Practical Magic

Rating:
Summary: A Bad Julia Childs meets a bad Anne Rice, where's Hoffman?
Review: I love Alice Hoffman but think this is the worst book I have ever read by her. There are so many refrences to food and stupid ones that it reads like a bad Julia Childs cookbook, and the only magic in this book is omens. Omens like swans and black cats, a bad Anne Rice. Aside from this the story is weak and without a point. Where is the Hoffman I enjoy?

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I read this book in a span of 5 days, a big feat with school and homework. The book was very fun to read. I saw the movie first, and when I realized it was based on a book, I went out and bought it. The movie wasn't the best, but the characters were intriguing and the plot line was interesting. The book was, to my surprise, much better than the movie. I didn't want to put it down. It's a great story for "realistic fantasy" lovers.

Rating:
Summary: poorly written
Review: I bought this book about two years ago and couldn't get into it. After I saw the movie, I decided to give it another shot because I loved the movie. I could not believe how poorly written the book really was. The author goes back and forth between present and past tenses. She abruptly changes character viewpoints without a transition so you think you're reading about one character only to find she had changed to a different one. Very confusing. To make matters worse, she stops action right in the middle with long narrative flashbacks. The movie was a huge improvement over the book, and I actually liked it a lot. Now if I could only learn to fly off the roof...

Rating:
Summary: SHE VIOLATES EVERY RULE I LEARNED ABOUT WRITING
Review: I'm reading this book because my book club choose it. It's mostly narrartive. There are no scenes of action and very little dialogue. Then in part two the author switches to using the present tense which is an irrating tense to read in and certainly didn't make the story "now". I kept waiting for the real story to happen, but it doesn't. One thing, if writing this bad can be acclaimed, maybe my efforts have hope. I won't read another of her books.

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! MUST READ!
Review: I usually read true crime novels, but since my husband was going out of town for business (& I'm a chicken) I decided to try this book. I had really wanted to see the movie. The book was so great. I fell in love with the characters. When I finished the book I was actually kind of sad, yet at the same time grateful for such a pageturner. I ran out and saw the movie right away. My advice, read the book! The movie was good, but the book was excellent!!!

Rating:
Summary: Magical
Review: I liked Practical Magic. It was a good book with great characters. I know it isn't a favorite of other people, but this book was a great window to the world of the Owens girls. Sally was amazing--as was Gillian. The great thing about this book was that the characters shifted so seamlessly and the plot was weaved so well into the book. I didn't want this book to end, but when it did, I realized reading it made me a better person

Rating:
Summary: This is a whimsical and touching book about family bonds.
Review: "Practical Magic" is a book which exemplifies style over substance. Hoffman writes whimsically and touchingly of an odd family of women who are too colorful to fit in comfortably with conventional society. The books weaves in a number of elements, including magic spells, murder and romance. Unfortunately, the plot is too contrived to be truly satisfying. Hoffman depicts her characters skillfully and the dialogue is charming. Her writing is at times lyrical. However, the book is as substantial as gossamer.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read.
Review: I read this book because I wanted to see the movie. I went into it with no expectations. I was surprise to find out what a delight it was. I was so engrossed in the book, I finished it within a few hours. It's clearly a piece of wonderful work. I have started to read Alice Hoffman's other novels and I am enjoying each one, but not as much as I enjoyed Practical Magic.

Rating:
Summary: Practically tragic
Review: I read Alice Hoffman's "Turtle Moon" and thoroughly enjoyed it. A good, sturdy plot. Real characters, for whom one could care. Description of Florida's atmospherics that were right on.So imagine my chagrin when I waded through THIS piece of fluff. This book stinks. Someone has to refute the lava flow of gush here. This is for former girl scouts, waxing nostalgic about telling sanatized horror stories around sanatized camp fires, pounding smores.Stephen King Lite. C'mon, move on up from those bodice-ripping novels, we've got REAL women here!Characters? Sally is SO beautiful. Gillian is SO beautiful. Kylie is SO beautiful. Antonia is SO beautiful. SO what? Why would anyone care about these losers? None has any redeeming qualities (granted Sally DOES keep a neat house), and, by the way, one IS a murderess.The occultism (upon which, supposedly, the "charm" of this book hangs) is a turgid mishmash of new age touchy feely, dimestore Halloween spooky, and drag queen camp. Mysterious toads, menacing swans and black cats abound. Boo! Scarey.I suppose the author's use of color would be spellbinding (no pun intended) to gradeschoolers. Lessee, green is for envy, red for blood and other yucky stuff, black for things that go bump in the night ... well, you get the picture. Dick, Jane and Spot would get the picture."By the very next morning that edge of jealously Antonia has been dragging around with her will be gone, leaving only the faintest green outline on her pillow, in the place where she rests her head." If it had been a MAUVE outline, we'd be lost!The clunkers found on every page: don't publishers have editors any more? Or did they all graduate from Bugtussle U's School of Creative Scribbling?"Love is worth the sum of itself, and nothing more." Huh?"He's as transparent as a sheet of glass." ASTOUNDING imagery!"Summer in Tuscon is seriously hot ..." Duh, do ya think so?"The air is as dense as a chocolate cake, the good kind, made without flour." That dense, ey?"The weight of never seeing George descends like a cloak made of ashes." How come not "black, spooky ashes"?The gratutious use of the f-word is grating, the sex scenes are base and mechanical.Amazon, we clamor for the "zero stars" option. This baby deserves one.

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding. A book you could not put down.
Review: This is the first time that I have read a Alice Hoffman book. I did not know she existed before the promo for the movie. I am now one of her biggest fans. Her style of writing is so refreshing. She spins a tale of adventure,hope, and everlasting love like no one has in a long time. There was never a dull moment in the book and the reader felt that they were a part of the story the whole time. Can't wait to see how they portrayed the charecters in the movie.