Endicott Mythic Fiction discussion

Dear Endicott Folks,
Here on Earth is our April reading selection - who's reading with us?

Apologies for posting the topic so late. On the plus side, this should be a fairly easy book to track down since Alice Hoffman books are often well stocked in both bookstores & libraries.

I'm in! I got the book from the library last week and have been extremely intrigued by the first 30 or so pages. Beautiful writing. I am looking forward to the discussion.

Well it turns out I am reading it after all.
About halfway through it right now.
Bri

Bri, I'm glad to hear it. I was hoping to chat about it but wasn't sure who else was reading.

Hi Mary,
What a gorgeous story, I just finished it yesterday. Its sunny and warm where I live right now but reading that book totally took me to a tiny New England town in late October--brr! I loved her narrative voice in the story, it had this great quality of making the passage of time this very gradual, unmarked thing--I wonder if that was the way March felt about time when she and Hollis reconnected, as if she had lots of time to figure out what was going on, to be patient with him, to worry about herself and her daughter...later. She could get around to it later.

I look forward to chatting with you!
Bri

I agree with you about the quality of the passage of time. Do you know if all of Hoffman's work is like this or it is specific to this novel? I haven't read any of her other work.

I'm curious how you felt about the opening of the story. I felt that the narrator went to some trouble to explain how unnatural things were in the locale, how magical things were, but I never felt that the magical aspect showed up again in the story. Admittedly, the site of the death at the end could have been magical, but just felt coincidental to me.

I also started to feel that it was turning into a faery tale when March moved in with Hollis near the middle but I couldn't put my finger on what story it reminded me of. Was I just making things up or is this a retelling and I'm just missing it?

I felt the writing was especially compelling and plan to look for more of Hoffman's work.

Mary,

I just read (listened to) Hoffman's 'The Story Sisters', and would say that time moved conventionally. It covered the lives of sisters from pre-adolescence to adulthood and it was always clear which stage of life they were in, and which scenes were flashback. Though there was a clear mythic element to the story, it was sort of told alongside the events in the 'real' world.

Mary wrote: "I also started to feel that it was turning into a faery tale when March moved in with Hollis near the middle but I couldn't put my finger on what story it reminded me of. Was I just making things up or is this a retelling and I'm just missing it?..."

4 years too late and I'm only a few chapters into it, but based on what I've read so far, it's a retelling of Wuthering Heights.

Oh I did not even know about this! Were reading two books this month? I am interested, but will have order the book first!

No, I was just reading it on my own and decided to see what had been said about it when it was a group read here a few years ago.

Melanti wrote: "No, I was just reading it on my own and decided to see what had been said about it when it was a group read here a few years ago."

Ha! Did not notice that all the comments except yours were written in 2010!