Monday, October 21, 2024

*Review* Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

 

Genre: Women's Fiction
Published: August 5, 2003
Pages: 290


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 MagicMagic 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...


I listened to the audiobook version of this book for a book club meeting that I never made it to. This is my honest review. 

This book had far less magic than I was expecting  based on the title and that left me feeling a little disappointed by the book. I'm honestly not sure I would have finished this book before the meeting date if I hadn't been listening to the audio. It took a while before I really felt invested in the story, and it's a book I was really excited to read. 

I think if I'd gone into the book expecting a sister story with hints about magic, I would have liked the book better, since that's what it was. But even then, I didn't really like either of the sisters so...

The narration made it easy to listen to the book though. That was definitely a high point to listening to the audiobook over reading with my eyeballs. 

Overall I give Practical Magic 2.9732 out of 5 stars. - Katie 




Alice Hoffman is the author of thirty works of fiction, including Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, Magic Lessons, and, most recently, The Book of Magic. She lives in Boston. Her new novel, The Invisible Hour, is forthcoming in August 2023. Visit her website: www.alicehoffman.com

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