Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

48 reviews

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Murder

maddireads13's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

sycamore22's review against another edition

Stopped when the two guys were chasing Kylie through the field in attempt to assault her. I watched the movie first and loved it… the book is VERY different. There were just too many descriptions of sex or sexual thoughts that felt violating for me. Like most of the sex scenes lacked consent, and Gillian’s memories of sex before Ben Fry are abusive and difficult to read. Once you’ve lived through something like that, you don’t feel any desire to read about it, in my experience. This is NOT the charming, warm-hearted, witchy story of sisterhood depicted in the movie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Rape, and Murder

Sally goes through a one year period of Grief. Gillian is physically and sexually abused by her Jimmy, which leads to her drugging and accidentally killing him. Jimmy’s drunken abuse is discussed in detail in Gillian’s memories. There are many jarring moments where men’s sexual thoughts about Gillian and Kylie (who is a minor) are graphically recounted. There is a scene where Kylie is chased through a field by two men who intend on raping her. This is where I stopped reading, but I saw in another review that she does end up escaping.

erinreading's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Not much like the movie at all. The book has four sections but no chapters so it can drag on. Subject seems to change with almost every other paragraph giving a sense of rambling. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think it would be impossible for me not to compare the book to the movie I’ve seen countless times. I never expect a movie to be a perfect retelling of a book, but having now read the book, I am surprised by how different they are… and even more surprised to find that this may be the one time that the movie is better than the book… 😬 Sorry, not sorry.

That’s not to say that the book isn’t great in its own right, though! I’m not normally a fan of this descriptive style of writing, but Hoffman’s writing is definitely an exception. I almost want to describe it as lyrical, though I don’t think it technically is. It’s beautiful, though, for sure. Captivating. Magical. Though different, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading the origin story of the characters I’ve loved for over a quarter century. 

I do have to say that nearly three hundred pages contained within only FOUR chapters is an absolutely horrific choice. Borderline cruel. Were this any other book, I would’ve returned it without reading a page for that fact alone. I would really like to read the other books in this series but if they have similar chapter lengths, I may have to pass. If you’ve read them, please let me know if Hoffman learned the art of reasonable chapters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Violence and Death of parent

williamabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

alexjoneswrites's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I grew up in love with this movie and starting the book series was magical. I loved the exploration into the relationship of Gillian and Sally through all its ups and downs and Gillian remains my favourite character. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Drug use

sonlight21's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I liked the first half I guess the second one not as much and the last quarter not much at all. I don't think I've read a book before that used the F word so many times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Car accident and Abortion