Amy 
fantasy, historical fiction
In this novel about a family of witches, the characters were
charming and their lives were intriguing. I was disappointed by the one part in the middle
where, like with most of her novels, Alice Hoffman diverges from the story line
and halts the momentum in order to give a history lesson. Understand, I am all
for describing the setting and the atmosphere as appropriate. However, Hoffman does not do this smoothly,
cleverly, or seamlessly. Rather, she makes me want to skim ahead out of the
boring “textbook” part of the novel. And this is a trend with her novels.
Sigh. Thankfully, this section was
relatively small in The Rules of Magic. I will definitely read the sequel or,
rather, the original novel for which this prequel was later written. I love a good magical realism novel!
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Marin Ireland. While she is a good voice actor and even had the ability to differentiate the voices of female characters and give them individual personalities, her performance was reduced by the fact that she sounded like she had a cold or allergies. It was a nasal issue that wasn't overly gross but still drew my attention to that issue and away from the story. Therefore, I have to drop her a grade and give her a B+.
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