A Confection Of Bad Influence (Chocolat - Joanne Harris)

Member Name: shewhosmiles

Product:	Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Date:	10/10/02 (339 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting, Thought provoking

Disadvantages: Not always believable, Boring in parts

Unmarried mother Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk arrive in a small French village called Lansquenet-sous-Tannes on Shrove Tuesday and in the middle of a carnival. Six year old Anouk is wiser than her years and has an invisible rabbit friend called Pantoufle. She asks her mother if they can stay there after living as travellers and always running away from 'the dark man' who I believe is symbolic of anybody who can't accept and feels threatened by the existence of those who don't conform to their narrow way of life.

Vianne too quickly to be realistic, opens a chocolate boutique cum café (La Celeste Praline Chocolaterie Artisanale) opposite the Catholic Church, much to the chagrin of Father Reynaud who believes that she offers too much temptation to his flock and preaches against her and her ways. Father Reynaud expects the villagers to live by his own bigoted narrow standards and uses his position to harm others who don’t fit in. Vianne and the bad influence that he believes she will be to his flock is a natural target for him and the story covers the 40 days of lent and his fight against her.

We are treated to some wonderful mouth-watering descriptions of chocolate making and the names and descriptions of the different confections sound so tempting that they made my favourites feel very ordinary. I drooled at the thought of the delicious sounding mugs of hot chocolate Vianne serves her customers and could imagine the villagers gossiping over their drinks.

Vianne becomes a catalyst to change the lives of some of the villagers. Some interesting characters are woven into the story, all of which play their own separate parts in bringing the story to a conclusion.

Armande Voisin the character who came alive to me the most, is a mischievous strong-willed 80 year old widow who aims to have fun in the last part of her life despite control attempts by her devout daughter Caroline Clairmont. Armande knows somethin
g from Father Reynauds past that he fears she will reveal, she enjoys winding him up and basks in his disapproval. I found myself smiling at the thought of the priests reaction if he discovered that she wore frivolous red underwear underneath her habitual mourning black clothes.

Armande’s 13 year old grandson Luc Clairmont has been forbidden to talk to his grandmother by his mother Caroline. He stutters badly due to his mother being overbearing and not allowing him to behave like a normal teenager. I found myself wanting him to rebel and enjoy being his age.

Paul–Marie Muscat is an ignorant brute of a man who beats his wife Josephine, but that’s ok because he’s a regular churchgoer. Josephine Muscat is a mouse of a woman who steals in reaction to the treatment dished out to her by her husband. Father Reynaud and the villagers look down on her and side with her husband when she tries to change things.

Then we have Michael Roux, a river gypsy with a secret past. The villagers distrust him and the other gypsies and refuse to sell them food and drink despite them doing no wrong.

The story is narrated in turn by Vianne and Father Reynaud with Vianne’s narration uppermost. Father Reynaud tells his tale to the previous village priest Pere who is ill in hospital and doesn’t speak. I felt that Father Reynaud's one-sided discussions with Pere slowed down the pace of the book which in those parts got boring, but they were probably intended to reveal more of Father Reynaud’s troubled personality.

Joanne Harris created an air of mystery about Vianne and Anouk, with lots of hints about inherited psychic powers and their past. Not everything is revealed but I like a book that leaves something to my imagination. I enjoyed reading Chocolat to a certain extent but found it easy to put down after a chapter or two, usually when the priest was narrating. It wasn’t the most riveting book that
I’ve read but I did find it thought provoking.

The author broached the issues of prejudice and bigotry quite well by showing how groups of people can close in upon themselves to unfairly repel anybody who is different to them. The character of Father Reynaud was a bit too over the top for me. I could dislike him but I found it hard to believe in the character because he was so unfeeling and just didn’t seem like a modern day priest. Maybe that’s just me, I’m not a Roman Catholic but I regularly bump into priests from the local school and church and find them warm hearted and fun on occasion, not bigoted and cold. Saying that there are some sad individuals out there who live narrow disapproving lives.

Chocolat is a little different from other novels that I’ve read and didn’t disappoint me. I hate being able to guess the ending of a book so I was pleased to find the outcome unexpected in some ways. I liked Chocolat but I didn’t find it as sensuous or as brilliant as it was hyped up to be, but would recommend it for readers who like a book that they can digest a bit at a time and be left with something to think about inbetween reading sessions.

You can buy Chocolat in paper back on Amazon for £5.59. Chocolat was also made into a film starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.

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