Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies

Laura Esquivel’s, Like Water for Chocolate is billed as, “A novel in monthly installments with recipes, romances, and home remedies” (Like Water for Chocolate, cover). Frankly, as a teenage boy, I am familiar with novels that involve teenagers struggling to overcome the turbulent water of high school, while balancing work, friends, and relationships. I wondered if I would be able to relate to a story about a group of Mexican women, struggling to gain love, and freedom from their abusive mother. Imagine my surprise, when I became hungrier and hungrier for each chapter’s next installment. The story is narrated by Esperanza, the great niece of Tita. After the death of her great aunt, Esperanza discovers Tita’s cookbook, which contains all of the family recipes that had been handed down over the years, from one generation to the next. Throughout the novel, Esperanza tells the reader of her family’s past adventures and challenges, while connecting them to recipes that her family has known to cherish and the dishes they enjoyed. The novel begins with Tita’s birth in the kitchen, which is how she initially developed her love for cooking. As she matures, Tita is delegated more and more responsibility in the kitchen to prepare her family’s meals. Tita grows to become an excellent cook, whose elaborate dishes make the other women of the house envious of her culinary acumen. However Tita is not the average chef that you would find while watching the Food Network. She possesses special powers that enable whatever mood she is in, to transmit into the dishes that she is preparing. Be it anger, happiness, or jealousy, the flavors of her food reflect the mood that she is in, without her making any alterations to the recipe! When Tita’s sister Rosaura is set to marry Tita’s lover, Tita’s mother, Mama Elena, demands that Tita prepare the wedding cake. Tita is so devastated that her sister is marrying the man of her dreams, that her feelings of anger go into the cake. Upon consuming the cake at the wedding, guests are met with such violent cases of food poisoning, that the wedding is ruined. This and other uses of magical realism, such as when the ghost of Mama Elena spins around violently spreading fire all across Pedro’s body, help to intrigue the reader, and contribute to the overall affect of the story. Esquivel’s novel is short, sweet and to the point. Coming in at just under two hundred and fifty pages, it is a breeze to read, without large amounts of added “fluff”. Every detail within the piece is critical to understanding the work as a whole. Each chapter and recipe build upon the previous to paint the De la Garza family time line, in the reader’s mind. Being a foodie, I found my mouth watering at the various recipes and often began to make a mental shopping list of the ingredients needed to make the dishes. Using fantastic imagery that Laura Esquivel was able to incorporate into her story, truly grasped my attention. I felt as though I was actually in the kitchen with Tita and Nacha, the family cook, rolling out the dough for the Three Kings Day Bread. I could see myself looking at the overweight, flatulent, and disgusting Rosaura after she has had her baby. In addition it was incredible to sense the passion which Tita and Pedro, Rosaura’s husband and Tita’s lover, share for one another. I felt as though I could experience the love that they were forced to keep hidden, because of the punishment that Tita might receive from her wicked mother. At some points I felt myself wanting to shout at the pages of the book, “Just leave her alone Mama Elena” or “Rosaura, why would you marry a man who you know that your sister loves? He doesn’t even love you”. I don’t recall that I have ever gotten so emotional when reading a book. I yearned to know whether Tita and Pedro could ever allow their love to be public knowledge, what sort of magically affect Tita’s cooking would have on her family members, and if Mama Elena would just die already, so that Pedro and Tita could be free to

This is a well written and unique book. I love the recipes and home remedies. I was so thoroughly entertained and engaged while I read this book that I read it in less than a day's time. Although I can read in both Spanish and English, I am more comfortable reading in English so I read the English translation of this book. However, my only qualification to this positive review is that the original (in Spanish) might be better to read because some details have probably been lost in translation.

Although it is not a literary masterpiece it is so different to anything else I ever read, that it holds a special place in my heart. The story is bold, in terms that it focuses on recipes to narrate a passionate love story, which could become bland... but it doesn't. It doesn't because we fall in love with the heroine and want the just to win!!!!