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Nov 17, 2010

Gina rated it:

There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain…

When their parents died, Sally stepped up to bat, calming the sitter down long enough to have her riffle through her mother’s address book and called the aunts. If the aunts didn’t step up to the plate, Sally and Gillian would become wards of the state.

The aunts took them in. While growing up, Sally and Gillian are teased and tormented while growing up, asll all Owens daughters are. Gillian, the youngest More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Sep 23, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

I was a little hesitant about the rating to give this book. There are what I would call, good moments. Mostly I don't care for it. There is an odd streak of amorality underlying it (I can just hear someone asking "who's morals are you talking about"). You have the two old ladies referred to as "the aunts" who raise a young girl to be selfish, obstinate, and rebellious (treating these as the best of good desirable traits) and then wondering that tragedy follows. There are shif More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

I just love this book, really. It makes me smile just to think about it. I've read it twice now, and in a year or so will be ready for a re-read. The movie is good, too, but I love the book best, An Utterly Delightful novel about the magic of life.

From the Publisher
Practical Magic is a tale of two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens, brought up by their two elderly guardian aunts in a world of spells and exotica from which they eventually escape - one by running away, the othe More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2008

Leah rated it:

I used to love the movie for this book, and I didn’t even know until after I had seen it that it was originally in book form. After finally getting a copy of the book and reading it, something magical happened: I didn’t know which one I liked better. Usually, having to decide favorites between the book and the movie is very easy. Except in the case of Grisham's The Pelican Brief, I almost always prefer the book versions. In some cases (as with Gone with the Wind and Scarlett), I simply refuse to More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

Sharon rated it:

A recurring theme with the books I choose to read is that they more often than not have a film adaptation to accompany them. I know this isn't the best literary habit, and that I should be willing to branch out more into plots and subjects that interest me instead of seeking out the books that I am already familiar with in visual media, but often it follows that the book is better than the movie anyways, so it's a win-win situation. That was the case with this book. Purchased at a used book sale More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 20, 2008

Annette rated it:

Another one of those books I picked up at the library because I saw the movie - the same but different. All in all a romance with a magical twist (although with drama added in!)

0 comments like

Mar 23, 2009

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

This is a really good book. I couldn't put it down. It's good as many genres, coming of age, romance, fantasy, family drama, all of the above. It's so well-written and the language is beautiful and affecting. The words painted an image that was vivid and alive in my mind. Strangely enough, I pictured Sandra Bullock, who plays her in the movie, as Sally. I loved the extended narrative about Sally's daughters, which was missing from the movie. It seems as though they are going to repeat the pat More...

8 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Julianna rated it:

I wanted some light reading to get though January especially since the last book I read was an 800 Dickens novel, and this book fit the bill perfectly. I even ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would! It had just the right amount of what I guess would be called magical realism, and I loved the imagery (two sisters growing up in a run down mansion with two old aunts, it sounds like an Edward Gorey book!) and the moodiness. It seemed like there was a thunderstorm gathering in ever scene, w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2010

Karen added it

I had a poor opinion of Hoffman's writing after I read her later novel Here on Earth, her tribute to Wuthering Heights. That novel put me under the impression that Hoffman didn't get characters at all. After reading Practical Magic, I take that back. This novel is an extraordinary good character study of two vastly different sisters, and the two daughters of the one.[return][return]Fans of the film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will get a different story here, but the central action More...

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Apr 01, 2009

Gemma rated it:

I've been meaning to read this book for years, ever since I first watched the film of the same name (and based loosely on the story). I must confess that the movie is one of my favourites. I've always found it enchanting and moving, even if it is romantic-supernatural fluff.

If you're familiar with the movie, you'll know the basic characters from the book, but everything else is different. I was shocked at just HOW different. It really amazes me that someone condensed this story into th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Heather rated it:

I picked this book for the Modern Classics Challenge because I loved The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman and thought I'd try another one of her books. The premise of this story was interesting, as are all of Alice Hoffman's; she loves to write about family and community and integrates elements of magic and love into all of her stories. She weaves both of these into all types of relationships--inter-generational, male/female, and especially between siblings.

This particular book fell More...

1 comment like

Mar 05, 2008

Maureen rated it:

This book is so different from the movie, which I saw before reading the book, that for once I think I actually preferred the movie. I would almost call the movie a "derivative work", not even an adaptation. I was disappointed that the aunts barely make an appearance, and not at all like the characters in the movie. It was a good read, very different writing style (little dialogue, mostly a stream-of-consciousness style). I guess you just have to think of the book and the movie as bein More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Sienna rated it:

Quite different from what I'd expected. Practical Magic feels a bit like a fable, at once insubstantial and significant. There's a simplicity to the characters, their personalities, their goodness or badness, their rather uniform voices, that should annoy me but instead just felt right thanks to the beauty and precision of Hoffman's prose. The structure is fluid and unusual, life encapsulated in longing and discomfort. It's an emotional read. I loved this the way at fourteen I fell for — and More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Salma rated it:

Actually, I would add a half a star if it was possible just for Hoffman's style. Every page has odes to the natural world that would make Walt Whitman proud. And I would personally crown her Queen of Metaphors if the title existed. Maybe it's not fair of me, but whenever I read a novel, I compare it to the works of my favorite nineteenth-century authors...Brontes, Hardy, Eliot, etc. My observation is this: the reason I like these authors so much is because their writing hits near perfection in A More...

0 comments like

Sep 12, 2011

Mandy Jo rated it:

This week’s headline? Call the corners

Why this book? break for fiction

Which book format? used first edition

Primary reading environment? on the couch

Any preconceived notions? love the movie

Identify most with? right now, Sally

Three-word quote? “years of practice”

Goes well with? vegan ice cream

Fans of the Sandra Bullock movie will be pleased to know that, although there are many disparities between the n More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Rie_dominique rated it:

dulu udah pernah nonton filmnya. lumayan juga sih, yang main fave-ku semua. tapi jauh lebih enak baca bukunya.

walaupun dialog di buku ini sedikit dan lebih didominasi oleh narasi, Alice hoffman pintar sekali merangkai kata-kata sehingga narasi tersebut tidak bosan dibaca.

berkisah mengenai Sally Owens dan Gillian Owens yang harus tinggal bersama ke-2 bibi mereka karena orangtuanya yang meninggal dalam kebakaran. yang tidak mereka sadari pada awalnya adalah keluarga Owens merup More...

0 comments like

Aug 19, 2011

Marion rated it:

When two young girls, Sally and Gillian, are orphaned it is Sally (who is wise beyond her years) that calls her aunts (white witches) and says that she and her sister are coming to live with them. The girls spend their childhood as targets for taunts and pranks of the other townschildren simply because no one understands them and associates them with the Owens women who have been rumored to be witches. Indeed they are witches, of the benevolent kind. The girls get a view of hypocrasy when every More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Claire rated it:

For the first time ever in the world of book to film i thought the film was much better. I liked the nice aunts and the fact that Sally and Gillian stayed in thier home town. However, without comparing it to the film, it was an enjoybale read; great depth that the movie did not give. It was presented from all sides, including the new generation in Sally's children, this gives you an inside scoop to everyones thoughts and actions. I believe the characters gets alittle boring in the middle of the More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2011

Jenny Sparrow rated it:

Роман начинается как магическая сказка: две сестры-сиротки живут в доме у своих тетушек, которые пользуются в городке славой колдуний и ведьм, и заслуженно, как следует понимать из названия книги. Позже, когда девочки вырастают, каждая из них по-своему стремится отгородиться от своих теток и зажить нормальной жизнью, где нет места заговорам, приворотам и прочим "ненормальностям". Сказка отступает на дальний план, на передний выходят взаимоотношения матери с дочерьми, сестер между собой More...

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May 27, 2011

Machel rated it:

This is my fifth Alice Hoffman Novel, behind: "The Ice Queen," "Here on Earth," "Local Girls," and "Skylight Confessions." I think since this is most famous novel, I was expecting it to beat out the other four that I had read first. However, this is really my least favorite so far, yet, this statement should not be taken out of context because I have absolutely loved all of her books, and this one, too. I can see why this was made into a movie. Half way th More...

0 comments like

Aug 19, 2010

Harmonybites rated it:

I liked this from the start and by the end loved it. The perfect feel good book if you're feeling blue. The novel creates its own unique world that could be described as urban fantasy or magical realism. The story concerns the Owens family. At the novel's start, two little Owens girls, Sally and her sister Gillian, are living with their aunts. The entire town shuns the girls since Owens women have been seen as witches in the New England town for generations. Both grow up and breakaway from the t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2010

Genie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Apr 18, 2010

Meagan rated it:

I have just finished devouring all of Sarah Addison Allen's writing, and it's left me with the taste for magical realism. I've read, and loved, Alice Hoffman before, but somehow I've never managed to read Practical Magic. While Hoffman and Allen share a talent for magical realism, in the end they're very different authors. Perhaps that's because Allen's novels are steeped in the American South, while Hoffman's books are so firmly set in New England. Both authors are wonderful, but Alice Hoff More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2009

Season rated it:

How can it be that a movie based on a book is better than the actual book? I recently rewatched Practical Magic and again fell in love with the sisters and their story. I found out it was a book and became excited and hoped the book would expand on the movie and talk about parts that were left out.
The book, was the Cliff's Notes version of the movie and actually was quite boring.
It starts off with poor, old Sally (even at the age of ten) feeling sorry for herself and realizing that s More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 20, 2009

Nicola rated it:

Practical Magic is the story of two sisters, Sally and Gillian, who grow up in a small town that believes they (and their ancestors) are witches. Rather than being the usual smalltown rumours, this happens to be true – but the magic they possess is less flashy than magic is traditionally thought, more diffuse and not at all easy to control.

Alice Hoffman offers an unashamedly romantic and slightly old-fashioned story, shaped around the lives and loves of Sally and Gillian. However, th More...

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Aug 28, 2010

Jenny rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 09, 2009

April rated it:

I did not care for this story and the only reason I finished it was because it was on audio book and I spend a lot of time in the car. There is no plot, underdeveloped characters, hardly any magic (practical or otherwise), lots of crying, and awkward overuse of the word f*ck. Normally, I love the word f*ck but Ms. Hoffman is obviously not an avid user. Practical Monotony.

Many reviewers have said the movie is better, maybe I'll check that out.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Melissa rated it:

At 11:00pm last night, I became extremely peeved when my copy of Practical Magic abruptly ended at page 260 in the middle of a sentence. I had been trying to read through the last two sections before going to bed. Unfortunately, I was brought to a halt twenty pages short of the conclusion. This morning, I had to rush out to the library to pick up another copy so I could know how it all ended.

First, let me say that I loved this book. And I mean LOVED. As soon as I read More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2012

April rated it:

I have to say I was slightly disappointed by this novel. I've heard such good things, and I loved The Dovekeepers, Hoffman's most recent novel. I haven't read anything else by her yet, but I will.

From the Publisher
Practical Magic is a tale of two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens, brought up by their two elderly guardian aunts in a world of spells and exotica from which they eventually escape - one by running away, the other by marrying - but which never escapes from them. Ma More...

2 comments like

Jun 30, 2010

Lisa rated it:

The movie version of this novel played a large part in my [recent:] adolescence. I watched it over and over with a good friend of mine, and made sure to tune in if it came on television. This year my family finally invested in my own DVD version.

I had known for some time that the movie was based on a book, but avoided reading it out of fear it would ruin the film. I explored some of Hoffman's other books and realized that she was a wonderful author, and I now consider her one of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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