Skylight Confessions (edition 2008)

by Alice Hoffman

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1,179	39	16,731	(3.65)	36
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Writing at the height of her powers, Alice Hoffman conjures three generations of a family haunted by love. Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the avenues of Manhattan , and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.… (more)

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Member:	cacburke
Title:	Skylight Confessions
Authors:	Alice Hoffman
Info:	Back Bay Books (2008), Paperback, 288 pages
Collections:	Your library
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Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

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Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)

I enjoy reading stories where the characters are all highly unlikable, if those characters are also very interesting. I could not find either main character in this book interesting, and so could not finish it.

Paperback version, donated to my local public library. (

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Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |

rabck from dove-i-libri; etherical, magical type of book. When John gets lost, Arlyn finds and marries him. They move into his family home made of glass in Connecticut, where Arlyn dotes on son Sam and teaches him fantasy and fairytales. She beings an affair with the house's windowwasher, and gives birth to a daughter, no realizing John Moody knows the truth. When Arlyn dies of cancer in her 20s, he allows her lover to be by her side, and after her death, her son unravels, while John sees Arlyn everywhere - ghost or specter? John marries Cynthia, the next door neighbor and has another child, while Blanca doesn't know John isn't her father. Sam and Blanca are close, until the drugs take him away for periods of time and eventually forever Could anyone have rescued Sam? (

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nancynova | Jun 4, 2021 |

Arlyn Singer, red-headed, young, and driven by fantasy, chooses her future husband by fate. He is so shocked by her actions that he can't help falling for her. Through three generations, Arlyn has an influence. For her husband, John Moody, she follows him literally after her death.

We track Arlyn, John, their son Sam, his sister Blanca, and grandson Will, as each tries to navigate life, particularly in a glass house.

Hoffman indulges in other worlds here, yet the story stays grounded. In the end, we wonder if Arlyn's sense of fate had it right.

Not a fan of ghosts myself, I nevertheless was not particularly bothered by this one. (

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slojudy | Sep 8, 2020 |

The first book I read by Hoffman was such an exciting find...she wrote about connections with forces not seen, which I enjoy reading about.
There is some of that in this book, but the tale is much more disjointed. It feels like she was tossing in as many unusual events as she could think of, without care for how disconnected they were from the story. Yes, I can kind of see how she wanted to weave a tale of what happens when you just follow thru on spur-of-the moment impulses, but it's not a clear read. It actually took over a year to read it, & the only reason I finished is that I had it stored in my car as an emergency book for times when I had to wait & didn't bring a preferred book. At no time did the story get me involved to the point where I wanted to bring it into the house & get it finished. I just feel a sense of relief that it's done. (

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juniperSun | Jun 10, 2018 |

This book's title comes from the spectacular glass house which is almost like a separate character with a pull on its occupants. I feel this novel is a fairy-tale for adults. It even has the evil stepmother in its cast of characters! It's about family relationships through three generations. There is plenty of grief and many heartbreaking scenes. The characters are well-developed as we read about life's complications as family members try to connect.

It held my interest throughout even though it was a downer at times. Reading about a teenage boy who is addicted to drugs made me so sad. Alice Hoffman has a way of magically pulling you in and making you intrigued with her characters even when you don't particularly like them. It's evident that Ms. Hoffman is a distinguished writer and I plan to read more of her work. (

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pegmcdaniel | Feb 10, 2017 |

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Skylight Confessions

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She was his first wife, but at the moment when he first saw her she was a seventeen-year-old girl named Arlyn Singer who stood out on the front porch on an evening that seemed suspended in time.

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▾Book descriptions

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Writing at the height of her powers, Alice Hoffman conjures three generations of a family haunted by love. Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the avenues of Manhattan , and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.

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From CD Cover: "On the night her father dies, Arlyn is certain that the man she is meant to be with will walk into her life. But fate seems to be playing a trick when John Moody knocks on her door to ask for directions. Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their marriage is dangerous territory, tracing a map no one should follow. It leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the rooftops and avenues of Manhattan, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound, all in a search for family and identity.

Walking this path of ruin and redemption are Sam, their son, a brilliant, explosive artist who is drawn to self-destruction and dreams; Blanca, the beautiful loner who tries desperately to protect her brother from his destiny and lives her own life in a world of books; and Will, the grandson, who is left a legacy of broken pieces he needs to put together, an emotional and mysterious puzzle made up of people who don't know the first thing about love."

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