Book Review: Practical Magic (Book One)

Author: Alice Hoffman

Published: 1995

Format: Library EBook

Genre: magical realism, fantasy, romance (ish)

My Rating: 1/5

DID NOT FINISH

I currently base my reviews loosely around the CAWPILE system developed by Book Roast on YouTube. I modify the categories depending on the format of the story I’m reviewing.

My star ratings are purely by my opinion and not measured by any particular metric.

SPOILER WARNING: This review will contain spoilers! Proceed with caution!

Summary

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 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...

Characters

I hate Gillian. She’s so arrogant and selfish and stupid. Sally’s a little irritating to the opposite. The Aunts are irritating, as are Antonia and Kylie. Antonia is selfish and spoiled and arrogant. Kylie is starting to care more about perception and all that. I don’t think there’s a single character I actually like. Maybe Sally’s husband, but that was short-lived.  They’re all irritating, shallow, dumb characters with almost no redeemable qualities.

Atmosphere

Overall it is generally tense and foreboding. Small town tropes of gossips, bullies, and other nonsense.

Writing Style

Fairly dry and boring, to be honest. We have an omniscient narrator and some head-hopping. We slide from one POV straight into another. Easy enough to understand, but not the most enjoyable. To be fair, the book is about 30 years old.

Plot

I think I understand the story, even if I don’t enjoy it. Wild sister convinces responsible sister to help her hide a body, the result of her life of bad choices. Not saying she deserved an abusive jerk, but I’m also not surprised that it happened. Then she refuses to learn from her mistakes and corrupts one of her nieces. Jimmy haunts them, rightfully so. I assume it leads to them reaching out to the Aunts and deal with the restless spirit, yada yada yada.

Intrigue

This was perhaps the only thing that kept me reading as long as I did. I wanted more about Jimmy and his haunting, less about the family drama.

Logic

Everything makes sense within the bounds and world of the book. Magic is mysterious and a little unpredictable. There seem to be rules that the Aunts know and follow, but the book doesn’t get into it very much.

Enjoyment and Final Thoughts

I did not enjoy this book at all. No likeable characters, a boring story, long explanations that serve little to no purpose. I think it could be very fun if it was rewritten with more modern tactics and techniques, and better characters. Very disappointing overall. No plans to pick it up ever again.

Would I recommend?

Not really. I went into it expecting something more interesting, perhaps more like the movie was. It could have been incredibly enthralling as a thriller with a romance subplot or something. If you like family drama, you may still like this book.