Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

6 reviews

loonysaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Stalking, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Classism and Sexual content

booksalacarte's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Magic Lessons- 4⭐️ 2🌶️

Historical Fantasy
Magical Realism
Witches
Salem witch trials
Witch heritage
Early America
One Bed
Journey
Coming of age
Generational Curse
Kidnapping


Alice Hoffman’s writing often feels like campfire storytelling . It’s such a specific style that is a perfect example of the Art of a tale. With whimsey, magic and love she transports her readers to another place and time. 

I found the history of the Owens family and the originator of the love curse to be rich in prose, vivid descriptions and a careful attention to history.

This is a slow moving tale that follows the entire life of the matriarch of the Owen’s family. But Hoffman completely captures the scene of each of the places the MC finds herself, as well as the misogynistic and fearful tone of the time.

“Do as you will, but bring harm to no one.
What you will give will be returned to you threefold.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexism, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Dementia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

chasingpages1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Stalking, Confinement, and Infidelity

Minor: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Infertility, Slavery, Sexual content, and Dementia

bookishfaye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is a very slow burn & very heavy on the historical elements so with that being said I can see how this book is maybe not for everyone. I have never seen or read practical magic & decided to go about the series in chronological timeline order so I’ve started with the story of Maria Owens. I absolutely loved every second of this book, it was beautiful, & heartbreaking, & hopeful, & devastating & I’ll be jumping right into The Rules of Magic Asap!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Abandonment, Animal death, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

banrions's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The last paragraph was perfection. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

  I enjoyed Magic Lessons a little more than Rules of Magic so going with 5 stars. It feels closer in style to Practical Magic which makes sense Maria Owens' story is outlined in Practical Magic already, this book expands the story and weaves in far more details.

My only complaint is that Faith’s portion of the story feels like it was wrapped up too quickly and neatly.

Throughout the story, there’s a building up of this dark path she’s on and yet when she finally confronts her father it frizzles out and she just....changes her mind about revenge? It felt like it was done more for the sake of having a happy ending for everyone. Which, fair enough. I like these characters and have no objection to a happy ending though it does feel a little odd given the setup of Practical Magic.

In Practical Magic the Owens family has this so-called long-standing curse and the people of the town are scared of them. Yet at the end of Magic Lessons Maria & Faith have a library and a girl’s school so...what led everyone in town to be such assholes to Sally & Gillian?

I get it, time & superstitions could have easily led to the shift in the behaviour of the town for the later book. Not to mention the Owens after Maria & Faith could have caused trouble. Still, it felt a little too neat.

Oh well, I did enjoy it and will likely re-read it in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Minor: Dementia, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence