Happy Birthday Scribbled Inks!
I realized when looking that up that I did a "First book of the year" post and thought "...well that was smart...why didn't I do one this year"...because the first book I read this year was this January was the Book/Adaptation Review....
In my 2018 goals I had hoped for at least one in depth review of a book per month...I didn't take into consideration the Book/Adaptation Review....This will need to be remedied.
I know I mentioned doing this early last summer, but let's try it now. I can't promise there wont be spoilers....so going in, just know that if you haven't read the book or watched the movie this review may give things away.
January Book/Adaptation Review
A side by side comparison of Practical Magic A novel written by Alice Hoffman, and the film directed by Griffin Dunne.
The Book: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
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| Published June 1995, by Putnam Adult |
"Read" via Audio book: Narrated by Christina Moore, Approx. 9 hours long.
Right off the bat, there isn't as much witchcraft and spell casting as I had initially hoped for. The aunts preform some but when it came to Sally and Gillian it was much more of a strong intuition than anything else. One thing I did really appreciate was the development of the characters, more so of Antonia and Kylie. Their personalities as little girls were cute and endearing. I saw a lot of my niece in these two as little girls. Antonia being the one who knows she's pretty and cute and who the aunt's doted upon, while Kylie was doted on by their parents, but always having a mysterious edge to her. As they grew older Antonia grew into a familiar beauty like that of her Aunt Gillian, and much of the same attitude, with the lack of the sisterly comfort Gillian and Sally had; she knew she was pretty and no one was going to take that away from her especially Kylie. While Kylie grew more self conscious and less secure of herself and her looks, with no help from Antonia who constantly pointed out her sister's lack of appeal. Sally's daughters grow so much in this book. I have to admit that I didn't much care for Antonia's narcissism through out most the book, but understood where it came from. It was also just interesting to see her dynamic with her Aunt Gillian, in which they just straight didn't like each other. But as she grew and learned through out the book I enjoyed her growth and developing a personality more than her looks. As a character we got to see her develop her own depth to her personality. With Kylie, she was fairly reserved due to her sister's bullying, and unlike Antonia she idolized their Aunt Gillian, to the point where Gillian made Kylie over as a birthday present, which didn't go over well in with everyone else, but we got to see Kylie try to understand why everyone was upset with her new look, more than just spite and jealousy. We got to see Kylie work out that it wasn't quite what she wanted as she got attention she didn't want, ultimately bringing her and Antonia closer as sisters, which as cruel as that was, melted my heart to see them come together as such and just have an over all better relationship in the rest of the book.
As much as I enjoyed Antonia and Kylie's development, I felt little attachment to any of the characters. This book jumps from perspective to perspective, that I only feel slight more attachment to Sally and Gillian because I watched the movie first, so as character's I recognized, I gravitated to them more so, I feel, than I would have if I had just read the book.
The Movie: Practical Magic Directed by Griffin Dunne
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| Released 1998, by Warner Bro. |
The Owen's Curse was an interesting twist. The book goes into how the death of Sally and Gillian's parents are accidental, rather than the movie saying their dad died due to the Owen's Curse and their mother dying of a broken heart. I enjoyed the book version a bit better in that the death beetle could be heard as a warning of something bad to come as opposed to it just happening due to a curse.
This is the core difference between the book and the movie. As this curse kind of defines how Gillian and Sally grow up at people. Sally doesn't want to fall in love, out of feat of having a broken heart, to the point where she creates a spell to create a guy that "never" existed, and therefore a guy she can never love. While Gillian can't wait to fall in love, but rather than doing so tries to beat love in being promiscuous, leaving a guy before it get's too serious.
The magical difference between the book and the movie is that the movie actually has them doing magic, Sally is able to blow a flame into existence onto a candle wick, is able to stir coffee with her mind, and opens her own store full of herbal soaps and shampoos. Gillian doesn't really seem to have much in terms of magic aside from knowing her poisons, in the movie she want's nothing more than to have Sally's power, but leaves because she feels she's a disappointment to the aunts. While Sally stays but dreams of being normal and snubs her nose at magic, restricting her girls to even learn it, despite using it herself.
Antonia and Kylie aren't a big part of the movie, we don't learn much about them aside from they follow the family style of one having red hair and the other brown, They don't learn life lessons as they do in the book, they're just kind of their to help move the story along, as they're able to see Jimmy's ghost int he Rose bushes, foil Gillian's plan to get rid of the cop. and scream and cry when Gillian is being possessed.
I enjoyed the book, don't get me wrong, but if the book had some of the elements the movie had I think I would have enjoy'd it a bit more. I do think Sally grows more in the movie than she does in the book. She gets a wake up call when she finally has to ask the Aunts for help to dis-spell Jimmy's ghost from Gillian. In the book they need help getting rid of his body, there in getting rid of his ghost. The Aunts (in the movie) kind of force her to acknowledge that she's a witch, first to the community: she calls everyone on her daughter's phone tree to come help with her sister, admitting she's a witch. Then later to herself as she preforms an act to save her sister's life. This part here, is what makes me tear up, as Sally hold Gillian's hand and tells her sister she can't go, they were supposed to grow old together, as the camera pan's to the Aunts holding each other tight, not wanting to lose the other. That intensity wasn't in the book.
Some little things I liked better in the book than the movie was Sally's relationship with the cop, the fact that there wasn't a spell that drew him near her like there was in the movie was refreshing, he just genuinely wanted to be with her, and you got his point of view when he interviewed Sally and Gillian about Jimmy's disappearance. How when he wrote in his note book it was just words to make it look like he was paying attention because Sally was distracting him. The spell: In the movie the cop was the guy that Sally put a spell on to love her, thinking he didn't exist and saving herself from heart break. While somewhere out there the petals from the flowers she picked for her spell twirled and landed around Gary Hallet. So then there are issues when he comes to investigate Jimmy's disappearance and question why he's so drawn to Sally. Is it love or is it the spell? In the book I enjoyed the fact that there was no spell to question it. In terms of leaving the magic out, I agreed with that part. With everything else it would have been fun to see.
Over all they both had their pluses and minuses, I'd have to say I enjoyed the movie a little more than the book, but I appreciated what the book had to offer.
I don't know if this was a "proper" Book/Movie Adaptation Review, but it's my first and I hope you got something out of it.
Stay tuned for the next one!
Until next time!
Litta
This is the core difference between the book and the movie. As this curse kind of defines how Gillian and Sally grow up at people. Sally doesn't want to fall in love, out of feat of having a broken heart, to the point where she creates a spell to create a guy that "never" existed, and therefore a guy she can never love. While Gillian can't wait to fall in love, but rather than doing so tries to beat love in being promiscuous, leaving a guy before it get's too serious.
The magical difference between the book and the movie is that the movie actually has them doing magic, Sally is able to blow a flame into existence onto a candle wick, is able to stir coffee with her mind, and opens her own store full of herbal soaps and shampoos. Gillian doesn't really seem to have much in terms of magic aside from knowing her poisons, in the movie she want's nothing more than to have Sally's power, but leaves because she feels she's a disappointment to the aunts. While Sally stays but dreams of being normal and snubs her nose at magic, restricting her girls to even learn it, despite using it herself.
Antonia and Kylie aren't a big part of the movie, we don't learn much about them aside from they follow the family style of one having red hair and the other brown, They don't learn life lessons as they do in the book, they're just kind of their to help move the story along, as they're able to see Jimmy's ghost int he Rose bushes, foil Gillian's plan to get rid of the cop. and scream and cry when Gillian is being possessed.
I enjoyed the book, don't get me wrong, but if the book had some of the elements the movie had I think I would have enjoy'd it a bit more. I do think Sally grows more in the movie than she does in the book. She gets a wake up call when she finally has to ask the Aunts for help to dis-spell Jimmy's ghost from Gillian. In the book they need help getting rid of his body, there in getting rid of his ghost. The Aunts (in the movie) kind of force her to acknowledge that she's a witch, first to the community: she calls everyone on her daughter's phone tree to come help with her sister, admitting she's a witch. Then later to herself as she preforms an act to save her sister's life. This part here, is what makes me tear up, as Sally hold Gillian's hand and tells her sister she can't go, they were supposed to grow old together, as the camera pan's to the Aunts holding each other tight, not wanting to lose the other. That intensity wasn't in the book.
Some little things I liked better in the book than the movie was Sally's relationship with the cop, the fact that there wasn't a spell that drew him near her like there was in the movie was refreshing, he just genuinely wanted to be with her, and you got his point of view when he interviewed Sally and Gillian about Jimmy's disappearance. How when he wrote in his note book it was just words to make it look like he was paying attention because Sally was distracting him. The spell: In the movie the cop was the guy that Sally put a spell on to love her, thinking he didn't exist and saving herself from heart break. While somewhere out there the petals from the flowers she picked for her spell twirled and landed around Gary Hallet. So then there are issues when he comes to investigate Jimmy's disappearance and question why he's so drawn to Sally. Is it love or is it the spell? In the book I enjoyed the fact that there was no spell to question it. In terms of leaving the magic out, I agreed with that part. With everything else it would have been fun to see.
Over all they both had their pluses and minuses, I'd have to say I enjoyed the movie a little more than the book, but I appreciated what the book had to offer.
I don't know if this was a "proper" Book/Movie Adaptation Review, but it's my first and I hope you got something out of it.
Stay tuned for the next one!
Until next time!
Litta
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