Review by theinfamousj - Chocolat (Film Tie-In)

theinfamousj 's review for:

Chocolat (Film Tie-In) by Joanne Harris

3.5

adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I read this book in preparation for Movie Book Club, a book club where we read and discuss books which have been made into movies. I’d already seen the movie nearly 20 years ago, when it came out. My recollection of that movie is that it was set in the past, and I mean the past-past not the omg-I’m-old past. So I was incredibly surprised to see that it was set contemporaneous to its publishing, 1999. There are microwaves and neon signs and telephones and plastic costume jewelry a plenty.

Despite the surface story of a roving Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk arriving and establishing a chocolaterie in a quaint French hamlet, Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, that seems to be somehow too small for a police presence and for other religions aside from Catholicism, but yet large enough to have a nursing home, bus station, slums, and hardware store which can produce awnings and shop signs in under a week, the story is really about characters processing major events in their lives. For Father Reynaud, he’s processing youthful trauma, for Vianne it is the death of her mother.

The descriptions of the chocolates had me smelling them in my imagination and consuming Aldi chocolate bars with my mouth - not the same as what was in the store at all. I was reading a library copy and based on the stains on some of the pages, I’m not the only one who got the chocolate munchies from this book. Previous readers, I understand you in my soul.

It was overall a lovely, comforting and engaging read however the final 50 pages read a bit more as Babette’s Feast than the remainder of the novel. The book is a different story than the movie in many ways; the tone is most certainly quite different.

One observation I’d like to make which I have yet to see mentioned is that perhaps unwittingly, Guillaume is autistic-coded. His bond with animals, his deep empathy for others, his social challenges, his ability to bond only with the town's other eccentrics. Read it and tell me I’m wrong.

Others talk about fantasy elements to this book and they are referring to tarot, chimes candles, clairvoyance, and the ability to cast glamours (this later for Anouk), but the biggest fantastical element I encountered: the speed at which architectural renovations were completed and shop stock was created from raw ingredients.

Content Warnings