora found her presence posed a threat and prevented her from being part of the community. The story is told from several different characters’ perspectives. Hoffman gives us beautiful prose and evocative descriptions that bring the reader right into the moment, even if it is occasionally not such a pleasant one. When Hoffman writes, the reader feels all the anxiety, fear, frustration, joy, sorrow and wonder that her characters feel. I really enjoyed the incongruity of a brilliant butterfly like Nora selling Tupperware to the oppressed moths of suburbia. I loved this novel.
January 27, 2016
I was put off by the title Seventh Heaven, it reminded me too much of the TV series and I automatically labeled the book as cheesy and saccharin. Pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong about that, but can't say that I loved the story either.
Nora Silk, divorced with two small children, moves to the suburbs of the late 50's, with stay at home moms, tidy homes and meatloaf dinners and the neighborhood and its residents start to erode from there. The novel blurb is a little misleading, Nora and her son, Billy are just one of quite a few characters that we meet and observe as they go through life changing moments or altered ideologies.
In the end, somehow Seventh Heaven seemed incomplete. I don't know if I was supposed to feel depressed and like the world had somehow let me down, but I did.
Nora Silk, divorced with two small children, moves to the suburbs of the late 50's, with stay at home moms, tidy homes and meatloaf dinners and the neighborhood and its residents start to erode from there. The novel blurb is a little misleading, Nora and her son, Billy are just one of quite a few characters that we meet and observe as they go through life changing moments or altered ideologies.
In the end, somehow Seventh Heaven seemed incomplete. I don't know if I was supposed to feel depressed and like the world had somehow let me down, but I did.
August 25, 2019
3 1/2 stars. At first this seems like a happy suburban drama. A neat recently finished street with houses full of wholesome civic minded families in 1960 USA. Slowly it reveals itself as we glimpse behind the doors and into the daily lives of these families. It’s a dark place of prejudice, domestic violence and jealousy where even those who appear happy are not.
Alice Hoffman is great at describing daily life with a forensic eye for the details that create an emotional response in the reader. While some characters are extremely unlikeable she still finds small moments that create empathy and connections for the reader.
This is a slow burner of a story and doesn’t have any dramatic revelations but carries you along silently as a spectator to the unfolding events; allowing some characters to recreate themselves while others decline and lose authority and respectability.
Alice Hoffman is great at describing daily life with a forensic eye for the details that create an emotional response in the reader. While some characters are extremely unlikeable she still finds small moments that create empathy and connections for the reader.
This is a slow burner of a story and doesn’t have any dramatic revelations but carries you along silently as a spectator to the unfolding events; allowing some characters to recreate themselves while others decline and lose authority and respectability.
January 7, 2021
Alice Hoffman is quite a writer. Amazingly, the outcast newcomer, Nora Silk, brings a whole neighborhood together in the late 1950s haze of manicured lawns and perfect but seriously flawed people. From Joe to Jackie to Stevie to Ace to Billy, the male characters are poignantly portrayed as having deep emotional needs beneath tough or mean or scared exteriors. And her female characters feel a need for community they had only faked before Nora came to town.
October 28, 2021
This kept making me think of Mad Men and the divorcee that moves onto the Draper's street and everyone is so scandalized, like it's catching. Love Hoffman and how descriptive she is, a nice change from her usual stuff though, not as magical as many of her books.
January 3, 2018
Not as good as I was hoping for, but still interesting. Hillary Huber narrated the audiobook. 3 stars.
October 11, 2021
A darker read than expected but a great one nonetheless.
September 4, 2022
DNF - as soon as an adult starts sleeping with a high school student, I'm out.
January 4, 2020
I do enjoy books by this author. I finished this book because it's book one for 2020. I found the story to be good but there were so many characters that the story didn't flow. It felt choppy and all over the place.
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