Like several people who seem to have seen the film and then read the book, I arrived at this novel hopeful of a witty witchy story with empowered women leading the way for the following generations.

Unfortunately I found a book which was, technically and contextually, difficult to finish.
As many have said, the endless lists of emotions and mood setting images didn't help. Alongside that was the, frankly, random shifts in narrative perspective; I don't need a 2 page explanation of why Ben is staring at a ceiling fan, the fact that he's in the restaurant is enough knowledge for me to get what happens next.

However, one of my biggest gripes about this book was the fact that it seemed none of the women could be happy until they fell in love with a man. This isn't what I took away from the film at all and it's not what I expect from a novel about a family of female witches. (A character type who I often seen as independent and self-sufficient as well as having the ability to have confidence in themselves.)

Finally the novel lacks magic. For a novel called "Practical Magic" there isn't much in the way of magic in the text. Very few spells and also a sense of... bad or good luck, than magic. Which is a real shame.

I'm glad I read it but I won't be rereading it. A bit of a let down, to be honest.