For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in town. What a perfect opening line. Immediately, you are drawn in. Who are the Owens women? Why are they blamed for everything? Why not the Owens men? You have to keep reading. And that is how you meet Sally, Gillian, Antonia, Kylie, and the Aunts. They are fierce, they are scared, they are proud, they are broken. They are every woman. Oh, and did I mention they’re witches? In Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman tells us the story of these incredible women who are just trying to live their lives the best they can, with or without magic.
[Warning: My review of Practical Magic contains some spoilers!]
The Owens women give love a bad name
When Sally and Gillian are little girls, their parents die in a tragic fire on a lover’s getaway. The two girls move across the country to live with their two aunts in an ancient house. They quickly find out that their name and address are a liability in their town. Their family, specifically the women of their family (no male blood relatives seem to exist for the Owenses), has a reputation around town.
During the day, no one wants to talk to the two old aunts. People go so far as to cross the street when they see them coming. And this applies to their two nieces now too. But at twilight, women come to their back door and ask for help. Not just any help, but a special help that only they can provide. Magical help. The aunts dish out magical remedies to the women of the town while the two sisters secretly watch from the back stairs. After everything they’ve seen, they lock pinkies and swear to never be like those women, to never let love rule them.
But children grow up, and oaths get forgotten. The sisters are as different as can be: Gillian breaks hearts like fortune cookies and runs off to marry at 18, leaving New England behind. Sally is the steady one who stays, marries, and has kids of her own. She, her husband, and her daughters live with the aunts, bringing new life to the old house. They become accepted by the locals, and everything is great. Until tragedy strikes. Sally’s husband dies, and with him, her whole life dies too. When she sees her daughter get pushed down for being a witch, Sally decides that it’s time to go. She grabs her girls and moves far away. But before she goes, the aunts warn her that the past will follow her; she can’t run away from it. Still, she goes.
And for a while it seems good, until the day her sister shows up on her doorstep with a dead body in the car. The body, and the car, belong to Gillian’s boyfriend, Jimmy. Gillian killed him (by accident) and is too afraid to call the police, so she turns to Sally for help. The two bury Jimmy in the backyard and think that’s the end of it. And it could be, except that Kylie keeps seeing a man hanging out in their backyard that no one else can see. And odd things are happening to the plants in the yard. And toads seem to be everywhere. And then the authorities come looking for Jimmy. Finally, the sisters realize what they should have done from the start. They need some practical magic; they need to call the aunts.
Practical Magic is a family saga
Practical Magic is a family story in several ways. First off, it’s about a family. Arguably, Sally is the main character. But all of the Owens women, even the aunts and a few dead relatives, are given story time as Hoffman explores how the family has passed down trauma through the generations. All four of the main Owens (Sally, Gillian, Antonia, and Kylie) are given storylines with room to grow and develop throughout the novel. They each go off and have adventures, sometimes with different family members, and sometimes on their own (which is why I said that Sally is arguably the main character; it could just as easily be Kylie, Gillian, or even Antonia). Of course, there is a main story that unfolds, centered around Sally, Gillian, and Jimmy’s body. But the whole clan is so involved by the end that it’s really just family history by that point, not just a single character’s story.
Beyond the story being about a family, it’s about family. Like the concept of family. How family is always there for you, even when you think they won’t be. And how your family always loves and accepts you, even if you don’t love or accept yourself. I know that this is an idealized version of how family works. There are many families that are toxic or family members that need to be cut off. That’s reality. But ideally, this is how family should work. And the Owens family isn’t perfect; they spend years estranged because each member judges themselves far more harshly than their loved ones ever would. But when push comes to shove, they’ve got each other’s backs, and that’s beautiful.
Three decades later, still a great read
So Practical Magic isn’t exactly a new book. It originally came out over 30 years ago, and the movie it’s based on came out over 25 years ago. I was pretty young when that was in theaters, but I remember falling in love with the simple yet mystical lives the Owens women led. I didn’t realize that the movie was based on a book until years later, and I didn’t read the book until now, with the new movie creating hype. I have to say that the book and the movie are dramatically different yet fundamentally the same. It’s kinda like the movie took the book, squished it down, and cut off anything that was left hanging over the edges. It honestly sounds like the second movie will be using a lot of those leftovers, and I’m glad because Antonia and Kylie are powerful characters that got completely sidelined in the first movie. I’m so glad I picked up the book and got to meet them. I should have remembered my own saying, “the book is always better!” I’d highly recommend that any fans of Practical Magic the movie take that advice too and check out Practical Magic the book today!
Rating: 9/10
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman is available now!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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