Blackbird House

By: Alice Hoffman

Narrated by: John Lee, Xe Sands, Amy Rubinate, Paul Michael Garcia, Bernadette Dunne, Tavia Gilbert, Cassandra Campbell, Hillary Huber

Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hoffman follows her celebrated bestseller The Probable Future with an evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse, certain that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots arrives to change everything; Maya Cooper, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late. From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, family after family's lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love but by the lives they lead inside Blackbird House.

These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

Narrated by John Lee, Se Sands, Amy Rubinate, Paul Michael Garcia, Bernadette Dunne, Tavia Gilbert, Cassandra Campbell, Hillary Huber, Kirsten Potter, Carrington McDuffie, Kate Reading, and Laura Hicks.

©2004 Alice Hoffman (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

short stories

I'm a fan of Alice Hoffman don't get me wrong I love her weaving of tales and the magic she sprinkles into them, however this was a hard book for me to get through. Wth 11 different story lines all loosely linked together there was no real climax and the book took on more of a collection of short stories feel.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Land is Character

Let's suppose there was a plot of land that was the main character of a book. I would have done better had I known that simple fact. For some reason, the Kindle version did not download properly so I just listened to the Audible version.

I could have done without the first narrator. Oh, goodness what a bombastic voice! The rest of the narrators were great. In fact, it was fun that each chapter, which was each new inhabitant of the property got a new voice many of them were fantastic!

When I finally got my Kindle to download, I did much better as I could read along with the Audible. In fact, it Whispersynched perfectly.

Alice Hoffman has become one of my favorite authors. Remember she is the one who wrote Practical Magic. So I had to grab this when it was on special. This one read similarly to the Red Garden. She refers to witches and red shoes and other symbolism that would be fun to discuss in a book group.

I may have to read this again someday as I know there was a lot more there than I absorbed. One of my issues with the book was I wanted more of each resident. I always felt each story too short. Maybe I wanted a series?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Interesting concept w/a house as a character

A series of short stories with a house and surrounding property in Massachusetts as a main character. The property is followed from when a house is first built till when it needs renovation and is to be sold.
Most of the narrators are excellent. Some stories are excellent, some are not. Many slices of life are presented. While the writing is always good, The lives of some of the characters are much more interesting than the lives of other characters and as such the book chapters very in likability and interest.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Cape Cod Memories of ones childhood!

I absolutely loved these short stories and recommend. this to any age group because there's something for any age to enjoy..

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

wonderful

Reads like a collection of interconnected short stories. Thought the stories dpan 100+ years, it's a perfect shorter audiobook for traveling!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

This is really short stories

The picture on the front said a novel but it was really short stories. After I got used to that idea I enjoyed them.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Boo....

Narration was on point. Story was pointless... Where were you Alice Hoffman?? Not her normal storytelling.

Needed more!

Terrific local color and as always, beautiful, lyrical prose by Alice Hoffman, but each chapter could have been developed into a freestanding novel. I understand her portrayal of how lives and stories flow through any single old house, but I would have enjoyed more, much more, about each family’s story.

I expected so much more.

This had potential to be captivating.
It was not. I listened to the full book, hoping for a thread.
Oh well, not all books can be great.
I’m disappointed.
M

enjoyable

Alice Hoffman never fails to bring her stories to life. I liked the way it was all based around the same house but hundreds of years apart.