Practical Magic

By: Alice Hoffman

Narrated by: Christina Moore

Alice Hoffman's enchanting witch's brew of suspense, romance and magic -- now a major motion picture from Warner Bros.
When the beautiful and precocious sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned at a young age, they are taken to a small Massachusetts town to be raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to dwell in the darkest, eeriest house in town. As they become more aware of their aunts' mysterious and sometimes frightening powers -- and as their own powers begin to surface -- the sisters grow determined to escape their strange upbringing by blending into "normal" society.
But both find that they cannot elude their magic-filled past. And when trouble strikes -- in the form of a menacing backyard ghost -- the sisters must not only reunite three generations of Owens women but embrace their magic as a gift -- and their key to a future of love and passion.
Funny, haunting, and shamelessly romantic, Practical Magic is bewitching entertainment -- Alice Hoffman at her spectacular best.

Good thing this was made into a Movie

The book has some charming elements and was interesting from the perspective of what changed from book to movie. But the characterization is spotty and it needed help.

Awful

Never thought that I would like a movie more than the book but it has happened. I'm not sure if it is because this is an abridged book or because the narrator was just awful. She sounded old and angry. It made me dislike characters that I really liked in the movie. Also I read "The rules of magic" before reading this and the story of the aunts loves did not match up. Very disappointed.

Great story, hard to listen to.

The story is amazing but I almost couldn't make it through the reading. The narrator does this weird thing with her mouth and as a person who cannot stand the noise of people chewing, it made the story really rough to get through. If you don't mind that noise, it is definitely something you should listen to!!

Over All Great Read

I have always loved the movie based on this novel, so when I found out about the book I had to read it. I found it a little slow on the uptake but I really enjoyed getting to know the characters I loved from the movie way better. The book is fun and mystical. There is a rollercoaster of emotion and magic. I highly reccomend it.

Saved me from boredom on a solo road trip

Hoffman creates alluring female characters and a well developed plot. I listened to this book on a trip between Central New York and Boston, Mass and therefore it wasn't too challenging to picture the settings, which are evocatively detailed. I don't read/listen to a lot of fiction anymore and so I found the more sexual scenes jarring and was glad that my young daughters weren't in the car with me, however they aren't gratuitous. My biggest "concern" with the book was the performer, who tended to make all of the male characters in the book sound stupid, which they aren't. But this was easily ignored and overall this book saved me from what would have otherwise been a boring road trip.