A review by spootilious
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

 

Read: September 30, 2024
Title: Practical Magic
Author: Alice Hoffman

Series : Practical Magic #1

Genre:  Fantasy

Rating: 2/5
Review: 

I really really wanted to love this book but I really really hated it. 

The things I did like were worldbuilding as a friend of mine said “You can definitely get the Gilmore Girl vibes from the book.” The novel was whimsical and the characters were well rounded. 

However, Hoffman is obviously a technical writer which there is nothing wrong with if the author is able to use it to her advantage and make her sentences and paragraphs more visually diverse to allow the reader’s eyes to feast, as much as the mind does. Practical Magic, however, is just wall after wall of text, almost forcing the gaze to skim rather than to read.

This doesn’t help when most of the text is just lists…. So many lists. 

She also goes on a lot of tangents pulling the reader this way and that leaves the story spinning and the reader struggling to reorient, or maybe that's just me?

There really aren't any characters to root for. All of them (minus a couple of the supporting male characters that don’t really add anything to the story) are terrible or problematic. 

The writing felt like it was Young Adult with Adult themes.

There wasn’t really any plot to be seen. 

Honestly most of the characters (and about 60% of the story) could be removed and the novel wouldn’t really suffer for it. 

The sheer amount of weight put on physical appearance and insta-love….

I can definitely see why there are people that love this book and I will definitely recommend it to those that would probably like it but it wasn’t the right novel for me. 

QUOTES: N/A