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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: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Minor: Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence
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: Death, Rape, and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Physical abuse, and War
mangopassion555's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Minor: Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
asolis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Infertility, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
henrismum'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? Yes
3.25
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: Initially I got this book confused with the film Chocolate. (They were both movies with the word chocolate in the title, although made in different decades.) After I weeded through my confusion, this still sounded like a good book. However, it's an old audiobook; recorded in the early 1990's and not carried by the library. I had to wait for a sale at Chirp to get it. Even then, I was particular about the narrator. I chose the Kate Reading version over the unabridged one simply because of Kate's reading talent.
Will I read more of the series / author? Probably Not
I don't think so because I can't read Spanish and I don't think her other works have been translated. This was good though. A sweet but sad story about love where food is a stand in for physical contact. I felt sorry for John though. Maybe the unabridged version would answer some lingering questions.
The narrator was Kate Reading. See note above.
Source: Chirp (own)
Moderate: Death, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death and Pregnancy
damacyroll'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The strong theme of cooking, and that each chapter is based on a different recipe, was also something I enjoyed. I found myself wanting to make note of each recipe to try for myself, although without the powers of Tita's to influence whatever dish she makes my results will probably be much different.
In terms of plot however, maybe because I can't help but it read it from a 21st century point a view, there were specific plot points that I didn't enjoy. Pedro the male lead is that specific kind of intense dominant male that I no longer find myself falling for. Tita's decisions frequently left me frustrated as I felt that they were the wrong choices, but another person just as well might find them the right ones.
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Violence
draven_deathcrush's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and War
Minor: Child death and Rape
dylando349's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
mags_'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death and Forced institutionalization
machenn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Minor: Death, Infidelity, and Rape