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motherofpearly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However I felt that the meals were more developed than the characters, and many large plot points were skimmed over. A few times I had to re-read sections to make sure I didn’t miss a page or two. Ultimately I had little emotion about the romance, heartbreaks, or traumas that any of them experienced.
Also I found the spicy scenes to be boring and sometimes creepy. Especially the first time between
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape and Animal death
Minor: Racism, Death, Suicide, and War
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
lmagie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Tita, la menor, está destinada a cuidar de ella por el resto de su vida. Pero Tita quiere casarse con Pedro.
Creando problemas innecesarios, la matriarca Elena, hace a todos miserables.
El uso de la "magia" con la comida y las emociones es muy interesante.
Es un libro muy entretenido, pero las decisiones de los personajes lo vuelven frustrante en ratos. Me alegra haberlo leído, lo disfruté, pero no lo volvería a leer.
Al no ser una trama completamente linear (muchos recuerdos y flashbacks) es un poco dificil ver el objetivo o la meta de los personajes en un determinado punto.
Los personajes tienen sus fallas, de más incluso. Tal vez faltó verlos más tiempo resaltando sus lados positivos, desarrollando sus personalidades, para así encariñarse con ellos realmente.
El único personaje con el que pude encariñarme fue
Casi todos los trigger warnings fueron moderados o menores (se cuentan con metáforas o de paso en una o dos oraciones), excepto la
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Gun violence, Child abuse, Infertility, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Vomit, Alcohol, Racism, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
The more you advance in the book the more TWs escalate