This was a fun book to read. Very colorful unusual characters. Sally Owens is the person you cheer for in this story. It's different than the movie. Sally's daughters grow up to be teenagers in the book whereas in the movie they are little girls. Alice Hoffman is one of the few who can write a novel about nothing but women who vary in ages and you learn to love each one of them. She shed's light on how special and undervalued women are. ( )

I read this book because I loved the movie. I find that I almost always love the book more than the movie, however I can't say so in this case. Of course many things were different which was to be expected. I didn't go into reading the book thinking that it would be the same. I was hoping it would be more magical and was disappointed. I probably should have read the book first. I would read another Alice Hoffman as I did enjoy the writing. ( )

trudging, trudging - that's the way you will feel about this book. Normally I will watch a movie before reading the book which inspired it - normally the book is much more enjoyable that way ... not this book. it is written in a form of thrid person-present tense that is maddening. I'm 2/3rd through the book and keep hoping it will get better ... but its not. This is one of the very rare times where reading the book FIRST would have been recommended ... that way the movie would be able to fill in the missing bits of information! ( )

Sally and Gillian Owen are just little girls when their parents die and they move in with their two aunts in Massachusetts. For hundreds of years the Owens women in this town have been blamed for things going wrong in the town. They are believed to be witches. And maybe they are. But this doesn't stop the town women to secretly go to the Owens during the night to get love spells performed. In this environment, Sally and Gillian are raised. They have pretty much all the freedom they could want at home while being tormented at school for being witches. Sally, the eldest, grows up to be responsible...beyond responsible...boring responsible. Gillian, the irresponsible and beautiful younger sister, breaks hearts left and right.

After seeing so many women come to the aunts for help with love problems the sisters vow to never be like them. Uh huh. But they also want normalcy. They both find ways to escape: Sally by marrying and Gillian by eloping and running away. Years later, when Sally's two daughters are teenagers and her husband has passed away, the bonds of sisterhood are tested when Gillian seeks Sally's help for, shall we say, accidentally murdering her boyfriend. And how do two women, who've been hurt in the past because of love, find happiness?

I love how Alice Hoffman writes. So magical. I think it's a bit more refined in The River King but I just love it. The only thing I didn't like is that she uses some pretty strong language here and there sometimes. While maybe to a point it is necessary, I just could have done without it. But the differences between the book and movie...I loved both versions. I think the movie made the story flow a bit better. And I kind of liked the daughter's younger age in the movie vs the book. And the ending was a little anti-climatic compared to the movie...but I liked it. ( )

I had a poor opinion of Hoffman's writing after I read her later novel Here on Earth, her tribute to Wuthering Heights. That novel put me under the impression that Hoffman didn't get characters at all. After reading Practical Magic, I take that back. This novel is an extraordinary good character study of two vastly different sisters, and the two daughters of the one.

Fans of the film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will get a different story here, but the central action does revolve around the aftermath of Gillian's destructive relationship with Jimmy. But mostly, the book is a close portrait of the sisters. Sally is always the sensible one, there to cook healthy meals and hides herself from the pain of love after her husband dies. Gillian, on the other hand is sensual as she is lazy, but emerges with interests that may surprise the reader as it rounds out her character. Sally's daughters become strong characters in their own right, as they deal with adolescense, young love, and self esteem. The aunts are not the main characters as they are in the film, but are mysterious and marginal until called upon to help the sisters, when three generations of Owens women connect in ways they could not earlier in the novel.

The "magic" in the novel is diminished to the aunt's love spells, (and is more frightening in this respect) but it is more present in the way the characters interact with each other. Their empathy, their heightened senses, their depth of perception is weaved with importance among knowledge of herbs and superstitions. The magic effects the townspeople without their knowing, as they are drawn beyond their power to the beauty of Gillian or the the lilacs that spring up overnight in Sally's yard.

Hoffman also creates a vivid New England that evokes tales of Salem and autumns with rainbow foliage. There are few authors that can really nail down a certain area of geography, and Hoffman is one such writer who has a talent for describing New England and New Englanders. It is difficult to describe how she does so, as the novel gives off an intangible sense of this location.

I eventually reconciled my appreciation for this novel with my intense dislike for Here on Earth. I can only surmise that Hoffman does better with her own original material, and can fully explore her characters when not bound by preconceived structure. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy character studies of women. ( )