• Home

Still A Dreamer

Life, art, animals, writing, children's books, dreaming …

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Illustration Saturday – Featuring … Me!
Drawing Horses »

Blue Diary – Alice Hoffman

September 5, 2010 by still a dreamer

I may have written this elsewhere on my blog about Alice Hoffman, but I will say it again. She never disappoints as an author, and she is a master of the well-crafted, cannot-put-it-down novel.

Blue Diary is the latest of Alice Hoffman’s that I’ve read – just finished it, in fact, and I feel like I want to pick it up and read it again; I didn’t want it to end, and I feel like another reading will further enrich my experience in Monroe, MA. Hoffman’s characters are so real – so relatable. They are people you know, flawed, struggling, yet with their own — sometimes surprising — depths of strength.

A family man with a wife and child who adore him, a worker in the small town relied upon for his excellent services, and a volunteer fireman honored because he is often the first to go into a fire fearlessly and rescue someone trapped. Yet on one morning the police arrive – his own friends – and take him away in handcuffs for a crime he allegedly committed 13 years ago in a different state under a different name. How has this happened?

I suppose in a way you can say this is a murder mystery, but it is so much more than that. It is an examination of the hearts and souls of the people whose lives Ethan Ford has touched,  and those of their friends and loved ones as things start to come apart at the seams, and also of those whose lives he has ruined. It is a mystery that needs sorting out by many different people. Over the course of Blue Diary, the mystery is revealed, played out through the many characters we get to know and care about.

The second chapter in Part One, simply entitled “True,” is from the POV of Kat, neighbor and 12 year old friend of Ethan Ford’s son, Collie. She says, “The first thing I noticed was that he could walk past a mirror without casting a reflection. My grandmother always told me that a mirror can shine back a person’s dishonesty, but what did it mean for a man to have no reflection at all?” This is not a tale of vampires, or the supernatural, but an insight of a child who can appraise a truth. Something no one else has quite been able to grasp, though past inklings come to light for some. Masterfully woven into the main plot are several sub-plots, all wonderfully intriguing.

And then there’s Hoffman’s writing itself. Her writing has been described as “lush” and “luminous” and these are accurate. Her way with words is so incredibly rich, I never want to leave her world – whichever book’s world she has enticed me to enter. Perhaps it’s why I’m inclined to want to read this again immediately after just finishing it. Her descriptions of place, of experience, of emotion are so compelling that I am there. It’s an amazing gift, and I don’t know of that many authors I’ve read that share it so consistently, novel after novel. Blue Diary is a terrific read.

So what next? What can follow such an engrossing story? Or should I just enjoy it again?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Authors, Creativity, Good Reads, Writing | Tagged Alice Hoffman |

  • What I’m Reading Now

  • What I’m Also Reading …

  • Like what you see? Sign up and get an e-mail when I've posted something new.

  • Recent Posts

    • My Dad
    • A Little Hope and Happiness
    • Seeing Art …
    • River Walk – Spring 2022
    • Film, Music, Dance, Editing
    • Finding A Unicorn
    • Need A Little Joy?
    • Making My Way in the World with A Book
    • Update on “Butterflies”
    • Send A Little Love in Valentine’s Season
  • I write about ...

    Animals Art Authors Books Cats Children's Books Creativity food French Bulldogs Good Reads Helping Out Holidays Home Stuff Illustration Inspiration Just Fun Life Metaphysical Nature Novels Photography Reflections Society Spiritual Writing
  • Blogs I Follow

    • From The Quill
    • Bespoke Traveler
    • saania2806.wordpress.com/
    • Wandering Ambivert
    • Marie Lamba, author
    • The Yoga Cowgirl
    • J.J.Brown Author
    • THE DAILY ROUND
    • roughwighting
    • Platform Number 4
    • Letitgocoach
    • Giving Voice to My Astonishment
    • Lauren Reyes-Grange, Digital Strategist
    • JEANNE BALSAM GRAPHICS
    • Salmon Brook Farms
    • Harvesting Hecate
    • Cynthia Reyes
    • A Leaf in Springtime

WPThemes.


From The Quill

Aren't songs of grief lullabies to the lost?

Bespoke Traveler

Immersive Tales for the Curious Explorer

saania2806.wordpress.com/

Philosophy is all about being curious, asking basic questions. And it can be fun!

Wandering Ambivert

Marie Lamba, author

Some thoughts from author and agent Marie Lamba

The Yoga Cowgirl

Live fully and have fun doing so...

J.J.Brown Author

Be entertained. Be horrified. Be inspired.

THE DAILY ROUND

Living From the Spirit Level

roughwighting

Life in a flash - a weekly writing blog

Platform Number 4

Becky Ross Michael: an author's blog

Letitgocoach

You can shake the world in a gentle way.

Giving Voice to My Astonishment

Observing, Gathering, Gleaning, Sharing

Lauren Reyes-Grange, Digital Strategist

Lauren Reyes-Grange

JEANNE BALSAM GRAPHICS

BRINGING YOUR DREAMS TO LIFE

Salmon Brook Farms

Official Home of Lavinia and Rick Ross

Harvesting Hecate

Thoughts on life, writing, creativity and magic

Cynthia Reyes

The blog of Canadian author Cynthia Reyes

A Leaf in Springtime

"Be a dew to the soil of the human heart."

  • Follow Following
    • Still A Dreamer
    • Join 149 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Still A Dreamer
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: