Like Water For Chocolate - Laura Esquivel

I wanted to read this book as it was listed as a recommended piece of Mexican literature in the back of our Lonely Planet Guide. As it turns out, it appears to be on the Spanish equivalent of the curriculum, as my current students in Spain are reading it at school. Fortunately I managed to find a translated copy in a charity shop before coming here. This is the decidedly quirky tale of a young woman who falls in love with a man she is not allowed to marry. According to Mexican tradition, the youngest daughter of a household must stay at home and look after her parents in their old age, rather than being given the opportunity to start their own family. While ...  Read the complete review

Each chapter in this love story opens with a recipe. The author Laura Esquivel leads us deftly through the passion and heat of the unforgiving kitchen, from the chopping and dicing of onions, to the hissing and searing of meat in the pan, the uncompromising fierceness of the stove and the intoxicating scent of spices and the mixture of flavours in food that could stir the soul. Our heroine Tita is born into this heat and fire, to a cruel mother she calls Mama Elena. Her mother decrees that as the youngest daughter, she must stay on the ranch and nurse her mother into old age. The story centers around Tita's experiences of love. Her first feelings of love for a ...  Read the complete review

This is by far the most unusual romance story I've ever read. Okay, so I've not read many, but still, work with me here. It's not Mills and Boon, don't panic (though I know that a lot of people like M&B, and I'm not saying it's not good literature, oh stop looking at me like that!). As I was saying, this is a romance novel with a difference. A big difference. Each chapter represents a month of the year, starting with January and working through to the last with December (see the pattern here?). I know that's not a big difference, until you realise that each of the chapters begins with a recipe. The description of the ...  Read the complete review