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 and Magic Lessons.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 … 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
more
Great book. I liked it better than the movie, which I loved. Great story and character development. I would recommend it to all.
According to author Alice Hoffman, her four-novel Practical Magic series can be read EITHER in the order the books were written, OR in chronological order. I picked chronological so this is book #3 and while I didn’t find it quite as impressive as the first two, it was still very enjoyable.
In this novel we meet more descendants of accused witch Maria Owens, the matriarch of this series. This time it’s the story of sisters Sally and Gillian and later, Sally’s two daughters Antonia and Kylie.
Sally and Gillian are as different as they could be but having survived traumatic events as children by relying on one another, even as adults there remains a strong tie between them. Sally is the dependable, level-headed sister while Gillian is the wild child. So even after not seeing each other for many years, it’s still Sally that Gillian turns to when she finds herself in BIG trouble.
Along the way, other important themes are included. A family curse hundreds of years old, serial abusive relationships, falling in love, even a murder. And, once again, as in many of her books, Alice Hoffman uses PRACTICAL MAGIC to explore the strange but strong ties between and among women, especially those who are related by blood (mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts). They may yell and insult and hate and reject each other at times (feelings we all share)— but there is, beneath it all, always a deep commitment, connection, and love.
I am loving this series and am now preparing to read the final book, THE BOOK OF MAGIC. Currently scheduled for publication on October 5, 2021, I was fortunately able to get early access through netgalley.com. Thank you Simon Schuster. I’ve just been waiting to tackle this one until I could finish the first three novels in the series, so I’d have the full background for #4.
This is not the movie. At first I was disappointed but as soon as I let go of that I loved it. It was entertaining just to see how different it was from the movie. The women are interesting and broken and inspirational in ways that surprised me. I loved the complicated and realistic relationships between the women. I wish there was more about the aunts… Oh wait, that’s the next novel I will read!
Very different from the movie!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration:
Romance:
Heat/Steam:
Story/Plot:
World building:
Character development:
If you have seen the movie, you know it is about the curse on the Owen’s family with the main romance between Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gary (Aiden Quinn) with Gillian (Nicole Kidman) being a main character but not in a romance, only getting out of a bad relationship in a magical way. The book was that and so much more.
For the most part, we can expect the book to be better than the movie or at the very least some parts cut out, but this was extremely different in my eyes. I loved the movie and I will continue to love it despite the book being so different. I just think they could have made a sequel and included more of the book into this.
Though after reading Magic Lessons and The Rules of Magic I think I would rather see either of those as a movie. Especially The Rules of Magic. Though they would need to make it a long movie because I can’t imagine parts of that cut out.
Anyway, the movie is about a few of the scenes from the book and isn’t really representative of the book as a whole. For example, both the book and the movie start with Sally and Gillian as children, but there are only a few short scenes of their childhood in the movie. Most of the book takes place when the two are in their late 20’s or early 30’s while Sally’s children are young.
The book delves deeper into the childhood of Sally and Gillian from the time they were with their parents and especially growing up with the aunts. It also goes past the ending of the movie and quite a bit of the book is Sally’s daughters growing up and the magic they have within them as well. Also there were some scenes where I really disliked Sally and Gillian, though I understood the scenes based on their personalities.
I really like Alice Hoffman’s writing style. She describes so much without making it look like offhand world-building as some authors seem to do. She does whimsy so well and I love how the magic is not always big and flashy, but is often little things like feelings, thoughts and things that seem to happen to them. It isn’t always good or things that they mean to do.
In the movie, Gillian doesn’t have nearly as big of a role as she does in the book. We see her run wild and come home with an abusive husband Jimmy. She and Sally get rid of him using magic, but he reappears and Gillian is possessed by him. Sally and the aunts with some help from the local women who had snubbed them in the past, get together to get rid of Jimmy and it pretty much ends soon after.
In the book, Gillian has a love interest, and gets quite steamy with him. Sally’s kids also have their own suitors. Sally has Gary Hallet (played in the movie by Aiden Quinn). We get to see what Gary is thinking and what drives him unlike the movie, he is much more of a romantic figure in the book.
I also really liked hearing about Sally’s girls, Kylie and Antonia. Kylie could see the man in their garden (Jimmy) when nobody else could. She sees that bees seem to like him and he appears more when it rains. He stares back at her when she watches him. Very spooky stuff.
Overall, I did like the book quite a bit. I liked Magic Lessons and The Rules of Magic better than this but I do think this is definitely worth the read. I will definitely be reading The Book of Magic, I loved Vincent in The Rules of Magic, he is brother to the aunts and grandfather to Gillian and Sally, though they never met him.
Read 8.10.2021
I love this movie – from the very first time I saw it [I actually came in in the middle of it and was just enchanted and watched it every single time it came on TV and then bought it both in VHS and DVD [when the VHS tape died] and watched it at least once a month. It is a comfort movie for me and I can tell the movie almost from beginning to end. I knew when I found out it was from a book that the book could be problematic for me, but then I had such great success with books like Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine [though this one was DRAMATICALLY different than the movie and had I read the book before seeing and loving the movie, I would have been PISSED when I saw the movie. It really is THAT different. But seeing it first and then reading the book, I was able to appreciate both for what they are, though I now love the book so much and rarely watch the movie. So take that for what it is], so I was encouraged. And then this year I read both Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace and The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood and experienced what I was nervous about – Big Fish the movie is a MUCH better experience than the book. I am not sure I would have even finished the book if I had read it first and I am not sure I would have been drawn to the movie, though the actors in it might have swayed me. Charlie St. Cloud was amazing and even though it is quite different than the movie, it filled in some spaces that the movie doesn’t cover and both end up being really well done. And finding that the author loved the movie also helped. But it was a great book and for me, just balanced the movie and I was happy [I had been nervous because of the experience with Big Fish and previously with [book:Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy|10073506] by John le Carre – another movie I absolutely would not have seen if I had read the book first – meh] that I had read it.
Fast forward to me getting the fourth book [if you count the prequel [book:Magic Lessons|50892349] that came out a couple years ago and that was just an amazing read – another reason I thought that PM would be okay] from NetGalley and deciding I really needed to read this and then The Rules of Magic before diving into that one and the having this be a book club read for this month [August], I knew it was time.
Sigh.
Did they just take this book and wave it over the script to say it was based on the book? Because WOW. Talk about dramatically different. WOW. It is like they are two completely different beings and I found that I didn’t like the print one much. The characters are absolutely dramatically different than the ones you see on the screen, Sally’s girls are horrible children/teens, the Aunts are barely in it [and are….I don’t even know how to express my disappointment in how the Aunts are written] and that end? Seriously? Talk about anticlimactic. Meh.
I tried to put my love of the movie to the side and take this book for what it was and then found I just could not. I do not like the people in this book at all. There is meanness and pettiness in this book that is just overwhelming at times and I found myself dreading having to read this every day [we typically break up a book over the 4 weeks of the month, but as I started this, I knew I needed to just get it done and over with – I could not have this hanging over me for a whole month]. I found myself counting down the time to when it would be done. And when it was, I was left with a book I didn’t like and disappointment that was so heavy that I almost regret deciding to read this. I can tell you this – If I had read this book first [and I highly doubt at the time it was published I was in a place that I would have finished this book], I would never, ever, have watched this movie [unless by accident]; I never would have sought it out and that is sadder for me than not loving this book as it would have prevented me from having a movie that is such comfort and love for me, that has gotten me through many a tough day and will remain in my top ten always. In this case, I am very grateful that I saw the movie first.
If you’re scrolling through reviews debating on if you should read this one or start with Magic Lessons. I’m going to tell you, start there, not here. It will make this more interesting, and less mundane? I don’t know what word I am looking for.
Next, if you’re here for “should I read this, since I watched the movie”. For me, having seen the movie before reading this, these two pieces might share the same name, but the stories are completely different. Comparing them would be like comparing apples and oranges. Character names may be the same, but each tells a vastly different tale with some similar plot points. I don’t want to give spoils but here are light examples, this book starts when Sally & Gillian move into the Aunts house, and tells their entire life story before diving into the events of the movie. While some key points are similar, the story plays out differently so it’s worth the read to then ponder over which of the girls choices did you prefer. Aside from that everyone is aged up, Sally’s girls are in their teens, and the Aunts are in their nineties. So these factors alone, make for a very different story. TL;DR – Just because you watched the movie doesn’t mean you will be able to predict the book.
Having read the two prequels, it is very obvious that when this book was written, the full Owens family history hadn’t been flushed out yet. There are minor details that are changed / different compared to the lore that those two books build for us.
One of my favorite parts about this book is to see just how much Alice Hoffman improved her writing craft from the 90s to today. I’m in awe at the growth she had as a writer and a world builder. I would love to see her remaster this story to fit the current lore, and her current writing capabilities. I’m a huge nerd for watching writers learn the craft through reading their books, and this is one of the biggest glow ups I’ve had the pleasure of reading through.
So with that in mind, this book does not read like the prequels at all. It is much more narrative, and less whimsical history book. Which knowing this was written two decades ago, that doesn’t disappoint me at all. It’s a product of it’s time, and where the writer was when she wrote it.
I am seriously curious how the newest in the series will be handled, since so much that was in The Rules of Magic wasn’t mentioned in here at all. (obviously/spoilers-but was mentioned in the movie so it makes it weird.) But I am still in love with this world, and excited to see where the Owens will lead us next.
First time ever that I think the movie LEAGUES is better.
The Owens sisters come from a long line of witches. The both try to escape their prescribed fate by rejecting it. Gillian runs away with a man. Sally takes her two daughters and leaves to forge a ‘normal’ life. But normal doesn’t last.
I felt desperately sad for Sally. In all honesty, Sally and her younger daughter were the only two characters I really liked. That isn’t to say the others weren’t compelling -they were. This is a book about families and sisters and magic.
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book. I’m very glad I did.
I loved everything about this book.
This might be a lengthy review because there is so much I have to say about this book! (Good and not so good) I just wanted to lay there out there from the beginning. Let me start by saying that I have watched the movie Practical Magic every single fall season multiple times for almost 25 years. It is a favorite movie of mine, it never gets old, and to me it is perfect! So, it’s only natural that I might have some issues with the book, especially when the book is so greatly different from the movie.
Major differences between the book and movie:
Sally and her daughters do not live with the aunts. In fact, very little of the book actually takes place at the aunt’s beloved Massachusetts home!
The aunts do not play that important of a role in the book.
Sally does not kill Jimmy, and it’s unclear if Gillian did either even though she thinks she did.
They never bring Jimmy back from the dead. In fact, there is very little magic in the book at all.
The town Sally lives in does not persecute her for being a witch and she is actually beloved and included in school stuff.
Sally is the principal’s assistant, she does not own her own botanical shop.
Sally went into depression and hiding for an entire year after her husband died.
Sally’s girls, Antonia and Kylie are not children but teenagers! And I think they reversed their looks too, making Antonia the redhead older one and Kylie the dark-haired younger one.
The curse of a man loving an Owen’s woman is played down and nothing happens to Gillian’s new boyfriend whom she obviously loves.
Gary Hallet is only in the story at the very end and he is very different from his movie counterpart. A bit of a crybaby if you ask me.
There’s no exorcism or banishing of ghosts, though they do recognize that Jimmy’s ghost is haunting the place and Kylie can see him outside sometimes.
Anyway, those are my top complaints off the top of my head, but there was a lot that was different. You’ve been forewarned!
If I separate the book from the movie and just look at the book in itself, it was actually pretty good. I found myself forgetting that I was reading a witchy story and it ended up feeling more like a women’s fiction family drama, which isn’t terrible, it’s just not my first choice of read. I found myself identifying mostly with Gillian who made all these terrible love choices, had failed marriages, and couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble when it came to love. She had poor choice in men and she let men use and abuse her for most of her life. I had a very similar past with love and thankfully I am on the other side of that now with a wonderful husband, but I could really relate to her terrible times. When Gary was introduced I was excited because I had been waiting for him and knew that Sally needed a love interest soon to give it that happy ending, but his character actually made me uncomfortable. He was a crier. And I don’t mean something terrible happened and he cried, I mean Sally puts a cup of coffee in front of him and he cries over it. They’re getting hot and heavy in the car and he cried. I know the author was trying to make him this sensitive man who was in tune with his feelings because that’s what we women are supposed to want in a man, but honestly if my man cried that much over not much I would be a little more than confused by it, which I was with Gary too.
The story had a good pace and was laid out nicely, but I was really frustrated with the length of the chapters. They were so long and had no good stopping points. I can’t read fifty pages in one night, I just don’t have the time, and sometimes one chapter would go on longer than that. I found myself just picking a paragraph at random to stop hoping I’d remember what was going on when I picked it up again to read. I find the best layout is short chapters because then I actually end up reading more because I’m like “Oh, the next chapter is only three more pages. Oh, the next chapter is only six more pages.” Then, I keep going and going. With this set up of epic chapters I was like I’ll just stop here because who knows what’s coming up or if I’ll be able to stop if I read another chapter or two.
Another aspect that shocked me about the book was some of the vulgarity. The F-bomb was dropped multiple times by Sally and Gillian, something I could not picture them actually saying in the movie, but that I guess I could see if I pictured the book them. Also, the vulgar sexual description. The best example I can give is when Kylie is running from a stranger (male) who is saying all sorts of gross sexual things to her because he wants to rape her. It was a thrilling scene as she was running away and I felt for her and was invested, but the language just grossed me out. Again, I understand what she was trying to do, it just caught me off guard.
All in all, it was a good book, but I love the movie way too much to give this a five-star rating. It had its faults. I have read the other two books in the series which were written as prequels later in the author’s career and I absolutely LOVE those.
For more than 200 hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in town stemming from the house built by Maria Owens on Magnolia Street. Once inside this unconventional house, it may surprise visitors to find that there are no clocks and three locks on every door.
Gillian and Sally are sisters who live in the attic where they are raised by their carefree aunts who allow them freedom to do as they wish. The girls couldn’t be more different with Gillian being fair skinned, blonde and lazy often paying Sally to do her homework. Conversely, Sally had dark black hair, very scientific and conscientious. They didn’t seem to worry that they were teased and bullied at school with no friends. I’m sure it doesn’t help that the aunt’s cats, who are all named after birds, follow Sally to school.
Eventually, Gillian becomes restless and moves away where her carefree nature attracts unsavory companionship. When unfortunate events occur she returns home to live with Sally whose husband died and two daughters, Antonia and Kylie. When bringing chaos and evil at the home on Magnolia Street. Trouble seems to follow Gillian when she returns putting the responsibility of the dependable Sally to help remedy the situation.
This is the story of the Owens family – 200 years after Maria Owens lands in Massachusetts. The family of witches is always blamed for all the bad things that happen in their area. Sally and Jillian Owens have their own set of problems. Sally falls in love and marries a wonderful man and has two beautiful children. Jillian falls for a man that is awful. In the end, both men’s lives end as goes the fate of the Owen’s family when it comes to love. The sisters have a secret that they are trying to protect, but it soons catches up with them. Jillian and Sally will do anything to protect their family. So they call on their elderly aunts to help. Their family bond cannot be broken no matter what the cost.
This was an okay book. It is the 3rd book in the series. I have read Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons recently, so had to finish the series with this one. The other two had much more depth and character development with this one. I listened to this one as an Audiobook and it was only 3 1/2 hours long. So short that I never really developed feelings for any of the characters or really saw a development of the actual story. It was fine – just not as good as the other two. I know it was actually the first book she wrote and other other two, though prequels, were more recent. However, I was just hoping for more.
I have never seen the movie and I have read that this is pretty different. I might check it out anyway just because.
Stars: 3
There’s something about this time of year that always makes me want to read books about magic. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman is a much-loved classic of the genre that I’ve been meaning to get around to for ages though I must say I found myself a bit disappointed. The book centres on Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters who descend from an exceptionally witchy family. Their powers have made them outcasts in their small town and both are on a quest to leave the past behind them. After being widowed at a young age, Sally is determined to build a ‘normal’ life for herself and her two daughters while Gillian refuses to sit still, traipsing across the country and enchanting a seemingly endless string of men to fall for her. But, when after decades of separation, Gillian appears in Sally’s doorway with the body of her latest fling in the car, the sisters realise that you can’t run away from the past forever. I honestly think I found myself relating more to the the eccentric and magical aunts than to Sally or Gillian and just wanted more of the novel to focus on them and the history of the Owens family. When it centred on the younger generations the plot felt quite unfocused. Plus, I’m willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to magic spells and hauntings – but no way do I believe anyone would choose to avoid being a witch if they had the option. Too unrealistic for me.
She makes the characters soooo real. You want to jump into the book and be part of their lives!
A magical read!
Actually, the prequel was better!
Dull
One of the very few instances of a movie actually being so much better than a book.
If you have seen the movie, don’t expect the same story from the book. Gillian and Sally Owens have grown up with the whispers of witchcraft going on behind their backs and grew up with 2 unique aunts, but there is so much more going on in this story. The reader follows Gillian as she runs away and tries to make a new life while Sally gets married, has kids and then moves away herself. Gillian does return when her boyfriend, Jimmy, dies unexpectedly. What happens with that situation is very different from the movie.
This book is amazing. It takes the reader from the girls’ childhood through adulthood. It ends around the time Sally’s girls are in high school. The relationship between Gillian and Sally is strained at times, but they always find a way to work it out. The family bond is very strong. There is also a lot of back story that makes me excited to read The Rules of Magic. The book makes you happy, sad, and mad all at the same time. It’s well written and very visual. Over all this is a fabulous story about family.
If you are a reader who likes chapters, this book may a challenge for you. It’s broken up into 4 parts. There are breaks throughout the parts, but not many. There are good stopping points though.
Loved this book. It was entertaining and adult. A breath of fresh air!