Like Water for Chocolate is a book written by an author named Laura Esquivel. The title was the first thing that attracted me to the book. Despite the fact that I didn’t know what it meant, I decided to give it a go since the word chocolate won me over. Laura Esquivel is also a Mexican author, which gave me a great opportunity to explore an international voice. As I read in the synopsis, this novel is about three of my most favourite things, food, romance, and magic!
The first thing I noticed when I read the novel was that it had a different style of writing. At first, it was difficult for me to understand what was going on due to all the unfamiliar vocabulary but eventually I got use to it after clarifying all of them in the dictionary. Let me tell you one thing; I could not stop flipping the pages! Laura Esquivel has an exquisite and a spectacular style of writing. This book is sensational and emotional that it became extremely difficult for me to stop. Esquivel does an exceptional job in bringing you to another world. You get to read about the life of a beautiful Spanish woman named Josefita De La Garza. Most commonly known as Tita, Tita has a traumatic life since she is forbidden to experience love, freedom and independence. Although her life is extremely difficult to cope with she finds her therapy in cooking; she has a profound love for food and the kitchen. This will explain the most fascinating part of the book; there is a recipe in the beginning of each chapter. Each recipe involves meticulous written instructions on how to prepare each dish. It is interesting to read them since I never heard of these Mexican dishes before and I was extremely impressed by how Esquivel wrote them with precision. Trust me, reading only the first 30 pages of the book will make you hungry!
Not only will this book make you hungry but it can also make you emotional! Initially I thought this book was just going to be a typical love story like Romeo and Juliet but it was not the case. You will feel the real emotion and struggle behind Tita's life and you will connect with the protagonist in the story. Women play an important role in this novel and they are portrayed as domesticated and hard-working. Tita is the woman that outshines the rest since she is fierce, courageous and diligent. I was also impressed that this book contained many characters. The best part is the fact that each character has a different personality. In the first thirty pages I was already introduced to seven characters! One of them is the evil “step-mother” named Mama Elena. She is not really a stepmother but most of her personality traits are similar to the stepmother you meet in the story of Cinderella. You will also get to meet Tita’s Prince Charming, Pedro, whom I find highly dislikable and repulsive. This story is kind of like combination of a fairytale and a fantasy.
Speaking of fairytale and fantasy, Esquivel explores the genre of magic realism in her novel. There are many enchanting and supernatural events that you will get to encounter in the story. For example, we find out that Tita was born into the world in a flood of tears, which foreshadows the sorrow and sadness that Tita will experience in her future life. Another example would be in the second chapter, Tita was preparing the wedding cake for Pedro and her sister Rosaura. She poured all her tears into the cake batter which caused extreme vomiting as well as sorrow among the guests who ate the cake. There was a touch of magic in the each chapter and it made the story a hundred times more interesting.
This book is simply breathtaking and I can’t put it any other words. It is a combination of a recipe book and a magical love story! It’s absolutely amazing that you get a mix of everything. I was highly impressed with the unique style of writing, the suspenseful and emotional story line, and the various characters you get to encounter! Most of all, I was extremely fascinated by the Mexican recipes and the food! It’s just amazing and I can’t explain it in any other way, you have to read the book to know what I’m talking about.
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