Customer Reviews

Bitter Chocolate

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bitter Chocolate follows the lives of three very different women. Laure, a girl from a somewhat privileged Haitian family, Ameline her reste avec with no knowledge of her family, and Melanie the daughter of a British rock star. All three of them struggle for acceptance and love despite their differing upbringings and lives.

I felt very involved with all three of the main characters and sympathized with them all while at the same time not agreeing with some of their actions. They all were very realistic, not perfect characters.

The descriptions of the scenery was fantastic. Whether it was in Haiti, Ghana or London, Lesley Lokko gave you the full feeling of the place including the sights and the smells. I can't wait to read the rest of Lesley Lokko's books!

Fast becoming one of my favorite authors! I so thoroughly enjoyed Bitter Chocolate. I couldn't put it down and when I finished it, I wanted more! Every one of her books that I have read to date have been exceptional. I cannot wait for my latest purchase to arrive!

In a word - FABULOUS! If you have read other books by Lesley Lokko, you are in for much of the same. Far-flung locations with such detailed descriptions you can almost smell them. Intricate and complex relationships between the characters. Twists and turns that leave you breathless. My only disappointment upon finishing this book was that it meant I have read all of Lokko's books to date, and I now have to wait for her to complete the next! 5 stars of chic lit goodness.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

The characters are not perfect but so well developed. I felt like I personally knew them.

I stayed up 18 hours and read the book in one sitting I could not stop.

You will laugh and cry and cheer.
Bitter Chocolate is spellbinding till the end.
Read it!

Bitter Chocolate has deep resonances of Sundowners and Saffron Skies, Lesley Lokko's two previous books. The same themes and storylines are mirrored: a bored, idle, priviliged girl; a good-for-nothing boyfriend involved in drugs; an international setting, with London and Africa again featured; several women's lives developing in tandem. This repetition bothered me at the beginning but halfway through the book, Bitter Chocolate asserted itself as a fresh story with a questionable, let's-read-and-discover ending.

Laure, the beautiful, dark-skinned girl, can only be respected for not sinking into a sordid life, given her bare, hopeless start in America. Améline gains the reader's admiration for becoming so much more than her humble beginnings in Haiti. Melanie, the rock star's daughter, is perhaps the biggest disappointment. Her willingness to do absolutely nothing of value with her life is contemptible. Yet the author crafts her so carefully, that she remains likeable to the end.

As these three protagonists' lives intersect, Lokko does a commendable job of making Bitter Chocolate almost as memorable as Sundowners, her first fabulous book.

This is probably one of the best books I've ever read. I bought it in Spain just because I needed something to read, little did I know I would never want the book to end. I feel like I know these characters and I find myself wanting them to do things and when they don't it tears me apart. You'll love it!