Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

2010-05-31T02:00:23Z

I'm still reeling from Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. A few years ago,
I watched the movie and fell in love with how luminous Nicole Kidman
appeared there as the enigmatic, beautiful Gillian. It's one of those
heartwarming movies you don't seem to forget, like Hook, or The Secret
Garden. So when I found myself an ebook, recommended by a friend, I
proceeded to read with extreme interest.

Here's the thing. I'm not fond of reading ebooks since it hurts my eyes.
I like the tactile effect of real books and the smell of crisp or
tattered pages, and how I can insert cute nifty bookmarks whenever I
want, but this was different. I found myself drawn to Hoffman's simple,
matter-of-fact storytelling, that I finished it in three days (quite a
feat recently, since I was busy with work and other ventures), reading
whenever I can.

I gobbled up this slightly dark modern fairytale. There's Gillian, the
extremely attractive, impulsive, tempestuous sister, prone to always
falling for (and marrying) the wrong guy. Then there's her sister Sally.
Dependable, predictable and fiercely protective of her daughters Kylie
and Antonia, Sally reminded me of Elizabeth Wakefield, while Gillian is
the exciting (and a tad annoying) Jessica.

I wish I had a sister.

Anyway, the plot is pretty basic: Word is that the Owens women are
witches. Gillian and Sally live with their "witchy" aunts and are
mercilessly teased and avoided at school, until the point where Gillian
becomes so dazzlingly beautiful and all the boys fall in love with her.
She could have any guy she wants, but of course she picks the bad boys,
who are..um, bad. Sally meanwhile, falls in love with a good guy, and
almost lives a normal, picket-fence type of existence, but predictably,
this good guy dies by some freak accident.

After some time, Gillian leaves home and runs away with some guy,
occasionally contacting her sister, who is depressed because of said
husband death. Sally leaves home too, taking her two daughters with her
and building a new life somewhere.

It really sounds simple, and it is, but Hoffman is a whiz at telling
this story without having to use the gimmickry of long words, her
characters a-zest and popping with life.

The pages move forward with details of how Antonia and Kylie are growing
up, and it must be Hoffman casting a spell on me, because I am so
fascinated by these Owen women, I feel like one of the villagers who
can't comprehend what hit them.

While Sally is moving on with her life, Gillian suddenly re-appears and
claims she's accidentally killed her abusive boyfriend, Jimmy. The two
are afraid of going to jail and bury his body in the backyard, where it
wreaks havoc on their plants by its diabolical ways, even six feet under.

After this it feels like nothing major is happening, but the prose is so
deceptively simple and charming, that it's so easy to get lost in
Hoffman's storytelling.

This is a pretty magical book, with all the razzle dazzle of magic
metaphors: Magic inside of us, magic in each day, but most importantly,
the magic of love, hidden in surprises. How can you go wrong with a book
that preaches the magic of love?

What I think: 8 unicorns

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