Like Water for Chocolate in Around the Year in 52 Books

May 21, 2014 Jacqie rated it it was ok

There's no doubt that this book is an easy read. You can skim right along. There's also some amusing imagery and turns of phrase. It reads like a folk tale, or like someone is chatting with you.

I seem to have an issue accessing Latin American magical realism. I can't think of a book that I loved in this style, and this one is no exception. In this case, it just feels clunky and heavy-handed. Tita, our heroine, is the cook on a Mexican ranch. She has also been designated to be her mother's careta There's no doubt that this book is an easy read. You can skim right along. There's also some amusing imagery and turns of phrase. It reads like a folk tale, or like someone is chatting with you.

I seem to have an issue accessing Latin American magical realism. I can't think of a book that I loved in this style, and this one is no exception. In this case, it just feels clunky and heavy-handed. Tita, our heroine, is the cook on a Mexican ranch. She has also been designated to be her mother's caretaker, so she isn't allowed to marry. Naturally, this is a problem. At the age of 15, she's evidently fallen in love with a ranch hand named Pedro. In one of many lapses of judgement, her mother decrees that, while Tita can't marry Pedro, her older sister Rosaura certainly can. This happens, and a soap opera ensues.

Tita cries and emotes while cooking, and her emotions get into the food, to quite varying effects. At Rosaura and Pedro's wedding, most of the guests are overcome with illness and vomit a river up. When Pedro, in yet another ill-considered move, brings Tita roses, she cooks them into a sauce which gets her other sister, Getrudis, so horny that she runs naked into a field where a Mexican revolutionary sexes her up so thoroughly that she ends up in a brothel for a while.

There's a light-hearted feel to all this, and somewhat of an immature feel, too. Tita's mother is just evil with no redeeming qualities. She's all about propriety and really doesn't seem to care at all about any of her children. Tita and Pedro are victims of insta-love. They just love each other, no development or reasons given. Pedro's kind of a spineless jerk for a lot of the book too, so I'm not sure why Tita feels anything for him besides in her lady-parts. This insta-love passion is stronger than any other relationship for Tita, even though she does meet a good man who admires and loves her and wants to treat her well.

So, not a fan of the ham-handed and unsubtle characterizations. Maybe these people are all supposed to be archetypes, but I don't really care- I didn't like them or the writing. The book feels like it was written by a young author who hadn't yet developed the ability to think through complex human relationships.

Also, the recipes are ridiculous. It's true that they were written for the nineteenth century, when means of preparation were different, but the proportions are whack and the cooking/baking times nonsensical. ...more

Like · see review

Dec 26, 2009 Karan rated it did not like it

Shelves: book-club

Good premise - but plot became contrived and then progressed to stupid.

1 like · Like · see review

May 06, 2010 Penny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-list, classics, lee-el-mundo

Relectura que disfrute muchísimo

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2011 Monica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, romance, 2014-yearly-challenge, wheel-a-thon-2014

I have had this book on my TBR list for a few years. I don't know why I kept putting off reading this book.

I really enjoyed the stories being told with the different recipes for the different events in the lives of the De la Garza family. The birth of the youngest daughter Tita and how she is supposed to never get married. Since Tita is the youngest she has to stay and take care of her mother until she dies. Tita is denied true love.

This is the main story of Like Water for Chocolate. The recipe ...more

Like · see review

Oct 27, 2019 Genie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, 2019-read-harder-challenge

Excellent book. Its mystical love story, all connected to food, is so imaginative and special.

Like · see review

Mar 09, 2019 Tweller83 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, cultural, adult-read, fantasy

Hmm...I'm not sure what to think about this one. Magical realism and I don't seem to get along because I just thought this one strange. I can't quite suspend my disbelief enough to get behind this one. While the themes of family relationships and love that can't be were good, the magical part just took them to such a weird place. And the addition of all the recipes didn't add anything for me. This book just wasn't for me. ...more

Like · see review