It’s Gillian’s unexpected arrival on Sally’s doorstep that stirs things up for everyone. After the death of her husband, Sally left the aunts behind and the little town they called home for a place where she could just fade into the background and raise her daughters escaping the rumors, whispers and odd looks that met her everywhere she went. Gillian has always been the ‘wild child’, rearing to get out of Massachusetts and adamant that she wouldn’t be caught dead east of the Mississippi ever again until she needs her older sister Sally to bail her out. Raised by their aunts and shunned by their classmates for being witches, sisters Gillian and Sally struggled to find their own versions of happiness. Both are great stories, they’re just completely different. In this instance, I wouldn’t say the movie is necessarily better than the book, I'd say I prefer the movie version. I mean how could I not, the book is always better than the movie, right? With numerous viewings under my belt and the upcoming release of the prequel, The Rules of Magic, I figured now was as good of a time as any to dive in and give this a read. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it wasn’t until I read my first Alice Hoffman novel last year ( The Museum of Extraordinary Things) that I realized Practical Magic was more than just a swoon-worthy movie I’d watched a dozen times over. Add to this a complete lack of momentum and a generally meandering story line and you get a sad face (or maybe bitch face if I’m being honest) and a thumbs down from me. This kind of writing feels sloppy when it is used beyond the beginning stages of scene setting, and when it is almost the only way the author seems to able to convey meaning it becomes teeth-gnashingly annoying. Within the next page, the total of similar lists goes up to 8. Such things might be worth something, a glance, a peek, a deeper look.' But now Sally began to order things in her mind- grief and joy, dollars and cents, a baby’s cry and the look on her face when you blew her a kiss on a windy afternoon. Everything was still gray- the paintings Antonia brought home from school and slipped beneath her door, the flannel pajamas Kylie wore on chilly mornings, the velvet curtains that kept the world at bay.

She considered each of his kisses and all the words he had ever said to her. She thought about Michael’s life and his death, and about every second they had spent together.

She thought about the girl in the drugstore and the sound of Antonia’s footsteps on the stairs when she went to bed without a good-night hug. 'Sally thought long and hard each time she hung up the phone. I somehow managed to get through it, but this book was like one never-ending series of mood-setting lists.

This is one of those rare examples of the movie being better than the book.

Magic lessons alice hoffman