Practical Magic

De: Alice Hoffman

Narrado por: 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.

©2012 Alice Hoffman (P)2012 Simon & Schuster, Inc

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Huffman's best since Illumination Night. ( Publishers Weekly)

All the characters were present

Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies. I've watched it more times than I can count and no matter how many times I watch it, I'm always entertained. With that said, it's also a testament to how Hollywood will take a story and twist it for the screen and box office. I did my best to keep an open mind while listening to the book and to take the story for what it was. As a story I was engaged but mostly because I wanted to see how the story played out. Parts of the story were in line with the movie and other parts explored other aspects of the characters. Overall I found the characters lacking and unexciting. Indications of paranormal skills were mostly eluded to and very little information about those skills was ever brought forth in the story. The Aunts played only a small part in the book and the magic they performed was nominal and rather anti-climactic. I've been going back and forth between giving the book a three or four star rating by taking the movie out of the equation, but in the end because the story lacked a fair amount of excitement and magic, a three is the best i could offer.

The Prequel is Better!

I listened to the prequel "The Rules of Magic" before listening to this book and the development of Alice Hoffman as a writer is clearly evident. Practical Magic is choppy and the characters are not as well defined as in the prequel (which I think was written 20+ years after this one). I also did not enjoy the narrator of Practical Magic, her voice was flat and it was difficult to listen to. It was good to put the stories together, but a totally different listening experience for story and performance.

loved it equally as much as the movie

this was soooooooo beyond different to the movie I agree in not being able to see where the script for the movie cane from. that being said I enjoyed every minute of it.

Needs water?

I liked the story but many times couldn’t get past the smacking lip sounds of the reader...like she had dry mouth. But I’d probably have dry mouth after reading for so long as well. Also sounded like there was a dinner party going on outside of her sound booth at times.

Not what I expceted.

I really enjoyed this book. I was surprised to how different it was from the movie, which I LOVE!

Loved it!!!

Yes the book is very different from the movie. The characters in the movie Were simpler, less complicated than the characters in the book. And the movie was more fantasy and not as deep. Practical magic is one of my favorite movies and the book is now one of my favorite books for two different reasons.

IS IT REAL OR IS IT MAGIC?

What do you believe? Does a flower make you cry? Do you fall in love so hard and fast or is it all not real?

Doesn’t live up to the reputation

I read “The Rules of Magic” before this book and they don’t even seem like they were written by the same author. The voices are so different. I cared about the characters in “The Rules of Magic” but it seemed like the story dragged on forever in “Practical Magic.” I never felt like I developed a relationship with these characters and I bounced back and forth in their stories like a tennis ball. I’m not quite finished and, honestly, I wouldn’t keep going if I wasn’t close to the end. The readers are vastly different, too. The reader of “Practical Magic” gets on my last nerve. She reads like a kindergarten teacher and her voices are annoying. I don’t know what the hype was all about for all these years. Skip it or you’ll wish you had.

First time I ever liked the movie better

The performance was wonderful! It was well written and whimsical, I just couldn’t help but feel they forgot the climax of the story. There were several small ones but never a big lead up to anything really. I saw the movie years ago when I was little, and may be slightly biased because of how much I used to love it, but this was the first time I really enjoyed a movie better than the book.

Spellbinding

Christina Moore is an excellent narrator. She really brought the characters to life. A great story.