Good story about family bonds, but it felt like it was mostly exposition. ( )

If you're scrolling through reviews debating on if you should read this one or start with [b:Magic Lessons|50892349|Magic Lessons (Practical Magic, #0.1)|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593355938l/50892349._SX50_.jpg|75786942]. I'm going to tell you, start there, not here. It will make this more interesting, and less mundane? I don't know what word I am looking for.

Next, if you're here for "should I read this, since I watched the movie". For me, having seen the movie before reading this, these two pieces might share the same name, but the stories are completely different. Comparing them would be like comparing apples and oranges. Character names may be the same, but each tells a vastly different tale with some similar plot points. I don't want to give spoils but here are light examples, this book starts when Sally & Gillian move into the Aunts house, and tells their entire life story before diving into the events of the movie. While some key points are similar, the story plays out differently so it's worth the read to then ponder over which of the girls choices did you prefer. Aside from that everyone is aged up, Sally's girls are in their teens, and the Aunts are in their nineties. So these factors alone, make for a very different story. TL;DR - Just because you watched the movie doesn't mean you will be able to predict the book.

Having read the two prequels, it is very obvious that when this book was written, the full Owens family history hadn't been flushed out yet. There are minor details that are changed / different compared to the lore that those two books build for us.

One of my favorite parts about this book is to see just how much Alice Hoffman improved her writing craft from the 90s to today. I'm in awe at the growth she had as a writer and a world builder. I would love to see her remaster this story to fit the current lore, and her current writing capabilities. I'm a huge nerd for watching writers learn the craft through reading their books, and this is one of the biggest glow ups I've had the pleasure of reading through.

So with that in mind, this book does not read like the prequels at all. It is much more narrative, and less whimsical history book. Which knowing this was written two decades ago, that doesn't disappoint me at all. It's a product of it's time, and where the writer was when she wrote it.

I am seriously curious how the newest in the series will be handled, since so much that was in [b:The Rules of Magic|34037113|The Rules of Magic (Practical Magic, #0.2)|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492802012l/34037113._SX50_.jpg|55038896] wasn't mentioned in here at all. (obviously/spoilers-but was mentioned in the movie so it makes it weird.) But I am still in love with this world, and excited to see where the Owens will lead us next. ( )

Read this for a book club. We had read the prequel Magic Lessons before. I didn't really like that book and wasn't looking forward to this one. Yep, this book did nothing for me. ( )

This has been on my list for a while. Like many reviewers, I saw the movie first, but it’s been so long, I don’t remember much. I did picture Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as Gillian and Sally while I was listening.
I’ve never read Alice Hoffman before. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, and it was a pleasant surprise that it was magical realism. The style threw me at the beginning, because there was so little dialogue, and it felt introductory, but then it continued to feel like an introduction. Once I got used to it, I didn’t have that nagging feeling that I was waiting for the main story to begin.
I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t swept away. I imagine the emotional distance I felt has something to do with the writing style. But I was still rooting for the characters and happy with how things turned out. ( )

This may very well be the first book I read that actually was as good and fun as the movie, even though their plots differ greatly.
Some random thoughts:

on beauty

-It’s very unfortunate that all the magical realism elements of the story come down to “true love at first sight exists” and “men instantly want to marry you because of LOVE”.

-Almost everyone is super beautiful, especially women. Especially Owen women. An Owen is like, the most gorgeous woman ever, flowers bloom and bees spill their nectar when she walks near and the air around her smells of lavender and dreams and everywoman hates her and stuff.

on rape themes

-Can we just finally agree that all love potions and love magic are actually rape drugs? It’s tiring to see fiction treat it as whimsical. Especially fiction that romanticizes this practice, and whose target audiences are the people most likely to be drugged and sexually harassed: young women. It’s supposedly written as a kind of empowerment to have this kind of power but it’s actually plainly creepy, abusive and I really would love to see less of it.

-It is heavily implied that a woman is perpetually raped by an infatuated man but who cares, it’s a background character and a cautionary tale so we don’t give a crap.

-We witness an attempted rape of a very young girl by a group of older men. It’s chilling and very real and a great depiction of the severity of rape culture and the ways women become the victims of sexual violence from a very young age. It was a wonderful, harsh, touch of realism that made the story a bit more familiar and real.

on sisterhood

-I loved the different relationships between women we get to see, the aunts, the protagonists, the little girls. They each have a character, a vibe of their own, different wants and needs, different ways of communicating. Neither is written as a paragon of virtue or as a villain, they’re all made with flaws and each relationship between them is different, based on the interactions of their different characters. Well crafted.

on marriage

-don’t worry kids, everyone will marry, everyone will love, because insta-love exists and it manifests through a sudden urge to get married
( )