Alice Hoffman: Will You Still Buy Her Book?

Has everyone seen the Alice Hoffman kerfluffle yet?

In a nutshell: Roberta Silman at the Boston Globe reviewed her latest book, The Story Sisters, and gave it what's being called "a lukewarm review." (Here is the Boston Globe Link (opens in new window).

It's not a glowing review, but I wouldn't call it "lukewarm" either. Silman has done her homework, and she's obviously familiar with (and has even enjoyed) Hoffman's earlier works. But, Silman does say that the book, "...lacks the spark of the earlier work. Its vision, characters, and even the prose seem tired. Too much of it is told rather than shown..."

She does have nice things to say about the book, too: "Admittedly, there are some wonderful passages as the book winds to a close - about the heirloom tomatoes Annie grew in her garden and how Claire learns to design jewelry"

Hoffman responded by tweeting Silman's phone number and email address and told her readers to "Tell her what u think of snarky critics."

Hoffman also disparaged Silman: "Roberta Silman in the Boston Globe is a moron. How do some people get to review books?"

And then Hoffman put down the Boston Globe: "No wonder there is no book section in the Globe anymore - they don't care about their readers, why should we care about them"

I double-checked my Project 100 list to see if I had planned to read any Hoffman. I'm glad to see that I hadn't, because I'd be giving serious consideration to removing those books from my list.

What about you? Would these kind of tantrums from an author make you run out and buy the book, or maybe burn the books sitting on your shelf?