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Like Water for Chocolate

Laura Esquivel

Start date: July 1, 2019

Finish date: July 31, 2019

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Why we're reading this: July 2019 New School Classic
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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Jan 15, 2012 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, film-only, read-2012, fiction-20th-century, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, mexico, latin-american-literature

I absolutely loved this story by another author who knows how to portrait the magic realism in Latin American countries.

A movie was made based on this book.

From IMDb:
This movie is about how life used to be in Mexico. It is a love story between Pedro and Tita, and why they coudn't get married because Tita's mother wanted her oldest daughter to get married first, and have Tita to stay and take care of her. It shows how marriage was imposed on those times, and how a love between two people can chan ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2008 MichelleCH rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listening-to-the-audio-version, classics, 1001, around-the-world-in-80-books

I've decided that I like magical realism when it is done well. It adds that wonderful zip to the story that allows your imagine to take each situation to the next level. Of course it creates improbable and fantastical situations but magical realism can make a good story rise to the level of wonderful.

Esquivel, who is Mexican, depicts the amazing and sometimes irrational traditions that make up our culture. I can completely relate to the idea that in this family the youngest daughter is to be th I've decided that I like magical realism when it is done well. It adds that wonderful zip to the story that allows your imagine to take each situation to the next level. Of course it creates improbable and fantastical situations but magical realism can make a good story rise to the level of wonderful.

Esquivel, who is Mexican, depicts the amazing and sometimes irrational traditions that make up our culture. I can completely relate to the idea that in this family the youngest daughter is to be the matriarch's caregiver and is destined to never marry. It's not really rational, but in a Mexican family it can make perfect sense.

She also focuses on traditional foods as a mechanism for telling the story, certainly tempting me as a reader to attempt a session for mole and Christmas rolls making.

Unfortunately there is a serious issue within the De La Garza family in that Tita, the youngest daughter, won't bend to the tradition of being a spinster and is intent on being with her true love. Compounding the problem is that the matriarch (and the one dependent on her in the future), Mama Eleana, forbids Tita from marrying. Tita's true love, Pedro then marries Tita's older sister, Rosaura in order to be close to her. Poor Rosaura, she can never fill her younger sister's shoes. This leads to some pretty wicked cooking and fantastical recipes as Tita takes out her frustration; she also brings on the seduction through her food.

I was wow'd by the narrator's voice and wicked fun that comes from this intense cooking. There is much more to the story and the middle sister is probably the most mysterious and interesting of the three. She is not a primary character but demonstrates the double standard of female/male relationships, especially in a culture of machismo. Her path in life leaves a lot to think about.

If you are a foodie or even a person who loves a good meal, you will relate to the emotions and connections to life that happen through Tita's kitchen. It's also a great story and most beautifully done. I did watch the movie first but it was well worth it to listen to Esquivel's words through a wonderful narrator.
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Apr 28, 2011 Emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Creative book (part tall tale, part romance, part comedy, part tragedy, part cookbook) and not like other books I've read, but it did have a little too much "romance novel" in it for me. If you don't mind that it's a good read.
I feel like I've read so many books lately with at least one really horrible parent in it. This is another one. That Mama Elena is horrible, even in death! ...more

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