Seventh Heaven

by Alice Hoffman

Book Overview

"SEVENTH HEAVEN confirms her place as one of the finest writers of her generation." NEWSWEEK Nora is ahead of her time. A single mother in 1950s suburbia, she's strong, sexy, passionate, and mysterious. Everyone in town is touched by her, and in the mirror of her magnetism, people see themselves as never before. With Nora's courageous image before them, they begin to ask themselves questions they had never asked--finding answers they had never dared...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399135359
• ISBN13: 9780399135354
• Release Date: August 1990
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Amazing

You absolutely have to read this book. It's taken up residence in my soul. Hoffman writes with a fantastical flair while telling the stories of a suburbia.

A "comfort-food" read...

I have read "Seventh Heaven" by Alice Hoffman many times. It's the type of book which leaves a different impression with each read, and I find myself identifying with different characters at different times. There is an element of fantasy in the novel, typical for Alice Hoffman, but while some of her books have a dark and even sinister undertone, "Seventh Heaven" focuses more on redemption and the different types of love we come into contact with in our lives. The characters are complicated and exasperating but by the end of the book you feel connected to at least one of them in an unexpected way. Highly recommended.

Hoffman Enchants Again

I just finished re-reading this delightful book of Alice Hoffman's. I have had a hard time finding new fiction which interests me lately, so I went back to some old favorites.This story takes place in the late 50s in a community on Long Island, a former potato field where all the houses look so much alike that sometimes women wander around for hours trying to find their houses. Into this cookie-cutter community of stay-at-home mothers with perfect homes arrives Nora Silk, divorced from her magician husband, with two small boys. The house she moves into is reputed to be haunted and is slowly disintegrating.Nora is not welcomed by the other mothers, as they have never known anyone who is divorced and they are suspicious of her (and afraid of what their husbands will do). One look at Nora in her stretch pants and spike heels and you know what the husbands thought! Her son Billy is shunned at school--it does not help that he can read others' thoughts. All Nora wants is to be accepted, grow flowers, and have some friends. But to her credit, she never succumbs to artifice in this quest. Instead of acceptance, Nora is labelled as a witch and Billy fails every subject except penmanship. As for the rest of her life, she "crossed her fingers and waited, she thought good thoughts and experimented with casseroles that contained olive loaf and hoped that would be enough." There is some of Hoffman's magical realiam woven into the story, but so adroitly that the reader hardly realizes it and must go back and re-read the passage. Hoffman's character descriptions are subtle and spare, but draw a complete picture of this neighborhood. Another great book by this author!

Hoffman at her Best

This book shows Alice Hoffman at her zenith. I haven't enjoyed any of her subsequent novels as purely as I did Seventh Heaven. Enchanting!

Magical

This was the first Alice Hoffman book I've read, and I did so last week. It was a breath of fresh air. Beautifuly written, without being 'over-written', and almost magical. It is a story centered around a time where things were rapidly changing..the late 50's. I can easily say it is one of the best books I've read this year.Some of her prose were so lyrical I almost had the urge to haul out a highlighter. It certainly won't be the last Hoffman book I read.

I couldn't put this book down!

I've read a few Alice Hoffman books, and she is certainly becoming one of my favorite writers. This book has everything. Nora and her son Billy bring out such raw emotion. Donna Durgin's plight made me want to cry out for her. The mystical, magical, and even voodoo are included. I loved it.