Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Practical Magic

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

52 reviews

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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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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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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soph_mills's review against another edition

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emotional sad 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

4.0

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colorwriter's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It took me a bit to get into it as it's a very different style of writing than I'm used. This is a charming and unique style of prose and the author did a great job of describing each person's perspective of the family dynamics, making if feel realistic.

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oh_bother's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

Wanted to love this as much as I adore the film adaptation. The stream of consciousness and switching between narrators randomly was jarring and hard to follow. A lot of boring stuff. Not enough magic. But still found myself rooting for the characters and being charmed a few times. The movie was better but this is different enough that maybe they should be judged separately.

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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

3.5

Unique writing style; I liked it but it may not be for everyone. The pacing was pretty weird, a lot got packed in to the last 15% or so of the book. And I’m not sure how I felt about how casually the author wrote about domestic violence. This may be the rare case where the movie is better than the book!

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