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    Practical Magic
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    Practical Magic
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    Practical Magic
    Ebook306 pages5 hours

    Practical Magic

    By Alice Hoffman

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    *25th Anniversary Edition*—with an Introduction by the Author!

    The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, Magic Lessons, and The Book of Magic.

    For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic...

    “Splendid...Practical Magic is one of [Hoffman's] best novels, showing on every page her gift for touching ordinary life as if with a wand, to reveal how extraordinary life really is.”—Newsweek

    “[A] delicious fantasy of witchcraft and love in a world where gardens smell of lemon verbena and happy endings are possible.”—Cosmopolitan
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Group
    Release dateAug 5, 2003
    ISBN9781440673757
    Author

    Alice Hoffman

    Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Book of Magic, Magic Lessons, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick), the Oprah’s Book Club Selection Here on Earth, The Red Garden, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, and Faithful. She lives near Boston.

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    Reviews for Practical Magic

    3.5/5

    91 ratings89 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic introduces fascinating characters and imbues them with a touch of magical mystery, quietly (and wisely) leaving the reader to discover, guess, or intuit whether magic is real. The sisters may just be normal outsides, growing up in a strange household and rejected by their community, or… They may be sisters who truly care for each other, or competitors unable to care. And the aunts…Coincidence, potions, maybe spells; Practical Magic is a novel with almost overpowering humanity; a delight for the senses filled with plants, growth and wonder; and a hauntingly evocative tale of belonging, unbelonging, relationship, parenthood and love.Disclosure: I got it for Christmas and I love it.
    • 4/5
      I had not watched the movie when it came out but I had heard a little about this book and knew I wanted to read it. This was the hardest I had ever worked to find and read a book as it was not available at my library or any of the library online services and my usual methods of purchase did not have it in stock. I finally found an affordable copy on Book Depository and waited a few weeks for it to arrive.Thankfully it ended up being worth the effort! This was a fun read and easy to sink into. It wasn't quite as dark as I expected but it was full of magical realism, family ties, love and pain. Recommended
    • 5/5
      Team Five (High Fives) Reader #1

      Tag: Paranormal Romance & Family Relationships

      Practical Magic      , Alice Hoffman (244 pages)

      &#9733 &#9733 &39733 &#9733 &#9733 ?

      First I'd like to say, I still can not get over how different the book is from the movie, but, I Still LOVE the Movie as well....

      Sally & Gillian are sisters, OWENS Sisters.... Owens women do not usually have so much luck in love, and know the heartbreak of loss, however, Owens women are strong, single minded and have very much "luck" in other aspects of their lives. Sally & Gillian are as different as day & night: Sally is older, practical and orderly. Gillian is wild, disorderly, and very impractical.

      At an early age, Sally & Gillian are left orphans (their mother & father were on a 2nd honeymoon and were so enthralled in each other, that they never noticed their room catching fire). Sally & Gillian call their only know relatives: "The Aunts".... Older women who live together in a large rambling house, built by Maria Owens (an alleged witch).... The Aunts know a thing or two about love & loss, so although the entire neighborhood is scared to death of them, it does not stop the local women (in need) visiting them at twilight for "magick" to help their ailing relationships.

      Sally is living with the Aunts, happily married w/ two young daughters... when the Watch Beetle of Death shows up in her husband's favorite chair..... Her mourning affects the entire household & Gillian comes to her rescue..... Sally moves and begins a new life.

      Gillian has runaway from the Aunts years ago and is now in a horrendous affair with a totally abusive man, Jimmy, whom she keeps under a modicum of control with small doses of Belladonna..... But somehow while in route out of town (he has killed college students by selling them jimson weed as a recreational drug), Jimmy keels over & dies!

      With nowhere else to turn, Gillian shows up at Sally's doorstep with the now dead Jimmy....... Sally & Jillian plant Jimmy in the garden under the Lilacs......

      Secondary to the story is the relationship of Sally's daughters: Kylie & Antonia, and their relationship w/ Gillian.....

      As the story goes on: Jimmy's ghost becomes a very active force and needs to be dealt with (in the movie he was more active). Love is all around for Sally, Gillian, Kylie & Antonia, they learn to deal with the love of family, their relationships with each other, and with the men of their dreams.

      I Absolutely LOVE This Book! For me it was interesting and it held my interest. I enjoyed the story & the themes of Love, Magic as an everyday occurence, and Family Relationships (especially about day & night sisters)!
    • 4/5
      Magical realism novel that follows the lives of sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. Full of beautiful prose and a gentle but tightly woven plot that pulls the reader along (I devoured the book in two days). The magic element is fantastical and yet somehow treated as an everyday and in no way unusual thing in the lives of these women. With lovely explorations of what it means to be family, the power that love holds over people, and the importance of accepting yourself, this is a highly enjoyable novel. Recommended for fans of magical realism and family dramas.
    • 2/5
      I'm not a fan of magical realism, but the amount of magic in this one was palatable. But that's about the only positive thing I can say about this book.Much of the story felt like exposition and I kept waiting for the meat of the story to start. The characters were flimsy, the pair of sisters (Gillian-Sally) not much distinguishable from the other (Kylie-Antonia). The aunties were slightly different and the most interesting characters in the tale.The story is about love, but it all seemed like a caricature of love, flippantly tossed out there - unless the characters and the story is meant to be read as mere symbols?I can't remember if I've read anything else by Alice Hoffman, but this book certainly does not induce me to try more. Glad I got to the end and can return the book.
    • 4/5
      While this story follows far fewer of the Owens women, there were times it was a more complex timeline of writing than the prequel by Hoffman. The largest issue I had was that of the lack of time delineation, and in this book, there is less of the new relationship energy and mourning that can create that chaos in a mind. It was a harder sell for me, personally.There were times when I felt that the reader and the writer were in completely different scenes because of some of the jumps in focus.The book felt scattered and discombobulated... but I was again drawn to the themes and concepts within the story.
    • 3/5
      Borders Mgr recommendation--I liked the magic aspect of this book a great deal. Was I offended by some of the harshness used? No, but I found it a bit unnecessary and that it did not offer any "depth" to the boook.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful and so much better than the movie.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book, as I have loved every Alice Hoffman book I have read so far. A little magic/supernatural but not too much. The story was more about relationships than magic.
    • 4/5
      Sisters Sally and Gillian Owens were raised by the aunts, witches who specialized in helping people with love problems. They suffered bullies in their small Massachusetts town and as they grew up, they grew apart: Gillian had relationship troubles and multiple marriages, Sally married and had two daughters but suffered grief after her husband died suddenly. Now, Gillian returns with a secret that just might change their lives forever.Alice Hoffman certainly knows how to write a book with an otherworldly atmosphere of magical realism. It permeates this story so much that it's more about the setting and the words than the characters. There's very little dialogue for the first 100 or so pages, and as a result I had a really hard time getting into it. But if you enjoy the atmosphere and the elements of magic, it's a solid read and I'd certainly recommend it to people who appreciate a wordsmith.
    • 3/5
      I love the film. The film is the perfect fairytale of strong women, true love and magic, and the scene where the circle join hands to save Gillian always gets to me. I never really thought about the book until I discovered that Alice Hoffman has recently written a prequel/sequel - and I honestly wish that was still the case. Stand alone, the book is fine, if a bit disjointed and lacking in unity, of both plot and characters. But, and I don't often say this, so I'll say it loud: THE FILM IS BETTER. Like way, way better. The film is centred around the aunts' house, which only Gillian leaves and finally returns to, so there is a feeling of home and history at the heart of the story. There is also a definite emphasis on magic, with the aunts and Sally, although she fights her inheritance, practicing both the white and black sides of the craft. I also like the detail of the aunts interfering in Sally's love life - the first time around. When she finds her true love a second time, the magic is purely Sally's. All missing from the book. Sally leaves home with her much older daughters and moves to New York, so both the house and the aunts are removed from much of the story. The pacing is also very weak, and the final scene is an anticlimax compared to the film.The book is trying to be 'gritty' and realistic, I think, despite the fairytale language, discussing sex and self-loathing and splintered families over love and magic and sisterhood. Sally is a depressed single mother of teenagers, Gillian is still Gillian, and none of the women can be happy until they meet 'the one'. Sally doesn't meet the perfect man of her conjuring but a lovesick fool conducting a half-assed investigation. Gillian is rewarded with a biology teacher instead of being 'possessed' by her dead lover's spirit. Even Antonia and Kylie go weak-kneed for the nearest boys. The happy ever after effect of the film is lost by the implied message that women just need a man in their lives to be happy.The bones of the story are there, but the flesh is weak. Stick to the film.
    • 3/5
      I'm a fan of the 1998 movie, which certainly colored my experience of the book. On its own, the book is interesting. The point of view shifts fluidly between characters; the quantity of sex and fantasies and thoughts about sex surprised me a bit, likely because the movie didn't really touch on that. It's painful getting into Gillian's head, seeing her lack of self-worth up close, but it feels realistic. The aunts have a much smaller role, since the majority of the book doesn't take place at their home, and Jimmy's much less a menace. Sally's daughters are older, too, and lack the closeness they have in the movie.I feel like overall there was even less plot in the book than there is in the movie- it meanders, touching on bits and pieces but never really establishes a significant issue to overcome by the end. It was a quick read and swept me along as I read, but it felt unsatisfyingly unfinished.
    • 3/5
      Having never known that the movie was based on a book I could hardly break my "no movie till the book has been read" oath following the Lord of the Rings tragedy. But here I think I hardly have worried, because I have found that rare thing, a story that is better on the screen than the page (in my opinion). The spirit of the characters is all the same, except for Sally's two daughters; in the book, the younger sisters, we follow up to their teens and are much more fleshed out literally and figuratively. Most of the book centers on the interpersonal relationships of the two sets of sisters and their love lives. There's so much introspection and emotional characterization that I didn't feel like I was reading a good story so much as a parable in the form of a therapy session. Getting rid of Jimmy Angelou takes no more than 3 pages at most at the very end of the book. I don't even think "magic" or "witch" is used more than twice each. There is a "magic" of a sort in the book, but its a more inherent kind, rather than using potions or spells, but the women have no real control over the way they affect their surroundings, their mere presence sets off all kinds of havoc. The movie was more gripping and less touching, but at least it doesn't leave you exhausted and haggard afterwards. The main difference is big and its this: the movie tells you that sisterhood conquers all attackers. The book tells you that your worst enemies are yourself and your "sister" and no one else can protect or sabotage you better than they.
    • 5/5
      I must confess that this is one my favorite movies to pop in on Halloween and in the Fall; this book conjured up all of those cozy feelings as well. Obviously, the movie took a lot of creative liberty and there are a lot of differences and focuses in the book.
    • 3/5
      Good story about family bonds, but it felt like it was mostly exposition.
    • 3/5
      This was fine, but too chick-lit-y for my taste. Also too much magical realism for my taste. Meh. I listened, I'm not sure I would have finished if I read a print book.Summary and possible spoilers below.——Sally and Gillian are orphaned when young, and brought up by their great aunts. Their aunts are considered witches in town, and they make love potions and the like. Gillian leaves as soon as she can, Sally stays, and finally leaves town with her two girls after being widowed. Every summer they vacation at the aunts.Years later, Gillian shows up on Sally's doorstep, with her dead husband, and moves in. They bury him in the backyard. Kiley, the younger daughter, is taken with Gillian's beauty and eccentricity. But then an investigator with the AZ AG comes looking for Jimmy. Strange things happen. They have to call in the aunts.
    • 4/5
      This audiobook version was very interesting. Read by the actress Cherry Jones. A quiet tale, softly telling about a story not very much like the movie at all. I enjoyed this novel even though I was a bit confused by this, and I especially loved the actresses portrayal of all the characters. She was the perfect choice for this, and should be used more often.
    • 2/5
      Everybody in the family gets love at first sight? Blech.
    • 3/5
      This was a lot darker then the movie, which I saw a long time ago. It's plot is also expended, I don't remember Sally having any teenage girls or her own house. In the movie I thought she was still living with "The Aunts" If you are Ok with something different from the movie it was an enjoyable read and being different, was a good thing for me because I didn't know what was going to happen. Solid book and would make a nice Halloween read.
    • 4/5
      Waaay better than the movie! Also it’s just generally wonderful.
    • 3/5
      This was the lighter book used to wrap up my all time favorite undergrad course, "Feminism & Witchcraft" (how very liberal arts, oui?). All I really remember is that I enjoyed it--it was a good "beach" read and MUCH, MUCH better than the movie (surprise, surprise), which I thankfully saw after I read the book.
    • 3/5
      The movie is LOOSELY based on the movie. Nicole Kidman is NOT a good Gillian. The book was cute, though!
    • 4/5
      Even though this is a tale about witches, to me it seems more a story about family, specifically sisters but family in general also. And it does have romance too. I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      Not knowing it was part of a series, I picked up "Magic Lessons" before this one and loved it, as I do most of Hoffman's books. So, of course I had to start at the beginning, with Practical Magic. I'd read negative reviews of it and was hesitant, but I found that Hoffman's gift of magical writing shines through in this one too. I did very much like this too. Now on to the next one and the movie.
    • 1/5
      One star because the Goodreads rating system aptly sums up my feelings on it: did not like it. I only finished it because I have a uni class that requires I do so, else I would have DNF'd it last week. I didn't care for the writing, the characters, the plot, the setting, the use of 'magic' and 'witchcraft' (which seem questionable at best in this novel) and an overabundant reliance on using metaphor as magic in place of writing actual moments of fantasy. Thanks for reminding me why I don't read Alice Hoffman novels anymore, though!
    • 5/5
      I was surprised by how quickly I read this book, buts it’s really easy to get sucked in. Hoffman does a good job of creating unique and lovable characters who have their own unique struggles and arcs. But what is especially good is the way she writes family and relationship dynamics; how complicated they are, what is and isn’t healthy, and how they can affect everyone around them. She also does a good job of writing from multiple perspectives and age groups, which I find admirable as a writer. I am currently fighting the urge to rush to the bookstore to buy the other books in the series.
    • 3/5
      I liked it fine but wasn't super into it. It was more about the family drama and relationships than the magic, which I guess is the point but Im more interested in the magic and tbh the magic system didn't make a ton of sense to me.
    • 4/5
      I haven't seen the movie in a minute, but I grew up LOVING it. I was way past due reading the book the film was actually based on and I''m so excited that I listened to the audiobook version of it, it was WONDERFUL! I couldn't have asked for a better narrator, she embodied the Owens sisters so completely! It's a witchy book that's not really about witches; it's about sisterhood, love, trust, and hope. It's beautiful and haunting and you really root for all the characters despite their faults. It's the perfect fall time read as the leaves change and the witching hour grows closer. The Owens sisters had a unique childhood; raised by their aunts, the girls were mercilessly teased and bullied for their aunts potions and love spells the villagers used in desperation. Sally just wants to be normal and settle down, whereas Gillian wants to paint the town red; jumping from man to man until she can get the hell out of town. Years pass and the sisters have moved on with their lives though they haven't seen each other much in two decades. Sally is living with her two daughters in a nice suburban town when Gillian shows up on her doorstep with a problem so big it threatens to tear everything apart. Wonderful. Such unique and vibrant characters! The writing is beautiful as well! Although the movie is quite different; it's a wonderful tribute to the book!
    • 4/5
      A charming way of interpreting magical realism. Hoffman did it admirably.
    • 4/5
      A quick and fun read. What would you do for the ones you love? This tale of two sisters, and the lengths they go to be there for each other was very enjoyable.