Like Water for Chocolate in Around the Year in 52 Books

Mar 26, 2021 Ruth rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance-passion, cookery-food, coming-of-age, entrapment, down-on-luck, death, illness, family-themed, life-in-another-country, unique-text-style

I really liked this book. The layout of it and the way the story was told around the 12 months of the year, with recipes, was very clever.
I always enjoy reading books that are from other countries and have been translated into English, so I can read them.

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Sep 07, 2010 Nikki rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned, fantasy, and-the-craptastic-award-goes-to, fiction, ebook, library-ebook-available, 2014

“If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die.” Loc140

Well that is completely logical and normal, right? This the driving force behind the plot in Like Water for Chocolate, and much like this quote it is illogical. Magical realism is what this book is meant to be but I think “crazy” works much better. You see Tita, the aforementione

“If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die.” Loc140

Well that is completely logical and normal, right? This the driving force behind the plot in Like Water for Chocolate, and much like this quote it is illogical. Magical realism is what this book is meant to be but I think “crazy” works much better. You see Tita, the aforementioned youngest daughter, and Pedro wish to be together, but it is forbidden. So Pedro agrees to marry Tita's sister.

“When you’re told there’s no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn’t you do the same?” Loc206

Um, no? I really cannot wrap my mind around this idea, I think running away is the better answer but I guess these people are not rebels, I do not know if they are bright enough to be. Ultimately I had a great issue understanding why I should even care about Pedro and Tita. There is little to no depth or characterization in the book. Pedro comes out of nowhere and we are supposed to believe in his love for Tita and her eventual love for him? Why? Where is the proof in the pages? Was it buried under all of the cooking and baking or endless pages of preparations of eggs (at least two continuous pages at one point on just eggs) or was it included in the overwrought, melodramatic descriptions? WHERE WAS IT?

The characters in Like Water for Chocolate are one dimensional and have odd, at times stilted, dialogue. Was this due to translation issues or is this just the author's writing style? Yes, the plot is absurd but why did everything else have to be awful as well? Why couldn't there be fully realized characters or a love that was believable? Why was there a greater emphasis on food preparation and chicken castration? (As a vegan, this certainly did not help me like the book....but I already hated it by that point.)

Tita was trying to keep that warning in mind as she got set to castrate the first chicken. The castration is done by making an incision over the chicken’s testicles, sticking your finger in to get a hold of them, and pulling them out. After that is done, the wound is sewn up and rubbed with fresh lard or chicken fat. Tita almost swooned when she stuck her finger in and grasped the testicles of the first chicken. Loc305

The magical realism lacked the subtlety or mellow inclusions that I have mostly seen in the genre. Subtlety is not this author's strong suit, she practically bashes you over the head with magical elements. So the absurd plot was not good enough for this author, she has to throw poisonous tears at you and such. sigh

Like Water for Chocolate is certainly not a book I would recommend. ...more

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