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Blackbird House: A Novel (Paperback)

by Alice Hoffman (Author) "IT WAS SAID THAT BOYS SHOULD GO ON their first sea voyage at the age of ten, but surely this notion was never put forth..." (more)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 238 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (Mar 29 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345455932
ISBN-13: 978-0345455932
Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.2 x 1.6 cm
Shipping Weight: 200 g

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #184,283 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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#10 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > Hoffman, Alice

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific novelist Hoffman (The Probable Future; Blue Diary;etc.) offers 12 lush and lilting interconnected stories, all taking place in the same Cape Cod farmhouse over the course of generations. Built during British colonial days by a man who dies tragically on a final fishing trip, Blackbird House is home, in the following generation, to a man who lost his leg to a giant halibut. In the late 19th century, Blackbird inhabitant Violet Cross has a brief affair with a Harvard scholar who inevitably betrays her; in the story that follows, she pushes her son, Lion West, to Harvard in 1908, which in turn launches him to life—and early death—in England. Lion's orphaned son, Lion West Jr., serves in World War II and meets a German-Jewish woman spirited enough to stand up to his possessive grandmother Violet. Hoffman's symbols are lovingly presented and polished: the 10-year-old boy who drowned with his father in the first story sets free a pet blackbird, who returns, now all white, to live with the boy's mother; in the last two stories, a 10-year-old boy blames a white crow for his mischief, and, a generation later, that boy's grown-up sister meets a 10-year-old boy who makes her reconsider selling Blackbird House. Fire, water, milk, pears, halibut—these, too, play important symbolic and sometimes almost magical roles. This may not be the subtlest of literary devices, but Hoffman's lyrical prose weaves an undeniable spell.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School - In this collection of tales, Hoffman takes readers into the lives of the people who lived in Blackbird House from the time of the American Revolution to the present. The house, on a farm on Cape Cod, has a haunting presence throughout the book. In addition to ghost sightings, there are touches of magical realism (a white blackbird, blood-red pears - the color of witchcraft, "crying turnips"). However, it is the characters themselves, their stories and their relationships with others, that are the most compelling. Among them are Violet, a voracious reader, greedy for knowledge and betrayed by the love of her life, whose "fierce love" continues to influence the lives of her son and grandson; Jamie, a boy helping his neighbor deal with the consequences of a secret that everyone has known - and ignored - for years; Emma, a leukemia survivor, wishing to become the person she might have been if she hadn't been so ill as a child. The residents of Blackbird House experience deep sorrow and personal loss, but they also endure due to the power of love. Many of the characters are between the ages of 10 and 30, which will add to the book's appeal for young adults. - Sandy Freund, Richard Byrd Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
IT WAS SAID THAT BOYS SHOULD GO ON their first sea voyage at the age of ten, but surely this notion was never put forth by anyone's mother. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars My first experience with Alice Hoffman, Dec 11 2007

By	J. Macgillivray "Maritime Bookworm" (Moncton, NB, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Blackbird House (Hardcover)

This book was my first experience with Alice Hoffman. I read it in two days, and immediately went looking for more AH. I love the whole mystical thing she has going on in her writing.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Symbols, metaphors, and more, Aug 13 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Blackbird House (Hardcover)

Novelist Alice Hoffman (of Blue Diary fame)gives us a tale of the generations. The action takes place in a Cape Cod farmhouse and the secrets uncovered there help weave the tales (12 of them) that are all connected. I was immediately reminded of McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood" with its unusual form and famly saga-like connections. And don't be put off by the 200 year span that encompases the novel--with the wonderful writing and style that Hoffman uses, the pages just fly by. With myriad symbols and beautiful writing, this book is sure to please even the most serious fan of literature. Also recommended: THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD.

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3.0 out of 5 stars (3.5) Place as a keeper of secrets, Jul 20 2004

By	Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Blackbird House (Hardcover)

This is the kind of novel only Hoffman can write, full of mystery and the indelible images of people who spend their short time on earth stepping quietly into the pages of the past, as the years speed forward to embrace the future.

The epicenter of each family who lives there, Blackbird House knows each memory, the good and the bad, etched into time as it hovers at the edge of the earth at the Cape, only a mile from the ocean, in a fertile field of trees, wild berries and wildly growing vegetation. From the first family residing there and their travails, Hoffman never shrinks from the realities of life and death. Rather, the house serves as an impassive witness to the fortunes and misfortunes of a succession of families. In such a harsh part of the world, where many men make their living from the sea, families endure their losses, accepting fate or despairing at life's cruelties.

Blackbird House seems to draw an inordinate amount of unhappiness, many lonely, desperate people; yet, in its quiet solitude, the house is an anchor, overflowing with wild growth as if nature would make up in abundance what people have lost. Certainly, there are omens, such as the return of the blackbird pet of a young boy lost at sea, the bird's once black feathers turned white. But omens are, after all, in the perception of the beholder.

Hoffman is an artist, a writer who cannot exist in a land without ambiguity. Her message is one of healing, no matter the damage and compassion for a world that often seems careless of human feelings. Blackbird House is a place of opposites, hope and despair, sadness and happiness and death and renewal. Years of disappointment witness the passage of time, ushering in a new day with the promise of tomorrow. Luan Gaines/2004.

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