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A review by courtneydoss
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
3.0
I read this book for the first time many years ago, and was disappointed by it. It in no way compared to the movie, and I was pretty convinced that there was no reason I should read anything by Alice Hoffman ever again, because clearly she ruined my childhood by writing the book about my favorite movie (never mind that she wrote the book first.) However, after reading The Rules of Magic I decided to give Practical Magic as second try and.....still pretty meh.
The problem with this book is that it lacks a lot of the stuff that made us absolutely love the movie. There is no intense bond between the aunts and the sisters, or really even just between Sally and Gillian. There is no uplifting moment of the community coming together to support the Owens women after years of ostracizing them, or comic relief, and there is a distinct lack of magic in this book. No amas veritas in childhood, or snapped binder clips on bitchy women talking about the infamous Phone Tree. No chicken pox finger or Sally's botanicals. Just a wild growing lilac bush and an accidental overdose of nightshade. Most disappointingly, there is no breaking of centuries old curses.
What this book does have is an irresponsible mess with very few redeeming qualities, and a tightly wound protagonist whose main character trait is irritability. Sally's kids are okay, specifically Kylie, though Antonia does redeem herself toward the end. The romances aren't particularly believable, mostly because every single one of them gets that powerful amas veritas love that we actually see spelled into being in the movie. It is not normal for a man to instantly love someone, even if they are a witch, and its hard to suspend the disbelief regarding this particular quirk of witchcraft when that's literally the only thing witchy the girls do.
Another thing is the lack of continuity between this book and Rules of Magic. I mean, did Alice Hoffman not reread Practical Magic before writing its prequel, or did she read it and decide to improve upon the plot, continuity be damned? Either was, I think that Rules of Magic was Practical Magic's superior in every conceivable way, so I'm not necessarily knocking off points for this one having a less enjoyable origin for the aunts.
One of the only positives that I can say about this book is the delightful fact that it paved the way to my favorite movie.
The problem with this book is that it lacks a lot of the stuff that made us absolutely love the movie. There is no intense bond between the aunts and the sisters, or really even just between Sally and Gillian. There is no uplifting moment of the community coming together to support the Owens women after years of ostracizing them, or comic relief, and there is a distinct lack of magic in this book. No amas veritas in childhood, or snapped binder clips on bitchy women talking about the infamous Phone Tree. No chicken pox finger or Sally's botanicals. Just a wild growing lilac bush and an accidental overdose of nightshade. Most disappointingly, there is no breaking of centuries old curses.
What this book does have is an irresponsible mess with very few redeeming qualities, and a tightly wound protagonist whose main character trait is irritability. Sally's kids are okay, specifically Kylie, though Antonia does redeem herself toward the end. The romances aren't particularly believable, mostly because every single one of them gets that powerful amas veritas love that we actually see spelled into being in the movie. It is not normal for a man to instantly love someone, even if they are a witch, and its hard to suspend the disbelief regarding this particular quirk of witchcraft when that's literally the only thing witchy the girls do.
Another thing is the lack of continuity between this book and Rules of Magic. I mean, did Alice Hoffman not reread Practical Magic before writing its prequel, or did she read it and decide to improve upon the plot, continuity be damned? Either was, I think that Rules of Magic was Practical Magic's superior in every conceivable way, so I'm not necessarily knocking off points for this one having a less enjoyable origin for the aunts.
One of the only positives that I can say about this book is the delightful fact that it paved the way to my favorite movie.