Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

51 reviews

kirstym25's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content

beckyhofman's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

noraestelle's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

So I wanted to read this book before ever watching the movie. I always heard the movie was a classic, so I figured the book is too. Honestly, it took me way too long to figure out if I was even reading the first/right book or not. My opinion, the aunts are the only like-able characters in the whole book and I find they’re not in it enough. If you came for a cute witchy book, you’ve come to the wrong place. The only time there is any “witchy” elements in the book is when the aunts are around which isn’t often. They had too many side characters that they would insert their thoughts in, but didn’t really build those characters. Over half of the side characters I did not care about. Honestly, I would have much rather listen to Sally and her husbands love story which we barely got any of. To me that was the only love story in the book, the others were all rushed and felt forced. Not to mention literally every sexual scene feeling uncomfortable and on the verge of not consent. I kept reading this book waiting for it to get good and don’t get me wrong there were cute moments. Maybe I just had too high expectations going into it, but I don’t know. I’d say for 75% of the book I was just waiting for it to be over. I will say the narrator I liked. She sounded like Cher and I lowkey loved that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

frantically's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

absolutely beautiful 🥺 the prose in this is stunning, the characters vivid and enchanting. i love love love multi-generational stories and how we could see sally & gillian grow up and find their places in the world. have a soft spot for the aunts as well <3 this gives major winx club vibes as really, all the boys are just here to be boyfriends and nothing else

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Grief

gabrieldorian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

moonlightreads007's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I really enjoyed reading this book! The plot unfolded at a relatively slow pace, but you can tell that the author has phenomenal story-telling skills based on how they describe every aspect of the story such as the characters' thoughts and feelings, the intricate detail included in each story, as well as the lessons learned from the stories and how the characters went on to apply (or not apply) those lessons in their own lives. The story really sucks you in - once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down! Thematically, the book also explores the topic of moulding yourself to fit in vs. standing out and being your authentic self, as the women in this book grapple with this issue as they explore their identities both within and outside of magic. Another interesting theme was the ever-changing nature of their relationships and life circumstances, and how those changes affected their relationships with each other as well as how they adapted to those changes. All in all, this was a very fun, interesting read and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about friendships, family and magic✨️😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

Blended reading (audiobook + physical)

The Details:
Narrated by Laurence Bouvard
Unabridged

Mild spoilers will be in this review as I talk about different parts of the book.

I was initally apprehensive about the lack of chapters, but I needn't worry about that because everything just flowed in such a gentle storytelling way. It was also helpful that it was broken into parts.

I wasn't expecting such a generational saga, but I loved growing up with the sisters Sally and Gillian as they went to live with their peculiar aunts in Superstition. It was interesting to see little bits of witch craft, and from the little snippets of the movie I've seen (only very small scenes out of context), I was surprised that there was a lot of hexing and manipulation of love. It was fascinating to see how both of the very opposite sisters felt about it and also how everyone around them changed their views in different ways as they grew up. I felt like Sally was always getting the short straw of life, rather unfairly, just for being kind and not as bold and carefree as her little sister, so when she finally got a chance at love later on in this part and had a family I was so happy.

In Premonitions I'm happy that Sally was still a main character but the focus shifted on her two children growing up and mirroring the experience her and her sister had with school. I also loved seeing the OG sisters, who had become more and more estranged, reconciled at last.... but not over wholesome circumstances.
The lilacs haunting the sisters, suddenly reminded me of a scene from Weep, Woman, Weep and I wonder if that was inspired by Practical Magic. A pivotal development in this part was Kylie's 13th birthday and that did not go anyway I was expecting it to!

With the way that part ended, I was super interested to see how Clairvoyance would progress the story futher, now that Kylie was coming into her own. The story really developed here as powers were further unearthed and consequences began to come to a head for the run up to the conclusion.

It's weird how fond of the aunts I was, despite them feeling more like off page characters. I missed them and the cats so much when we were following everyone else living their lives.

The whole feel of this story was very whimsical and cosy and felt as if you were being narrated through this odd life, that wasn't super out of the ordinary, but enough to make you second glance. I absolutely adored it and am looking forward to reading the sequel and two prequels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident