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katiegilley's review against another edition
4.0
At first I was confused and thought I missed a novel or two after Chocolat - but with the help of LT I realized that this was, in fact, the second installment of said series. The novel was published in the UK as Lollipop Shoes.returnreturnThis is the continued story of Anouk and Vianne after they left the village of Lansquenet - the two of them continued to follow the wind, which took them (among other places) to Las Laveuses, which is the village of Framboise and Paul in Five Quarters of the Orange. But with them now is another child, Rosette. Rosette is a challenging child, at present she is four and not yet talking but drawing wonderful pictures and signing for communication.returnreturnVianne, Anouk and Rosette end up working in a small cafe/chocolaterie in Paris, which is where they meet Zozie - a mesmerizing woman who quickly finds herself in good graces of all those around her. Vianne struggles to live a life without magic after Accidents happen with Anouk and Rosette, but Zozie has a magic and an agenda all of her own.returnreturnDefinitely a great read and I loved how Harris intertwined other novels into this one - it feels like fun insider jokes to see characters from other novels pop up.
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
Second in the Chocolat fictional series about Vianne Rocher and her little family. It’s alternate title is The Lollipop Shoes.
Yes, you must read this one before you read Peaches for Father Francis, 3.
My Take
It’s a combination lesson on identity theft and being true to yourself. Whether young or old, told from three different perspectives in first person point-of-view (POV) with different chapters for each. Annie has her say while Zozie crows and considers. When it’s Yanne’s turn, she worries and reflects.
I don’t object to the variety of voices, I do, however, object to Harris making it so difficult for us to figure out whose perspective we’re reading.
I loved the Advent house Zozie and Annie created. On the surface it was a beautiful idea while below the surface...such turbulence and desire.
The Girl With No Shadow is not a favorite of mine, partly because I read the third in this series before I read this one. I should know better. I should always check to see if an author’s book falls within a series. But I hadn’t. And knowing what happened in Peaches for Father Francis colored my knowledge of how this book would end. It took some of the suspense away.
Their history from the moment they left Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to this time in Paris is slowly revealed, as the wind tumbles and pushes them along. A journey that pushes and pokes at Vianne, influencing her to leave the magic behind, to become colorless, average people at whom no one would look askance. No one would judge or pursue.
The only pursuit became one for conformity in direct opposition to the pursuit of “secrets, small treacheries, acquisition, inquisition, thefts both petty and grandiose, lies, damn lies, prevarications, hidden depths, still waters, cloaks and daggers, secret doors, clandestine meetings, holes, and corners”, and more.
It’s Anouk’s belief that she must conform to succeed at school, this at a time when puberty is causing her to pull back and question everything while Vianne fears the evils of the world, the Black Man, the lack of security. Fears it so much she’s willing to deny herself and ignore her children.
Meanwhile Zozie arrives and upsets the caramel cart, subconsciously reminding Vianne of the old days in Lansquenet, days of joy and helping people and sharing a parallel childhood experience with Annie. Harris keeps us teetering between applause and disgust as Zozie advances and retreats in our thoughts. Temptation in bright colors and a faux understanding.
The Story
It’s who-knows—I suspect she doesn’t even remember her name—sneaking about, looking for another life to take over. Her latest? The dowdy, conservative Françoise Lavery, an English teacher at the Lycée Rousseau, who’s about to become the flamboyant, free-spirited Zozie de l’Alba.
A sly Zozie who worms her way into the hearts of the Rocher/Charbonneau family, enticing buyers, enlivening the shoppe, inciting Anouk. Anxious to learn Yanne’s secrets and take over her life.
It’s everything good and bad about life: struggling to make a living, wanting to be accepted whether it’s in the world or at school. The hope that if one arranges things just so that nothing bad will happen. The threat of the insecure to unbalance the different.
The Characters
Vianne Rocher is now Yanne Charbonneau while Anouk has become Annie, a.k.a., Nanou, but Pantoufle is still Pantoufle and Bam has joined them. Annie attends the Lycée Jules Renard and has few friends. Rosette is Vianne’s artistic four-year-old, Roux's daughter. Slow to speak, but quick to understand. Jeanne Rocher was her mother.
Roux is a river rat, traveling by boat as the wind takes him. The conservative Thierry Le Tresser is middle-aged with a son, and divorced. He owns the building that Madame Poussin’s café was in, and Vianne has excellent reason to believe that her landlord will allow her to stay.
Zozie de l’Alba is a con woman and a witch. She takes peoples’ lives, sometimes literally, all in the search for adventure and excitement. Scott McKenzie was the catalyst for Zozie’s transition.
The regulars at Le Rocher de Montmartre include:
Laurent Pinson, a tightwad who owns P’tit Pinson, a café-bar, where Zozie goes to work. Madame Hermie Pinot sells postcards and religious items. Madame Isabelle Luzeron and her peach-colored dog visit a cemetery every week. The unlikely duo: the dieting Alice and the fat, jolly Nico. Paupaul and Jean-Louis are the artists of the square while Richard and Mathurin are the Le P’tit Pinson refugees.
Annie’s schoolmates include:
Suzanne, Chantal, Lucie, Sandrine, Danielle, and Sophie form the mean girls clique. Jean-Loup Rimbault is a boy Annie likes, and he’s fascinated by cameras. Those who are targets include Claude Meunier who stutters, the fat Mathilde Chagrin, and the scarv’d Muslim girls.
Madame Marie-Louise Poussin had a small café and hired Vianne to help run it. Paul and Framboise run the crêperie in Les Laveuses. Père Leblanc is the nosy priest.
The Kindly Ones are the Furies whose prime purpose is vengeance against humans who do wrong and manifest sometimes as the Black Man, the Wicked Witch, the Pied Piper, the Winter Queen, or Mictecacihuatl.
Sylviane Caillou was 18 months old when she was kidnapped, and her mother Madame Michèle Caillou has been so lonely for so long.
The Cover
The background and scrollwork of the cover makes me think of the Parisian chocolatier with its soft royal blue and gold and pink art deco scrolling. The central motif is the square with its focus on Parisian buildings with the shops on the ground floor. In particular, one white building with a red roof and its lines all askew.
The title is from a cautionary tale, warning you not to make a bad bargain, don’t become The Girl With No Shadow.
Yes, you must read this one before you read Peaches for Father Francis, 3.
My Take
It’s a combination lesson on identity theft and being true to yourself. Whether young or old, told from three different perspectives in first person point-of-view (POV) with different chapters for each. Annie has her say while Zozie crows and considers. When it’s Yanne’s turn, she worries and reflects.
I don’t object to the variety of voices, I do, however, object to Harris making it so difficult for us to figure out whose perspective we’re reading.
I loved the Advent house Zozie and Annie created. On the surface it was a beautiful idea while below the surface...such turbulence and desire.
The Girl With No Shadow is not a favorite of mine, partly because I read the third in this series before I read this one. I should know better. I should always check to see if an author’s book falls within a series. But I hadn’t. And knowing what happened in Peaches for Father Francis colored my knowledge of how this book would end. It took some of the suspense away.
Their history from the moment they left Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to this time in Paris is slowly revealed, as the wind tumbles and pushes them along. A journey that pushes and pokes at Vianne, influencing her to leave the magic behind, to become colorless, average people at whom no one would look askance. No one would judge or pursue.
The only pursuit became one for conformity in direct opposition to the pursuit of “secrets, small treacheries, acquisition, inquisition, thefts both petty and grandiose, lies, damn lies, prevarications, hidden depths, still waters, cloaks and daggers, secret doors, clandestine meetings, holes, and corners”, and more.
It’s Anouk’s belief that she must conform to succeed at school, this at a time when puberty is causing her to pull back and question everything while Vianne fears the evils of the world, the Black Man, the lack of security. Fears it so much she’s willing to deny herself and ignore her children.
Meanwhile Zozie arrives and upsets the caramel cart, subconsciously reminding Vianne of the old days in Lansquenet, days of joy and helping people and sharing a parallel childhood experience with Annie. Harris keeps us teetering between applause and disgust as Zozie advances and retreats in our thoughts. Temptation in bright colors and a faux understanding.
The Story
It’s who-knows—I suspect she doesn’t even remember her name—sneaking about, looking for another life to take over. Her latest? The dowdy, conservative Françoise Lavery, an English teacher at the Lycée Rousseau, who’s about to become the flamboyant, free-spirited Zozie de l’Alba.
A sly Zozie who worms her way into the hearts of the Rocher/Charbonneau family, enticing buyers, enlivening the shoppe, inciting Anouk. Anxious to learn Yanne’s secrets and take over her life.
It’s everything good and bad about life: struggling to make a living, wanting to be accepted whether it’s in the world or at school. The hope that if one arranges things just so that nothing bad will happen. The threat of the insecure to unbalance the different.
The Characters
Vianne Rocher is now Yanne Charbonneau while Anouk has become Annie, a.k.a., Nanou, but Pantoufle is still Pantoufle and Bam has joined them. Annie attends the Lycée Jules Renard and has few friends. Rosette is Vianne’s artistic four-year-old, Roux's daughter. Slow to speak, but quick to understand. Jeanne Rocher was her mother.
Roux is a river rat, traveling by boat as the wind takes him. The conservative Thierry Le Tresser is middle-aged with a son, and divorced. He owns the building that Madame Poussin’s café was in, and Vianne has excellent reason to believe that her landlord will allow her to stay.
Zozie de l’Alba is a con woman and a witch. She takes peoples’ lives, sometimes literally, all in the search for adventure and excitement. Scott McKenzie was the catalyst for Zozie’s transition.
The regulars at Le Rocher de Montmartre include:
Laurent Pinson, a tightwad who owns P’tit Pinson, a café-bar, where Zozie goes to work. Madame Hermie Pinot sells postcards and religious items. Madame Isabelle Luzeron and her peach-colored dog visit a cemetery every week. The unlikely duo: the dieting Alice and the fat, jolly Nico. Paupaul and Jean-Louis are the artists of the square while Richard and Mathurin are the Le P’tit Pinson refugees.
Annie’s schoolmates include:
Suzanne, Chantal, Lucie, Sandrine, Danielle, and Sophie form the mean girls clique. Jean-Loup Rimbault is a boy Annie likes, and he’s fascinated by cameras. Those who are targets include Claude Meunier who stutters, the fat Mathilde Chagrin, and the scarv’d Muslim girls.
Madame Marie-Louise Poussin had a small café and hired Vianne to help run it. Paul and Framboise run the crêperie in Les Laveuses. Père Leblanc is the nosy priest.
The Kindly Ones are the Furies whose prime purpose is vengeance against humans who do wrong and manifest sometimes as the Black Man, the Wicked Witch, the Pied Piper, the Winter Queen, or Mictecacihuatl.
Sylviane Caillou was 18 months old when she was kidnapped, and her mother Madame Michèle Caillou has been so lonely for so long.
The Cover
The background and scrollwork of the cover makes me think of the Parisian chocolatier with its soft royal blue and gold and pink art deco scrolling. The central motif is the square with its focus on Parisian buildings with the shops on the ground floor. In particular, one white building with a red roof and its lines all askew.
The title is from a cautionary tale, warning you not to make a bad bargain, don’t become The Girl With No Shadow.
maryhurrr's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Digital audio read by Susanna Burney
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. Yanne wants to eschew magic and keep her family safe from the winds of change. But on a particular Halloween the winds blow a new person into their lives – Zozie de l’Alba – a vivacious woman with lollipop-red shoes, and a hidden agenda.
This was an interesting sequel but I missed the humor and romance of the original. It’s a much darker tale and the way the novel is structured makes it a bit confusing. It’s written with three narrators – Yanne, Annie and Zozie – but there is little clue at the beginning of each chapter to let the reader know who is telling the story.
Still, it held my attention, and I liked the coming-of-age aspect of the plot. Anouk/Annie is a confused pre-teen who fights with her mother (typical) and feels misunderstood and unappreciated (typical). There were times I was seriously worried about her, but Harris gave me a satisfactory resolution. Not sure I’ll bother with book 3 in the trilogy.
Susanna Burney does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has good pacing, clear diction, and was able to sufficiently differentiate the characters when they were in dialogue with one another.
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. Yanne wants to eschew magic and keep her family safe from the winds of change. But on a particular Halloween the winds blow a new person into their lives – Zozie de l’Alba – a vivacious woman with lollipop-red shoes, and a hidden agenda.
This was an interesting sequel but I missed the humor and romance of the original. It’s a much darker tale and the way the novel is structured makes it a bit confusing. It’s written with three narrators – Yanne, Annie and Zozie – but there is little clue at the beginning of each chapter to let the reader know who is telling the story.
Still, it held my attention, and I liked the coming-of-age aspect of the plot. Anouk/Annie is a confused pre-teen who fights with her mother (typical) and feels misunderstood and unappreciated (typical). There were times I was seriously worried about her, but Harris gave me a satisfactory resolution. Not sure I’ll bother with book 3 in the trilogy.
Susanna Burney does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has good pacing, clear diction, and was able to sufficiently differentiate the characters when they were in dialogue with one another.
casspro's review against another edition
4.0
From what I remember, this book was another brilliant continuation of the Chocolat series. Vianne and Anouk retreat to another part of France to live a more urban lifestyle and befriend a woman with similarly magical powers. Roux makes a brief appearance, to the joys and squeals of all the women readers. It didn't hold the same magic as Chocolat did for me, but still a fantastic read. I need to read it once more again to get the full effect. Despite the fact that she uses the same motif and recycles the same story line, Harris remains one of my favorite writers.
jomasini's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this, but it was quite long for the amount of story. The multiple narrators started to irritate me by the end
mjminkowich's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
georgeperry's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
andgineer's review against another edition
5.0
Вообще лично для меня оценка книги где-то 1 или 2.
Но этот тип литературы и не предназначен для меня.
Он о тех, непонятных для нас, мужчин, процессах, что происходят в мозгу второй рассы, населяющих Землю разумных существ - женщинах.
Естественно, я понятия не имею насколько это правдоподобно или типично.
Но, судя по внешнему поведению женщин, это вполне объясняет как минимум часть из них.
Мне было интересно попробовать отключить у себя мужскую часть мозга и попытаться окунуться во все эти ощущение и переживания. Очень перпендикулярные тому, на что реагируют мужчины.
Автора я бы не назвал гениальным, и в книге есть ряд чисто технических огрехов, показывающих некий конвейер по производству текстов.
Но на мой неискушенный взгляд это вполне качественный представитель такого рода литературы.
Этот психологический опыт был для меня интересен. Я дочитал книгу до конца и мне не было скучно. Хотя если посмотреть на книгу мужскими глазами, возможно, я бросил бы ее даже не дочитав вступительную главу.
И в общем желания читать что-то еще такого рода нет - я лишний раз убедился что мозги у мужчин и женщин работают совершенно по-разному. И не видно смысла пытаться сломать свои мозги чтобы "понять" другой лагерь - это просто разные типы мышления. Пока ты в парадигме одного, для тебя нет смысла в другом. Ты можешь переключиться, хотя непонятна цель этого упражнения. А если вдруг тебе кажется, что ты понимаешь оба типа мышления, то, думаю, тебе надо срочно к психиатру.
Но этот тип литературы и не предназначен для меня.
Он о тех, непонятных для нас, мужчин, процессах, что происходят в мозгу второй рассы, населяющих Землю разумных существ - женщинах.
Естественно, я понятия не имею насколько это правдоподобно или типично.
Но, судя по внешнему поведению женщин, это вполне объясняет как минимум часть из них.
Мне было интересно попробовать отключить у себя мужскую часть мозга и попытаться окунуться во все эти ощущение и переживания. Очень перпендикулярные тому, на что реагируют мужчины.
Автора я бы не назвал гениальным, и в книге есть ряд чисто технических огрехов, показывающих некий конвейер по производству текстов.
Но на мой неискушенный взгляд это вполне качественный представитель такого рода литературы.
Этот психологический опыт был для меня интересен. Я дочитал книгу до конца и мне не было скучно. Хотя если посмотреть на книгу мужскими глазами, возможно, я бросил бы ее даже не дочитав вступительную главу.
И в общем желания читать что-то еще такого рода нет - я лишний раз убедился что мозги у мужчин и женщин работают совершенно по-разному. И не видно смысла пытаться сломать свои мозги чтобы "понять" другой лагерь - это просто разные типы мышления. Пока ты в парадигме одного, для тебя нет смысла в другом. Ты можешь переключиться, хотя непонятна цель этого упражнения. А если вдруг тебе кажется, что ты понимаешь оба типа мышления, то, думаю, тебе надо срочно к психиатру.