Review: White Horses by Alice Hoffman
“There were other times when she stayed awake nearly till morning, convinced that if she were quiet enough, if she waited long enough, the night would reveal itself to her in a slow stream of syllables shaped by its wings; a song only she could understand.”
Well, this is a very good example of how even pretty good writing alone doesn’t make a good book.
Dina, of Santa Fe, spends almost all of her life looking out of windows and waiting for a mystical cowboy - decorated in turquoise and riding a white horse - to sweep her off her feet and lead her to a life of love, adventure, and mystery. Since was a little girl, she listened to her father tell her stories of Arias: lone, shadowy riders of the full moon, and ever since then, Dina waits for one to find her. Becoming impatient, she runs off with a scoundrel of a man, King Connors, and follows him to California to start a new life.
We follow the story of her their children, Reuben, Theresa, and Dina's favorite, Silver – who she believes is one of her beloved Arias. Passing the story on to a naïve Theresa, she, too, is convinced that Arias are real, and believes her brother to be one of these fictional, dark men. She, too, spends her youth longing and looking for love in the wrong places – but she in her older brother, Silver. (Yes...she is in love with her brother, and he with her - I will address that.)
While the characters may have been mostly three-dimensional, I just didn’t care about them. I didn’t care what happened to them. (SPOILER!)At one point, I was crossing my fingers that Angel Gregory would just kill Silver. But that was an empty plot arc. It built up and led to nothing. Could we have at least gotten a shootout?!
Less than halfway through I was pretty frustrated with all of of the characters. Dina was the only one who redeemed herself, but it was way too late for it to make any difference.
I can't tell you why I disliked them so much, despite that being what a reviewer is supposed to do. Something was just off. Maybe it was a chemistry issue. But I don't think I am alone here.
Theresa is a great example of someone who loved to play the victim, to be the princess waiting to be rescued. “She came to believe that she was destined to be whatever was expected of her, and in time she went out with any boy who asked her,” Hoffman writes. She only dated other boys, and then men, to repress memories of her and her brother together, because even as a child, she knew it was wrong. Still, it takes her over a decade to realize that Silver is a fucking asshole. I mean, I understand that she has no education past high school, and that her mother basically brainwashed her with fairy tales, but I got pretty sick of Theresa really quickly.
So, no, the incest didn't bother me. Yeah, it's weird. But, hey love is love. I'm not one to judge. My first kiss was with a boy who I thought was my cousin. (He wasn't - I was about six.) But what was happening between Theresa and her brother Silver wasn't love. It didn't feel like real love at all; it felt more like some sort of combination of illusion and desperation.
It didn’t matter to me how attractive Silver was supposed to be. Usually, he is exactly my type: tall, dark, handsome, and a complete narcissistic asshole. Maybe I’m coming to a point in my life where I am through with that type of man. Because I wasn’t buying it here. His charms faded after the first chapter or so.
“The odor of roses was so strong it made him dizzy.” And yeah, let’s talk about the roses. When Theresa falls under one of her "sleeping spells"(which I didn't bother to mention because I failed to see how they even added to the story), she sends out a strong odor of roses. It literally made me nauseous. I never really liked roses, but I don’t think I will ever be able to smell them again without thinking about this mess of a book. I guess it was supposed to be enchanting or add to the thinly spread, magical aspect of the novel, but that, too, failed.
The writing itself, context removed, was the only redeeming quality which saved me from giving this novel less than 2.5 stars. Let’s see for a minute here...
"A man who traveled beneath an orange moon on nights that were scented with wildflowers and thick with heat suddenly seemed much less marvelous than a man who would sit on the back porch and hold her hand for hours without having to say one word."
Like, damn. That’s good. That is one of those rare moments in prose where you have to put down the book, take a deep breath, and read the passage again, letting it soak into your soul. Except, it’s ironic, because the only man in this bloody book who fits that latter description (Bergen) was an absolutely useless character, and didn’t really do anything to help anyone. Ugh.
Although I was vastly underwhelmed and disappointed in my first Alice Hoffman novel, I will certainly give her another chance. After all, Practical Magic is one of my favorite films of all time.
I’ll leave you with this, which was my favorite line, and I think something that everybody needs to hear:
"It's no good to need someone more than you want them.”
If that reminder is all I take with me from this novel, so be it. It's better than nothing.
*Many thanks to Open Road Media and NetGalley for this e-book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.*
My rating: 2.5/5 stars
Dina, of Santa Fe, spends almost all of her life looking out of windows and waiting for a mystical cowboy - decorated in turquoise and riding a white horse - to sweep her off her feet and lead her to a life of love, adventure, and mystery. Since was a little girl, she listened to her father tell her stories of Arias: lone, shadowy riders of the full moon, and ever since then, Dina waits for one to find her. Becoming impatient, she runs off with a scoundrel of a man, King Connors, and follows him to California to start a new life.
We follow the story of her their children, Reuben, Theresa, and Dina's favorite, Silver – who she believes is one of her beloved Arias. Passing the story on to a naïve Theresa, she, too, is convinced that Arias are real, and believes her brother to be one of these fictional, dark men. She, too, spends her youth longing and looking for love in the wrong places – but she in her older brother, Silver. (Yes...she is in love with her brother, and he with her - I will address that.)
While the characters may have been mostly three-dimensional, I just didn’t care about them. I didn’t care what happened to them. (SPOILER!)
Less than halfway through I was pretty frustrated with all of of the characters. Dina was the only one who redeemed herself, but it was way too late for it to make any difference.
I can't tell you why I disliked them so much, despite that being what a reviewer is supposed to do. Something was just off. Maybe it was a chemistry issue. But I don't think I am alone here.
Theresa is a great example of someone who loved to play the victim, to be the princess waiting to be rescued. “She came to believe that she was destined to be whatever was expected of her, and in time she went out with any boy who asked her,” Hoffman writes. She only dated other boys, and then men, to repress memories of her and her brother together, because even as a child, she knew it was wrong. Still, it takes her over a decade to realize that Silver is a fucking asshole. I mean, I understand that she has no education past high school, and that her mother basically brainwashed her with fairy tales, but I got pretty sick of Theresa really quickly.
So, no, the incest didn't bother me. Yeah, it's weird. But, hey love is love. I'm not one to judge. My first kiss was with a boy who I thought was my cousin. (He wasn't - I was about six.) But what was happening between Theresa and her brother Silver wasn't love. It didn't feel like real love at all; it felt more like some sort of combination of illusion and desperation.
It didn’t matter to me how attractive Silver was supposed to be. Usually, he is exactly my type: tall, dark, handsome, and a complete narcissistic asshole. Maybe I’m coming to a point in my life where I am through with that type of man. Because I wasn’t buying it here. His charms faded after the first chapter or so.
“The odor of roses was so strong it made him dizzy.” And yeah, let’s talk about the roses. When Theresa falls under one of her "sleeping spells"(which I didn't bother to mention because I failed to see how they even added to the story), she sends out a strong odor of roses. It literally made me nauseous. I never really liked roses, but I don’t think I will ever be able to smell them again without thinking about this mess of a book. I guess it was supposed to be enchanting or add to the thinly spread, magical aspect of the novel, but that, too, failed.
The writing itself, context removed, was the only redeeming quality which saved me from giving this novel less than 2.5 stars. Let’s see for a minute here...
"A man who traveled beneath an orange moon on nights that were scented with wildflowers and thick with heat suddenly seemed much less marvelous than a man who would sit on the back porch and hold her hand for hours without having to say one word."
Like, damn. That’s good. That is one of those rare moments in prose where you have to put down the book, take a deep breath, and read the passage again, letting it soak into your soul. Except, it’s ironic, because the only man in this bloody book who fits that latter description (Bergen) was an absolutely useless character, and didn’t really do anything to help anyone. Ugh.
Although I was vastly underwhelmed and disappointed in my first Alice Hoffman novel, I will certainly give her another chance. After all, Practical Magic is one of my favorite films of all time.
I’ll leave you with this, which was my favorite line, and I think something that everybody needs to hear:
"It's no good to need someone more than you want them.”
If that reminder is all I take with me from this novel, so be it. It's better than nothing.
*Many thanks to Open Road Media and NetGalley for this e-book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.*
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