(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. But "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 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 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 creations. 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. 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.
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman is the first book I've ever picked up based on an author's recommendation. During her Literary Salon Series interview Jodi Picoult mentioned that one of her favorite authors ever is Alice Hoffman so I of course jumped on Paperbackswap.com and immediately ordered one of Hoffman's books that sounded interesting. I was wrong.The basis synopsis of the book from the back cover is three generations of a family haunted by love, although now that I think about it I really don't know which three generations those were - John's parents, John and Arlyn/Cynthia, Sam and Amy, or Will? Maybe that's why I just didn't get the book. I really can't give you much more about the book than it's about an extremely dysfunctional family trying to figure out why they are so dysfunctional. But I could tell you. It's the:Mom that thinks people have wings and can fly away at any timeSon that is high throughout the book and draws scary images (think the possessed artist in Heroes)Dad who is not around, cheats on his wife, and is haunted by his wife after she diesNanny who sees said wife haunting dad and decides she can and should save druggie sonI know there is a lot more to the book and I'm sure I'm missing the profound meaning and incredible writing, but I just didn't get it. Or to be more clear, I just didn't like it. I'm not a big fan of novels like this that are based more in fantasy than real life (or maybe real life from the perspective of someone high on heroine) and I just couldn't relate.I'm sure there are a ton of people out there that love Alice Hoffman, including Jodi Picoult, but I just couldn't wrap my head around this one and it definitely did not make me immediately order another one of her books right away. I will give her three stars though because the way the story all tied together was intriguing and yes, I'll admit the writing was good.
What do You think about Skylight Confessions (2007)?
Hoffman's last few books haven't piqued my interest- I found myself reading them reluctantly. But this one proves she's back on her game again! The novel delves into the darker sides of families- it looks at addictions, death and affairs. All of these themes are tied together with Hoffman's famous mystical elements. The most heartbreaking character by far is Sam- a young man dealing with heroin addiction and obsessed with the stories his mother told him about a rare group of people from Conneticut that can fly. The jacket of the book promises "you will never look at families the same way again" and I'm somewhat inclined to agree. You will find elements of your own family in this book. It's wonderful.
—Rebecca
I'm a big fan of Hoffman, but this one pretty much just left me cold. I guess I just don't have patience with "magical realism" anymore, so I couldn't figure out where the heck she was going. Was it a classic dysfunctional family novel, or a ghost story? I could have done without the latter elements and enjoyed the book much more. It's always interesting to see how dysfunctionality is inevitably passed on between generations. John Moody has zero inner life and cannot connect with anyone else. He is a cold dad and husband, only making the effort late in life. Sam is a classic kid scarred by childhood trauma (the mom's death) who is doomed to self-destruction. Blanca starts out OK, but degenerates into bitterness.The Meredith character puzzled me the most. She becomes a caregiver after she cannot take care of herself in the wake of a high school boyfriend's suicide. What is her function, after she cannot save Sam? I didn't find any of the characters likable,so simply didn't care about their dilemmas.
—Pat
When I was younger I loved Alice Hoffman. I loved that characters felt things so intensely that they literally burst into flames. Now that I'm older and less inclined to start on fire, I moved away from magical realism. I was prompted to read this one for a book club which was ironic because I've been plodding through her newer book The Dovekeepers for a different book club so I am drenched in this author after a long hiatus. It's not the same. Skylight Confessions is a strong story and the complex characters propel it along through multi generations of people who make poor decisions when they are feeling lost. Arlyn and John Moody fall together during a lost state. Arlyn wants to make it work and John doesn't try. The ensuing dysfunction results in achingly destroyed kids and miserable adults. It gets 2 stars from me because I didn't care about any character and even though I know there are families that are that sick, the story leaps and character connections felt unrealistic. Kind o messy book.
—Julie
