Customer Reviews:
 The Book or the Movie? New Answer to OLD Question. December 1, 2008
Marzo (Colorado)
For once, in the history of time, I've found that I like the MOVIE better than the book.
Such a shock.
This is still a good read, but having seen the movie first, I was disappointed that the characters weren't the same as the movie, and that there wasn't a fuller version of the story in the book, more on their witchy side, their lives filled in...
Well, their lives were filled in, but not as you'd expect the Sally and Jilly that you know from the big screen.
Alice Hoffman still pulls you in with her writing, she knows how to make it all real, sexy, and even dark.
A very good read - I'm just prejudiced by the movie!
There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain... November 18, 2008
GinRobi (Timmins, ON, Canada)
When their parents died, Sally stepped up to bad, calming the sitter down long enough to have her riffle through her mother's address book and called the aunts. If the aunts didn't step up to the plate, Sally and Gillian would become wards of the state.
The aunts took them in. While growing up, Sally and Gillian are teased and tormented while growing up, asll all Owens daughters are. Gillian, the youngest, rude and selfish, runs away at 18. Sally, ever so smart, calm and responsible, has done nothing but take care of them all, cleaning, laundry, healthy meals. She meets a man, falls in love and has two beautiful girls, Antonia and Kylie.
When her husband dies, remained in bed for year before she finally awakens and begins fresh. She's tired of the life she lives while in the aunts' house; Kylie, the youngest, is much like Sally, while Antonia is growing up just as spoiled, rude and selfish as her aunt Gillian. Desperate for a change, she buys a house on Long Island and moves the girls away.
And just when the monotony of life feels comfortable to Sally, Gillian shows up at her door in the middle of the night, her mean and abusive boyfriend, Jimmy, stone cold dead in the passenger seat of his car. In the heat of the moment, it's decided they'd bury Jimmy in the back yard.
And that's when their lives completely change...
While I thought the story was good, I had a hard time with it. Yes, the characters were interesting, watching them grow, and change from who they were to someone better, learning about themselves as they go along. When Hoffman wanted her character to be rude, the character was; happy, sad, determined... You could feel everything with the characters.
But I had such a difficult time reading this one. There were no chapters, only four parts - which made it a long story with no breathing room. It was getting to the point where my attention was wandering and I wanted to skim the pages, which I barely refrained from doing. There was no separation between scenes from the past, present, and future; it's reading memories as each of the characters are in focus, or what's to come later. And no differentiation between characters, either. And for me, that's a huge fault, and it took away from the book. I hate to say it, but if I'd read the book first, I may have never had the urge to watch the movie. And I own the movie on VHS and DVD.
However, I thought the feelings and lessons learned were beautiful. How each learned to love, forgive, forget, changing themselves into a better person, is the best part of the story. I'm rating this one 3.5 stars - I say read it and come to your own conclusions.
 new book purchase November 1, 2008
Marissa L. Castillo (Truckee, Ca. USA)
The book was delivered in excellent condition:) I was concerned when it did not arrive by the estimated date. Truckee has had some mail dilvery issues. I e-mailed the vendor and they responded very quickly:):) This put my mind as ease, and I received the book within a few days. Thank you so much. This vendor is absolutely wonderful to deal with :):):)
P.S. I am really enjoying this book!!!!
 practically magical September 25, 2008
seraphcelene (Carson, CA United States)
If you've only seen the movie then you need to read the book. You're missing so much and that is such a shame. The movie is only a wildly adapted slice of what the book contains. Gillian is even more flawed than Nicole Kidman could have handled and Sally is as rigid as rebar. These are older, wiser, more complex characters than the film portrays. Although the aunts, delightfully fleshed out by Stockard Channing and Diane Weist, are only background characters here, Sally's daughers are given front and center attention as girls becoming women. It is, I think, an even trade. Hoffman tells the story of the Owens' sisters simply and beautifully. The tone is almost matter-of-fact, not unlike wisdom shared, sage advice given by the older and the wiser.
not her best. September 24, 2008
Lauren M. Ellington (USA)
This isn't Haffman's best, but was still a desent read. I would reccomend it to someone who wasn't expecting anytihng like the movie.
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