Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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The novel that I am going to review is called "Like water for chocolate." The story takes place on a ranch on the Texas/Mexico border in the late nineteenth century. It is a beutiful and touching tale of the youngest daughter of the formidable matriarch Mama Elena who forbids Tita to marry her true love Pedro, because tradition says that the youngest daughter must care for her mother until her death. Despite everything she's been through Tita still stands up for herself and does everything to make her life better.
The style that Laura Esquivel has applied in the book is very different than every other I have ever seenLaura Esquivel's book is billed as A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies.Few times does an author create something completely unique. In my opinion Laura Esquivel has accomplished just that. Her themes of passion, familial insubordination, dictatorial governance, and romance are not new to literature. But communicating those themes through family life on the ranch of northern Mexico using magical realism and monthly recipes as metaphors is truly pioneering. What is so amazing to me is how Ms. Equivel is able to create such sensuality in her descriptions of food. For example, in the month of March, Pedro gives Tita some roses. Mama Elena orders them to be destroyed. Tita decides to use the roses in a dish she is making for dinner which later on Pedro calls "meal of Gods!".
I was into Tita's life story more and more with every page of the book. I liked the plot, although it turned out to contain a little bit to much of magical elements and unrealistic things. I truly recommend it to women that like sad and depressing novels.
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Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel
m.lata, February 14, 2011
The novel that I am going to review is called "Like water for chocolate." The story takes place on a ranch on the Texas/Mexico border in the late nineteenth century. It is a beutiful and touching tale of the youngest daughter of the formidable matriarch Mama Elena who forbids Tita to marry her true love Pedro, because tradition says that the youngest daughter must care for her mother until her death. Despite everything she's been through Tita still stands up for herself and does everything to make her life better.The style that Laura Esquivel has applied in the book is very different than every other I have ever seenLaura Esquivel's book is billed as A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies.Few times does an author create something completely unique. In my opinion Laura Esquivel has accomplished just that. Her themes of passion, familial insubordination, dictatorial governance, and romance are not new to literature. But communicating those themes through family life on the ranch of northern Mexico using magical realism and monthly recipes as metaphors is truly pioneering. What is so amazing to me is how Ms. Equivel is able to create such sensuality in her descriptions of food. For example, in the month of March, Pedro gives Tita some roses. Mama Elena orders them to be destroyed. Tita decides to use the roses in a dish she is making for dinner which later on Pedro calls "meal of Gods!".
I was into Tita's life story more and more with every page of the book. I liked the plot, although it turned out to contain a little bit to much of magical elements and unrealistic things. I truly recommend it to women that like sad and depressing novels.