Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies

by Laura Esquivel and Laura Eskivela

Book Overview

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance, bittersweet wit, and delicious recipes. This classic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038542017X
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.9" x 0.6" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Meh

Different, certainly. I enjoyed the fantasy aspect, but I find it troubling that Tita and Pedro's undying love is portrayed as wonderfully romantic. Pedro did not love Tita, he was obsessed with her. Everything he did was self-serving, and he never took any consideration for how his behavior affected Tita. Tita deserved so much better.

AHH amazing

I absolutely love this book. I read it through high school and again in college just for fun. It is so easy to get lost in the story; I recommended this book to my friends across the country !

Entertaining

I really enjoyed reading this book. I am learning Spanish and speak it pretty well, so reading this book in Spanish was good practice.

This book is a roller-coaster of entertainment that you need to read

If you like dramatic, creative, and a truly unique read then you need to read this book. There is also romance and ghosts. Also every chapter has a food recipe that is entwined into the plot of the chapter. It's an amazing read that will keep you entertained.

All time favorite!

I read this in High School for Spanish Literature. Brings back wonderful memories from that class period!

Como agua para chocolate

Good. It was like the seller said it would be. quick delivery, very honest!

Better than a Spanish Soap Opera

Deception, romance, heartbreak, and yes, even food. All the elements of a soap opera and much more. Like Water For Chocolate is a deceptively simple book - a love story set in Mexico, combined with recipes, related in unadorned, uncomplicated language. The story centers around Tita and Pedro, two lovers who are unable to marry because of Tita's family obligations. As the youngest daughter, Tita's place in life is to care for her elderly mother, Mama Elena. Tita's forbidden to marry her love, and instead, Mama Elena offers her older daughter to Pedro. He accepts, not out of love, but out of the desire to remain physically close to Tita. Heartbroken, Tita is forced to bake the wedding cake. Her cooking is done with such passion and despair, that the wedding guests are overcome with sadness as they taste the cake. From this, Tita discovers that her baking has strange effects on those who partake of it. Interwoven throughout the narrative are the recipes, which provide an ongoing description on the characters and their culture. This book has more spice than a pot of chile! Finally, there is the food itself that Tita creates as head cook on the family ranch, food so vibrant and sensual, infused with her feelings of longing, frustration, rebellion, or love. This book triggers all the senses and gives readers a newfound appreciation of real home-made cooking. The combination of all these elements, with a good measure of the supernatural thrown in, makes for an earthy, quirky book, sad and funny, passionate, and direct, told by Tita's grand-niece who follows in her footsteps, using her cookbook and continuing a tradition quite different from the one her great-grandmother tried to impose. The forbidden love between Tita and Pedro just makes for more of an exciting plot. Your heart jumps just reading about their overnight escapades and secret meetings. The risk and the measures they take to be with each other really makes you think about the lengths one will go to for true love. It's a heart warming story that will keep you guessing all the way. In a way, this story is like a Cinderella story. Tita is forced to take care of her mother while her other sisters are granted the freedom to live their lives as they please. Like Cinderella, she spends her days catering to her family and finds comfort in her kitchen. As you read this story, all you want is for Tita to find her "prince charming" and live happily ever after. The "evil step-mother" is this story would be Tita's mother: Mama Elena. She holds the title of a true villain. She could care less about the wishes of her youngest daughter. She goes out of her way to sabotage Tita and Pedro's love and intentions to wed by forcing her oldest daughter Rosaura to marry Pedro. Even after the death of Mama Elena she still comes back to haunt and control Tita, not letting her grip go. The rest of the characters include her oldest sister Rosaura who is very reserved and her second sister Gertrudis, w

Greedy for more . . .

This novel is sure to awaken all the senses! A deliciously woven story of culture and tradition, served over a bed of marvelous family recipes and garnished with the passion that only forbidden love can produce. "Like Water for Chocolate" is the story of three generations of Mexican women striving to secure a place of peace and happiness within a family immersed in traditions that are based more on sacrifice than nurturance. In the novel, we are introduced to the De La Graza family, headed by Mama Elena. Mama Elena rules her family with an iron claw. Uncompromising and unwilling to yield to anything that breaks tradition or the perception that her family is the model of refinement. Tita, the youngest daughter, falls madly in love with Pedro, a man she is not allowed to marry. The customs of the family requires the youngest daughter to never wed. Instead, she is to take care of her mother until either of them dies. When Pedro comes to Mama Elena to ask for her permission to marry Tita, he is denied. Rosaura is offered instead; being the older sister and available for marriage. Pedro agrees to marry Rosaura as a way to stay close to Tita. Rosaura, being the obedient daughter, marries Pedro without consideration of the effect her marriage would have on Tita. Gertrudis, a third sister, is the first to break free of Mama Elena's rule. Tita prepares a meal using roses pedals from a bouquet she received from Pedro (after he's married Rosaura). The roses re-ignite Tita's desires for Pedro. Mama Elena disapproves of Pedro's gift and demands that Tita destroy it. Instead, Tita uses the roses in a recipe. Stained with blood from the tight embrace with which Tita cradled them, she makes a sauce that will be served over quail at a dinner party. As the guest eat the quail in rose petal sauce, they are overwhelmed with desire, clutched by lust and longing. Tita and Pedro appear to be the source of the powerful passion. The chemistry between them flows through Gertrudis, filling her with passion so hot, so intense that she is unable to contain it. Neither cool air nor cold shower can extinguish the fire within her. Fleeing from a useless cold shower, Gertrudis runs naked through an open field in an effort to escape the fire of desire. She is swept away by a soldier on horseback who had fallen madly in love after capturing a single glance of her in the village plaza. This is but one example of how Esquirel blends the elements of food and passion to produce a splendid novel. My only regret is that I can't read Spanish. On more than one occasion I felt there was something missing in the English translation of the novel. In her native language, I'm sure the author is able to express more fully the delightfully sensuous and deliciously romantic sentiments that the translators were not able to capture in English. A very solid and fun novel. Enjoy!

El mejor libro en espanol que he leido

Cuando empece a leer esta novela, no pense en lo que se trataba. Sabia que era famosoa y que gano muchisimo premios, pero la foto en la portada me asusto, no sabia si era un libro tan romantico que no podia leer.. me equivioque o mejor dicho lei todo en un ratito. ME ENCANTO MUCHISIMO. Aunque hay algunas partes increibles, este libro tiene ideas y muestra la mujer en la manera en que ella existia por mucho tiempo. Lo voy a usar para mi proyecto en ingles, aunque lo lei en espanol. no se muy dificil tampoco. Llevo 5 años ne espanol, y comprendi todo! Ese fue el primer libro que he completado en espanol, y ma hace querer leer mas y mas. LEANLO!