At Risk

by Alice Hoffman

Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic comes a “memorable...striking”(Village Voice) novel that vividly portrays an American family shattered by tragedy.

Ivan and Polly Farrell have two bright and talented children. Eight-year-old Charlie has his father's scientific mind. Amanda, eleven, possesses the unusual strength and determination that has made her a promising gymnast. But her strength runs out as she becomes ill—and when she is diagnosed with AIDS, her family must draw on their own strengths as they come face-to-face with their deepest fears.

“Brilliant...explosive...heart-rending.”—Chicago Tribune

“Compelling power...tenderness and perceptiveness.”—The New York Times

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425165294
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/1998
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	534,362
Product dimensions:	5.14(w) x 7.91(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Invisible Hour, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (A Reese’s Book Club pick), Magic Lessons, The Book of Magic, Here on Earth (An Oprah’s Book Club pick), and The Dovekeepers. She lives near Boston.

Hometown:

Boston, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

March 16, 1952

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., Adelphi University, 1973; M.A., Stanford University, 1974

Website:

http://www.alicehoffman.com

What People are Saying About This

Joseph Heller

An affecting novel of exquisite delicacy, with humor, warmth, and sensitivity. Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for At Risk

“Graceful...emotionally potent...A cathartic tale that begs us, with heartbreaking eloquence, to stop looking the other way.”—Glamour

“Within pages, the reader falls in love with this very real little girl... Moving, dramatic and painfully human.”—Miami Herald

“I have rarely encountered a work that has moved me as strongly... extraordinary.”—Mademoiselle

“Deeply impressive...powerful.”—Newsweek

“Deeply moving...Sensitivity and empathy...radiate from this beautiful novel.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Compassionate...This is a serious, honest novel.”—Village Voice

“Tender, strikingly simple and deeply memorable.”—Kirkus Reviews

“An affecting novel of exquisite delicacy, with humor, warmth, and sensitivity. Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel.”—Joseph Heller

From the Publisher

Within pages, the reader falls in love with this very real little girl... Moving, dramatic and painfully human.

Miami Herald

Brilliant...explosive...heartrending.

Chicago Tribune

Deeply moving...Sensitivity and empathy...radiate from this beautiful novel.

Chicago Sun-Times

Compassionate...This is a serious, honest novel.

Village Voice

In its simplicity and directness and restraint there is very often a compelling power' to this novel... —The New York Times Book Review

Jim Shepard

I have rarely encountered a work that has moved me as strongly... extraordinary.

Mademoiselle

Deeply impressive...powerful.

Newsweek

With this moving novel, Hoffman has written a story about a family attacked by tragedy, and has given it a larger relevance by confronting one of the most frightening issues of our times. The Farrells are a middle-class family living in a small New England town. Ivan Farrell is an astronomer, wife Polly a photographer, eight-year-old Charlie a budding biologist and 11-year-old Amanda a talented gymnast. Hoffman has few rivals in depicting domestic scenes: the bickering between siblings, the tension between spouses, and withal, the humor and love that holds families together. Suddenly the Farrells are singled out for grief. Amanda, who has been winning gymnastic meets despite a summer-long malaise, tests positive for AIDS, contracted some five years before when she was transfused with contaminated blood after an appendectomy. In unsensationalized detail, Hoffman depicts the effects of her illness. Too stunned, angry and anguished even to turn to each other, Polly and Ivan retreat into separate worlds. Charlie is abandoned by his best friend and shunned by his schoolmates. Amanda, an average adolescent who loves Madonna records, must come to grips with the process of dying. The hysterical reaction of some members of the community is a further blow. Hoffman's sensitive handling of this material is both matter of fact and heartbreaking. Ivan's friendship with a man he meets through the AIDS hotline, Polly's search for comfort with Amanda's pediatrician, Charlie's stoic bewilderment, Amanda's bond with a young woman who is a medium (the only evidence in this novel of Hoffman's characteristic feeling for the supernatural) are all beautifully portrayed.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Hoffman's newest work is heart-wrenching. Star gymnast on her school team, 11-year-old Amanda yearns toward adolescence. When her illness is diagnosed (she'd had a blood transfusion for an appendectomy), her photographer mother Polly, astronomer father Ivan, and 8-year-old brother Charlie experience the expected disbelief, anger, and sorrow. However, because Amanda has AIDS they also experience rejection by old friends and trouble at school. As Amanda's life dwindles away, the family struggles, begins to dissolve, but finally reconnects. First-rate ``contemporary issue'' fiction that will leave few dry eyes. -- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.

Library Journal

Graceful...emotionally potent...A cathartic tale that begs us, with heartbreaking eloquence, to stop looking the other way.

Glamour