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.

very good! not what expected

I really wanted to read this book bc the movie has always been one of my favorites! it's not what I thought it would be though. it's like a old spin on a new story, the way I lived through it, it has the same back bone like all those cinderella twists but they're completely different! keep an open mind and you'll love it!

Couldn't get through it

Would you ever listen to anything by Alice Hoffman again?

Possibly, but I'm in no rush to read another one of her titles.

What does Christina Moore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration was just fine, but the story is just so agonizingly slow I couldn't force myself to soldier through it.

Was Practical Magic worth the listening time?

Sadly, no. I got about 1/3 of the way through and just couldn't take anymore. I was so, so very bored.

Any additional comments?

This is one of those very rare occasions where the movie is better than the book.

Few Redeeming Qualities. The Movie is Better!

I decided to read this for a few odd reasons. First, I’d never seen the movie, but it’s one of my wife’s favorites. Second, I’ve heard this mentioned as a “must read” for the sub-genre of Romantic Fantasy, so I figured why not?

After reading the book, I watched the movie for the first time, which helped jell my opinions of the book.

In a nutshell: the movie is much better.

THE GOOD

I guess it formed the basic story for a much better movie adaptation? Sorry, but I’m really struggling to think of good things to say about the book.

It did have a happy ending. I read so many “serious” books that aren’t supposed to have happy endings, because happy endings aren’t “artistic”, so it’s nice to have a book with a nice, simple happy ending.

THE BAD

Poor Audio Quality: to be clear, the narrator did a fine job, but the recording sucked. You could hear what appeared to be a TV on in the background during numerous parts of the recording. Did they not record this in a sound proof booth? There’s no excuse for this.

Poor Characterization: I found most of the characters to poorly fleshed out. In fact, I can’t remember a single name, and I just finished the book a few hours ago. That’s pretty indicative.

Very Little Plot: I could literally condense this entire book down to a single paragraph.

Women Bickering: The book is mostly filler of women bickering. Sisters bickering. Moms bickering with daughters. Adopted daughters bickering with the Aunts. So. Much. Bickering.

Preoccupation with appearance: The book seems to be filled with only beautiful women and girls.

Love at First Sight: Everyone falls in love with the Owens women at first sight, and they fall in love with men at first sight. It’s incredibly lazy, but I guess “romantic” writing.

YA but with the word Fuck: Seriously, if they just remove all instances of the word “Fuck”, this would be passable YA Romance. As it is, each use of the word sticks out like a sore thumb, because it’s the only curse word used. It feels like the author added all the “fucks” after the book was already complete because she decided she wanted it to be more “adult” so just sprinkled them in where they would fit. They were always jarring and weird.

THE UGLY

Cartoonish Moments: There were just a few of them, but there were several extremely out of place moments with cartoonishly unbelievable descriptions, such as a man who was “so hot for her that the cuffs of his sleeves singed” or two boys struck by lightning that “forever after slept with their eyes open” and whose “hair stood up permanently on end”. These moments were played straight, not as metaphors, and threw me out of the story by ruining my suspension of disbelief.

THE VERDICT

If you love the movie, just stick with that. It took all the best parts of the book, improved them, and made a much better story than this stinker.

Narrator's tone is irritating

In terms of the story, I echo many comments. I adored the whimsical, thrilling movie. The plot of the book not comparable in tone or character development.

Beyond plot, the narration is mostly from Sally's point of view, and the narrator's voice is painfully irritating. Best I can characterize is that her voice sounded like a pessimistic depression era school marm with absolutely nothing positive to say.

Overall, this is a good book.

Overall, this is a good book, but I think I would've been lost if I hadn't listened to the prequel first. I definitely recommend listening to that one first to understand what's going on.