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A review by gwenthegentleshadow
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
emotional
funny
fast-paced
3.5
The writing is spectacular and engaging as each chapter head is a recipe and during the chapter you learn how this recipe is prepared. As a result the imagery is highly inspired off of the theme of cooking and most of the magical realism stems from cooking as well. It’s a fast paced book and it just keeps going, which makes it fun.
My only gripe is the ending and ultimately how the story played out. It felt like the author wrote up to this potential ending and even jested in a way as to what the “possible solution could be”, but then it just fell flat compared to everything else in the book. A but if a letdown for a book with a lot of cool moments.
At best this would have been a 4 star, but the ending makes it a 3.5 because I did enjoy the book and adored how heavily cooking influenced this story through and through. I wanted to get up and try one of these recipes, that’s how fun this was. I’d tentatively recommend the book if you’re really struck by the summary, despite my concerns for the book’s conclusion.
My only gripe is the ending and ultimately how the story played out. It felt like the author wrote up to this potential ending and even jested in a way as to what the “possible solution could be”, but then it just fell flat compared to everything else in the book. A but if a letdown for a book with a lot of cool moments.
At best this would have been a 4 star, but the ending makes it a 3.5 because I did enjoy the book and adored how heavily cooking influenced this story through and through. I wanted to get up and try one of these recipes, that’s how fun this was. I’d tentatively recommend the book if you’re really struck by the summary, despite my concerns for the book’s conclusion.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape