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A review by moth_dance
The Book of Magic: A Novel by Alice Hoffman
4.0
A magical beginning right to the very end. This saga has taught me so much.
But mostly: I can start at the end. I can begin again.
This is such a beloved world with so many genuinely crafted characters. I was afraid the final book wouldn't live up the last ones which have been phenomenal. And while the middle of this final story did drag a bit--as if there were too many additional characters (i.e. men) being thrown into the very close Owens world--in the end, everything Alice Hoffman wove into her tapestry of magic has been revealed with perfect love and perfect trust.
And it's thanks for writers like Alice Hoffman (and imo her closest magical realism writer companions [a:Francesca Lia Block|9072|Francesca Lia Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1530045619p2/9072.jpg] and [a:Zoraida Córdova|4824952|Zoraida Córdova|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1644072903p2/4824952.jpg]) there's magic to be found no matter where you live, no matter who you are.
***I have such immense nostalgia and sentiment tied to this Practical Magic series, and really all of Alice Hoffman's stories. I first found [b:Practical Magic|1281393|Practical Magic|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446013485l/1281393._SY75_.jpg|4030671] by way of my high school library, tucked next to the book I was first searching for--her YA story [b:Green Angel|410615|Green Angel (Green Angel, #1)|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389760023l/410615._SY75_.jpg|4030676]. But I choose Practical Magic first.
After I had to return it to my high school library but wasn't finished reading it, I moved to get it from my local public library. I vividly remember how both of these books were the original hardcover edition with the Rosetti "Persephone" artwork on the front and large pages that seemed to envelope me with each word. I eventually bought my own copy of this edition at a Half Price for like $10 but then lost that copy between moving back and forth from NYC to TX (or maybe my very witch-fearing mother actually throw it out while I was away...). Later I had to hunt for the hardcover edition, but I now own it again and fiercely protect it.
Much like the book, the movie holds such sentimental feelings, too. It was one of the movies with sister-characters that my former bff and I bonded over for years; she was the Gillian and I was the Sally. But that friendship ended on a very toxic note. For a while I couldn't watch the movie as I had done every year since 2006, and I couldn't reread passages of the book or even get into the following books in the series which haunted me from my TBR.
It wasn't until I moved to NYC that I had the courage to return to the Owens family and find comfort in the aunts, more than the sisters. In the most fitting fashion possible, I started and finished [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] at multiple benches in Greenwich Park during my first summer in NYC. And [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] became my grounding practice during a very difficult autumn/winter season back in TX.
Now, as I make plans to move back to NYC once and for all, I've finished the saga with this book, and I feel content. I can leave this story and these characters who've held so much of my life here in TX. And I can also return to them whenever I want from the magical comfort of the east coast.
But mostly: I can start at the end. I can begin again.
This is such a beloved world with so many genuinely crafted characters. I was afraid the final book wouldn't live up the last ones which have been phenomenal. And while the middle of this final story did drag a bit--as if there were too many additional characters (i.e. men) being thrown into the very close Owens world--in the end, everything Alice Hoffman wove into her tapestry of magic has been revealed with perfect love and perfect trust.
And it's thanks for writers like Alice Hoffman (and imo her closest magical realism writer companions [a:Francesca Lia Block|9072|Francesca Lia Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1530045619p2/9072.jpg] and [a:Zoraida Córdova|4824952|Zoraida Córdova|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1644072903p2/4824952.jpg]) there's magic to be found no matter where you live, no matter who you are.
***I have such immense nostalgia and sentiment tied to this Practical Magic series, and really all of Alice Hoffman's stories. I first found [b:Practical Magic|1281393|Practical Magic|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446013485l/1281393._SY75_.jpg|4030671] by way of my high school library, tucked next to the book I was first searching for--her YA story [b:Green Angel|410615|Green Angel (Green Angel, #1)|Alice Hoffman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389760023l/410615._SY75_.jpg|4030676]. But I choose Practical Magic first.
After I had to return it to my high school library but wasn't finished reading it, I moved to get it from my local public library. I vividly remember how both of these books were the original hardcover edition with the Rosetti "Persephone" artwork on the front and large pages that seemed to envelope me with each word. I eventually bought my own copy of this edition at a Half Price for like $10 but then lost that copy between moving back and forth from NYC to TX (or maybe my very witch-fearing mother actually throw it out while I was away...). Later I had to hunt for the hardcover edition, but I now own it again and fiercely protect it.
Much like the book, the movie holds such sentimental feelings, too. It was one of the movies with sister-characters that my former bff and I bonded over for years; she was the Gillian and I was the Sally. But that friendship ended on a very toxic note. For a while I couldn't watch the movie as I had done every year since 2006, and I couldn't reread passages of the book or even get into the following books in the series which haunted me from my TBR.
It wasn't until I moved to NYC that I had the courage to return to the Owens family and find comfort in the aunts, more than the sisters. In the most fitting fashion possible, I started and finished [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] at multiple benches in Greenwich Park during my first summer in NYC. And [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] became my grounding practice during a very difficult autumn/winter season back in TX.
Now, as I make plans to move back to NYC once and for all, I've finished the saga with this book, and I feel content. I can leave this story and these characters who've held so much of my life here in TX. And I can also return to them whenever I want from the magical comfort of the east coast.