A review by elaichipod
Chocolat: A Novel by Joanne Harris

hopeful lighthearted 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

3.75

This book was very Ghibli-esque. The description of chocolate and desserts was great! I found the ending to be just a tad bit disappointing. The resolution was also very quick.

This passage in particular reminded of My Neighbor Totoro

We lit a candle for every room, gold and red and white and orange. I prefer to make my own incense, but in a crisis the bought sticks were good enough for our purposes, lavender and cedar and lemongrass. We each held a candle, Anouk blowing her toy trumpet and I rattling a metal spoon in an old saucepan. and for ten minutes we stamped around every room, shouting and singing at the top of our voices-Out! Out! Out!-until the walls shook and the outraged ghosts fled, leaving in their wake a faint scent of scorching and a good deal of fallen plaster. Look behind the cracked and blackened paintwork, behind the sadness of things abandoned, and begin to see faint outlines, like the afterimage of a sparkler held in the hand-here a wall adazzle with golden paint, there an armchair, a little shabby but colored a triumphant orange, the old awning suddenly glowing as half-hidden colors slide out from beneath the layers of grime Out! Out! Out! Anouk and Pantoufle stamped and sang, and the faint images seemed to grow brighter-a red stool beside the vinyl counter, a string of bells against the front door Of course, 1 know it's only a game. Glamours to comfort a frightened child There'll have to be work done, hard work, before any of this becomes real. And yet for the moment it is enough to know that the house welcomes us, as we welcome it. Rock salt and bread by the doorstep to placate any resident gods. Sandalwood on our pillow to sweeten our dreams.