Like Water for Chocolate

Una de las historias más lindas que he leído, la forma en la que está escrita es 100000/10.

No le doy 5/5 por respeto a John, he deserves better.

(Recomendado por Daniela ♡)

read the dutch version / liked the recipes though the book. but got lost in the understainding of the story line. a bit 4 gettable 4 me. the great niece is the narrator. thats my opinion. tastes differ

Magical realism isn't really my reading “thing”, so this wasn't a story I found all that compelling. The main “villain” of the story, Mama Elena, was the most interesting character to me: “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro.” Love that quote.
Even though the book was just okay for me, I'm still interested in seeing the movie, just to see how Mama Elena is portrayed.

I did enjoy the recipes and instructions for cooking various Mexican dishes intriguing. I wished there had been more focus on the historical context of area and time period, but that's because I'm a nerd. :-)

Read this for a book club. Not my normal style of book but an entertaining read none the less. The magic realism and romance was interesting but not something that enthralled me.

Me ha gustado mucho!
Me falta el contexto de las recetas que explica, entiendo que son todo platos típicos mexicanos y me ha faltado el puntito de asociar las experiencias de Tita con las recetas, pero aún así me ha sorprendido para bien! No esperaba que me gustara tanto, ya que el género Romance no es lo mío.

SPOILER

El final me ha dejado un regustillo amargo, por un lado por la soledad de John, y por otro lado por el final del romance de Tita y Pedro... Pero también es cierto que acabar de cualquier otro modo hubiera sido lo "fácil"

** FIN DEL SPOILER**

I like the idea of this book, and I do try my best to enjoy magical realism (I did, after all, love One Hundred Years of Solitude), but this just didn't do it for me. Tita makes stupid decisions, and I don't think that the book has any moral message at all. Far be it from me to claim that any and all books need a moral message, as they really don't, but I think this one is dangerous in its lack of such a thing. It depicts this “relationship” that is almost entirely based on lust, with no emotional development at all, and then the both of them die at the end from their mutual passion. It's ridiculous, and sets a dangerous standard for women. It's just that Tita and Pedro's relationship is so utterly milquetoast it's repulsive. John at least genuinely cares for and admires Tita, while Pedro really only cares for her body. I can't say anything against the theme of liberation in this book, but it bugs me that that might be the only thing some readers get out of it. I think (and maybe hope) that the way Esquivel writes John is to send readers a message about what real love and companionship should be, to set a standard for how a real man should behave (instead of keeling over after doing the deed, loser), but that hope is rather dashed by calling Pedro's forcing himself on Tita “true love”. It disgusts me. The only hope I can gather from this story is that part of its point is for readers like me to have the same reaction to it that I do, in order to get across less blatant themes, such as having standards and whatnot. Maybe I'm angry because I'm Catholic, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm angry. Maybe it's a story that portrays the negative effects of generational trauma, the hatred and hideous idiocy that can be born of loveless familial relationships. I just think that a lot of scenes in this book are of women being “liberated” by being swept off their feet by rapey, womanizing men. I think someday I'll have to read it it Spanish or perhaps write an essay about it to really get out my frustration at the way that it ends and the way the characters handle themselves. I think, if I looked long enough, this book could wash a waterfall of themes over me, but I don't want to. Obviously there is romance etc etc, but coupled with that is the idea of the liberation of women from traditional roles, the breaking of generational trauma (sort of), and the pursuit of one's own life. Depending on what kind of reader you are, you might romanticize the drama and thrill of it all, or you might hate the lesson it seems to convey, like I do. I think, if the book maybe lasted longer or cared less about the drama and more about the intricacy of characters rather than plot, I would like it better.

Very well indeed. I loved this book. The poor Tita had to live a life where she couldn't get married. She had to take care of her mother until the day she died.
I think the book was excellent. I liked the way she incorporated recipes to the story, not only giving you the principal recipe but some other thing to cover. Also, I think that after all that happened she had her closure, with that beautiful kind-of-sad ending.
One thing that totally surprised me to read but was also delightful, was the exaggeration she used to describe some things or feelings. Like, for example, when she described all the tears they shed, or the heat they felt. I though that she managed all those parts very well. I though that the descriptions where precise and beautiful, sometimes even funny.
I absolutely loved this book, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a great book that will make you laugh and maybe even cry. Of course, maybe for the most little you wouldn't let them read this one, but it's not so.

I really enjoyed this book. Tita's decisions disappointed me at some points, and I felt the near-ending was a little vague and the timeline was confusing. On the other hand, I LOVED the storytelling style, with the recipes, and found the magical realism absolutely perfect for this book. It had a lot of strong elements.

Okay, first of all, WHAT?
Why would Tita end up with Pedro? John was SO much better! I'm disappointed with the ending.

The writing became childish in the second half. It could have been more polished.

There is a warmth of expression, feeling and imagination running through these pages that makes this a satisfying read, though.

Having read it for a group project in the Fall semester of ‘09, I was curious about it from the start. The back of the book was what made me read it in the first place. What kept me going was the story and the really cool touch of having recipes added.

It was broken down into twelve chapters. Each chapter represented a month and a special recipe was added at the beginning of each chapter. And the recipes were picked for that special moment of that month or for that season. I have yet to try any of them, but it's all Mexican recipes written in english.

Anyway, it's a fantastic book and left me and my classmates being satisfied with the ending; well sort of haha it was an “odd” ending, but a good one.

I would say it's worth reading once and great for anyone looking to write a report in high school or the freshman year of english in college.

I think I'm much to black and white to enjoy books of the magic realism genre. This is a good story but just not for me. And I sort of think Pedro was a jerk!

Read Harder 2017: Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author.

Note: I grew up in Texas, and always considered Mexico to be Central America, so I'm going to go with that.

As a folk tale, I liked this story. This was, I think, my first brush with magical realism, which helped to make it work as a folk tale - such exaggerations in the story, with Tita being able to make people fall in love or be sick from sadness based on how she felt while she was cooking. It was interesting the way the recipes were woven into the story.

But as a romance, I felt Tita got the short end of the stick. I told Matt, “the main character was in love with this boy, but her mom wouldn't let her marry him (because Tita's job is to stay unmarried and take care of her mother until the day she dies), so he married her sister so he could be close to her anyway.” “That's sad,” he said. She spent the whole book pining over her sister's husband, Pedro, who wasn't even a very nice or good man, and who had some sketchy issues with consent. And then finally when there was a love interest worthy of Tita, she threw it all away so she could keep meeting Pedro in secret behind her sister's back!

Gertrudis was pretty awesome though. She does what she wants! She leads an army! She marries who she loves!