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jodzy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.75
Minor: Sexual assault and Rape
tokki_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
bellacate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Minor: Rape
clariast7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Death
Minor: Rape
booksanna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Interestingly, this book likes to blend long descriptive chains of paragraphs with the plot of the story. For example, at one point you have a character describing how they meticulously cut onions to minimize crying, and the next the same character is getting slapped by their mother. The author really mastered mixing the 2 elements so skillfully that I was unable to tell how the plot was going to develop at all. I loved all the descriptive chains of text about food as they added a lot more uniqueness and depth to the story. The writing style was beautiful and eloquent with a lot of figurative elements.
For a book that heavily relies on magical realism elements, I felt that the characters and their personalities were very realistic and representative of all the ranges of human emotions. I loved Gertrudis, she had the best character development of all
Just when I thought the book was becoming predictable/normal, I was horrifically surprised with the next plot twist. At some point the book became so outlandish and chaotic that the heavy topics in the book became the norm. No emotion or build up happened when any of the characters died or got hurt. The story moved right along like nothing happened.
The magical realism aspect was a very heavy presence adding more confusion and drama to the story. Although I am not a fan of magical realism, I will say that it was a lot better than the plot of the book. The magic elements really elevated the story and added a physical manifestations of our main character’s emotions. There was so much drama from the magic.
Speaking of emotions, this book was full of lust.
The ending was even more wild.
Overall, if you love drama, I recommend.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Terminal illness, Rape, Suicide, and Violence
onefinestein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Rape
mals_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
firstly, i did enjoy the prose and how it read quite a bit. it was whimsical and it read like a fairy tale to me. i thought the way the author intertwined the recipes within each chapter was delightful and made me want to test them out myself!
i think there were a lot of faults with many of the characters. i think it’s meant to be read as a fast-paced melodramatic story, and i’m not mad about that, but so many of the characters were so unlikable to me. many of them acted so childishly — i think Tita was the only one who even had the right to act in that way considering her circumstances. i might have disliked Pedro the most, unfortunately, given he’s the primary love interest.
i read this for a book group and am very much looking forward to the conversation — definitely a book that can carry its weight in a discussion!
Moderate: Rape, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: War, Fatphobia, and Physical abuse
gwenthegentleshadow's review against another edition
3.5
My only gripe is the ending and ultimately how the story played out. It felt like the author wrote up to this potential ending and even jested in a way as to what the “possible solution could be”, but then it just fell flat compared to everything else in the book. A but if a letdown for a book with a lot of cool moments.
At best this would have been a 4 star, but the ending makes it a 3.5 because I did enjoy the book and adored how heavily cooking influenced this story through and through. I wanted to get up and try one of these recipes, that’s how fun this was. I’d tentatively recommend the book if you’re really struck by the summary, despite my concerns for the book’s conclusion.
Minor: Rape
madisonkray21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Rape
kaiaconstantinides's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I was confused by the decision to make each chapter a month since years sometimes separate chapters and the months don't seem to correspond to the chapter, unless perhaps each recipe corresponds to a month and I just missed that? I really wish there was better character development: the characters felt almost cartoonishly two-dimensional to me, and any development seemed to happen like the switch of a lightbulb.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Rape