From the Bookshelf of Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)…

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
[close] July 2019 New School Classic

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 398 topics — 15,989 comments total

New School Classics- 1915-2005

Farewell, My Lovely - Spoilers
By Sara , New School Classics · 19 posts · 49 views

last updated 8 hours, 19 min ago

The Stepford Wives - Spoilers
By Lynn , Old School Classics · 17 posts · 49 views

last updated Oct 25, 2025 07:41PM

showing 10 of 31 topics view all »

What Members Thought

May 15, 2018 Madge rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, magical-realism, one-and-a-half-stars

This book was never super high on my tbr, but I've been on a magical realism kick and it fit a few prompts for reading challenges I'm participating in, and it happened to be available from my library's overdrive selection. So I checked it out. For the day or so that it took me to read this, my most recurring thought was "What the hell am I reading?"

I really liked the way the recipes and food were incorporated into the story. It was different and kind of charming. And there were a few other point This book was never super high on my tbr, but I've been on a magical realism kick and it fit a few prompts for reading challenges I'm participating in, and it happened to be available from my library's overdrive selection. So I checked it out. For the day or so that it took me to read this, my most recurring thought was "What the hell am I reading?"

I really liked the way the recipes and food were incorporated into the story. It was different and kind of charming. And there were a few other points in the story when I liked things, but honestly I can't remember them now. I hate to say it, but I feel like this is going to be a very forgettable story for me.

What I do remember clearly doesn't sit well with me. I hated Pedro and the insta-love between him and Tita. He was a selfish coward, and, even though I didn't like Rosaura, I feel that even she deserved better than Pedro. I don't understand what Tita saw in him at all, and I'm still confused by her (view spoiler)

Mama Elena was possibly the most heinous character I've ever had the displeasure of reading about. I kept wishing for her to die horribly, and she would have deserved to. I could probably rant about her alone for an hour, if I could remember more clearly all the things she did, but I'm already forgetting this book and I just finished it like 20 minutes ago.

There's so much from this book that I hated, now that I'm really thinking back on it, wow. I don't think I realized, while I was reading, that I felt so strongly about it because it only barely managed to hold my attention. A lot of things happened that I had issues with, and I didn't really love any of the characters. I thought some (that had probably the least amount of page time) were pretty ok, and I probably would have liked them if they'd been more prominent (like Chencha, John, Gertrudis, and Nacha). Thankfully, I don't think this book will stick in my mind very long very clearly.

I wanted to like it, but I just didn't :/ ...more

1 like · Like · see review