The Red Garden

270 pages

English language

Published Dec. 8, 2010 by Shaye Areheart Books.

ISBN:
978-0-307-39387-6
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OCLC Number:
539081848

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4 stars (4 reviews)

1 edition

Review of 'The Red Garden' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Beautiful watercolors. This book is series of brief tales spanning 200 years in a small town, each one a vivid, colorful sketch of its place and its generation. There is a strong visual element, as reds and blues unite the stories. It puts me in mind of the luminosity of watercolors, and the way watercolors convey impressions edited to only the critical details.

There is an appropriate jumble of grandsons and second cousins once-removed; like any small town. There is humor in the evolution of some of the place-names in town, too.

There is much of Hoffman's trademark fantastic realism, 85 percent Anne Tyler and 15 percent Mary Shelley. I am very drawn to this style because I like the way it captures how real stories change over time, with certain parts exaggerated, misremembered, or completely fabricated to suit the current teller of the tale.

Review of 'The Red Garden' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

A history of a small town in Massachusetts and the variety of interesting characters who inhabit it through the ages. It read almost like a series of short stories in that each characters' story was told mostly separate from the others. Really enjoyed this, and it made for a very quick read.

Subjects

  • City and town life -- Massachusetts -- Fiction
  • Massachusetts -- Fiction

Places

  • Massachusetts