Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

15 reviews

saltycoffee's review against another edition

emotional relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

shel_bay11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Cancer, Death, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, and War

happyreadings's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm re-reading the Practical Magic series to get myself prepared for the newest book. After reading The Rules of Magic again, I can definitely say this is probably my favorite book from the series (although that might change once I read The Book of Magic). I loved watching Jet, Franny, and Vincent grow up and everything they had to go through to find their love. This book will break your heart, put it back together again, and then break it again but it will be okay in the end. Love more, not less.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cancer and War

alanahhill's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, and Medical trauma

allyhoo811's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While I enjoyed Practical Magic, I found myself loving this second installment in the series. It was everything I loved about its predecessor, but better. There was more magic, more witchiness, and more character development -- Plus less absurdity. What's not to love? All things considered I give this book 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5). There were two small issues that dampened my enjoyment a tad, but overall a great read!

My Issues:

1. There was still too much insta-love. It was somewhat better than Practical Magic in this regard, but it was still too much for me personally. I know this series is supposed to have a fairytale feeling about it, but it just doesn't work for me in this regard.

2. I wanted more resolution to what the "curse" really was. Towards the end of the book, it seemed like the author was trying to get across the message that the curse had always just been in the minds of the family members, but then when Sally and Gillian's parents died it was written as if the curse had caught up with them. Doesn't ruin the story, but I didn't like feeling that you could actually trick the "curse", by doing things like changing your name or by living separately and not marrying.

Note: This story is told by a third person, omniscient narrator. There is a lot of head hopping. I found it worked fine for me (when it usually doesn't), but just know that going in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt