A novel full of betrayal, love, misery, and revenge. “Like water for chocolate” is a latin american novel by Laura Esquivel. The story revolves around the main character “Tita”, the youngest daughter of her mother “Mama Elena”. Since Titas is the youngest sibling that is destined to take care of her mother until the day she passes, this is the fuel of all the problems that occur in Titas' life. Tita wishes to get married to the love of her life Pedro but Mama Elena won’t allow it, in return Mama Elena offers her middle child Rosaura to marry Pedro. Pedro accepts the proposal only so he may be closer to his true love Tita who is tethered to the kitchen, housework, and Mama Elena. This situation set at the beginning of the book is the start of the conflict seen throughout the story. “Like water for chocolate” is a captivating yet confusing novel about the hardships and sacrifices made for young love.
The imagery, details, and tone keep the reader hypnotized, and craving more. Laura Esquivels’ imagery revolves around the recipes prepared by Tita. These recipes are easily one of the most described attributes in the story. Not only do the diction and details provide you with enough imagery to taste them at that moment, but the tone makes these lines so real. It’s almost as if Laura writes these recipes as if they come from her own heart, they are written like an actual cookbook and the tone provided has an undertone of delicacy that I believe mimics the care Tita puts into her cooking. In chapter seven page 123 the author does not just say Tita makes the soup, she goes on to talk about the correct consistency. She describes the perfect texture for oxtail soup, “A good soup that’s worth something has to be soupy without getting watery”. I personally appreciate the little breaks in the recipe, while Tita describes how she is making the food her thinking is interrupted by her other thoughts about what’s going on around her but she quickly goes back to making the food as it’s explained in the story. Not only are the dishes described with such gusto but the feelings of those who eat Titas food are explained in great detail. After the guests devour the wedding cake made by Tita they are described to be engulfed in misery and begin to even throw up, this happened because Tita prepared the cake as she was weeping at the fact that the love of her life Pedro is betrothed to her older sister Rosaura. The emotions felt by the characters are portrayed so strongly that on page two forty-five Tita is said to be eating candles so she can feel the warm almost burning sensation that was once provided to her by her very very recently deceased love, Pedro. If you know you know, that’s all I'm going to say.
Although the story scenes are well thought out and explained, the book can be hard to read going from one chapter to another. I didn’t have many problems finishing the book and it was quite an easy read, that is until you switch chapters. Often the time frame was very different between the chapters, each chapter is a different month but usually, the next chapter has no correlation to the one before. I am aware that they are only a month apart but sometimes I felt thrown off track when the chapter I was reading didn’t even talk about the previous one. For example, when a family member died in the next chapter the characters weren’t even grieving even though only a month has passed. Another example was when Tita looked out the window and saw Gertrudis running around, all of a sudden the chapter turned into her mini story and the next chapter was completely different. This could be an attribute of magical realism but it made the book a little difficult for me to understand, I had to take some time to adjust my brain to the new information. I also felt as if the hardships and death in the book came almost too random and suddenly and no one batted an eye. Once again this is a theme often seen in magical realism so this is just my personal opinion.
Overall, Like water for chocolate is a captivating novel filled to the brim with emotion. It is an easy read in general and I enjoyed following along with Titas’ life. If you are a fan of magical realism this book is for you. Not to mention there are several interesting and traditional latin american dishes for you to try.
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This book came in perfect shape and the story in general is very interesting. I fully recommend this book if you are into dramatic love story’s that include traditions.
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