The Discovery of Chocolate

by James Runcie

Book Overview

A wonderfully inventive and entertaining journey through time and the history of chocolate

The Discovery of Chocolate is a fabulous tale, as rich and exotic as the gorgeous creation that Diego de Godoy first discovers when he arrives in Mexico with Cortes and his conquistadors.

Diego is seeking his fortune in the New World. What he finds is love, and chocolate, and an elixir of life. Separated from his lover, he must wander the world,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007107838
• ISBN13: 9780007107834
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Lingers like a good chocolate should

While this book is certainly about chocolate and history, it's mostly about life and love. It asks questions like "How can I enjoy the beauties of life when I know they are fleeting?" and "Does the fragility/brevity of life make it more precious/meaningful?" It seemed only fitting that I savoured every word while also regretting that each word brought me closer to the end of the book. And yet, the flavour of this lovely book remains with me, days after its last word left me with a satisfied smile. To ponder these deep and wonderful paradoxes of enjoying a life which is fleeting, read Mandy Smith's " Life is Too Important To Be Taken Seriously".

Entertaining (in the style of magical realism)

This is an extremely entertaining book... Like all good books, it is a love story at heart that uses the magical lore around this thing we call chocolate to tug at the heart strings of the reader...

Mesmerizing

"Although it is true that I have been considered lunatic on many occasions in the last five hundred years, it must be stated, at the very beginning of this sad and extraordinary tale, that I have been most grievously misunderstood. The elixer of life was drunk in all innocence and my dog had nothing to do with it."How can you not feel compelled to read on? This first intriguing paragraph reeled me into what turned out to be a beautiful story, well written, surprising, articulate, and moving. I especially enjoyed the thoroughly descriptive culinary and philosophical moments. It was utterly wonderful.

Sweet as Candy

The Discovery of Chocolate by James Runcie is a sweet fable about a man, a woman, and chocolate. Imagine an immortal Forrest Gump and you have a rough idea what's in store. It's a quick read and it's fun.A young man named Diego de Godoy sets sail for Mexico with Cortez and his conquistadors begin ransacking the lands. Diego falls madly in love with Ignacia who offers him a drink called chocolatl. Alas, Diego must leave Ignacia. She gives him a spicy brew of chocolatl and says: "If you are alive then I am alive. Never cease in your search of me." And the adventure begins. Diego is sweetly naïve and it takes him 100 years to realize that he does not age as others do. His slowness to grasp facts is a running gag. Diego meets many famous people: Herr Sacher (Sachertorte), Mr Fry, (Fry's Cocoa Powder),and of course Mr. Hershey himself. However, the conversations Diego has with the Marquis de Sade are packed with double entendres and are a scream to read.If you read the acknowledgements at the end of a book, you'll find out that there really was a Diego de Godoy on Cortez' expedition.This is a good old-fashioned "man on a quest" story with a twist. I love the dialogue and Runcie's delightful word play. This novel practically begs to be made into a movie and rightfully so. Calling Mike Myers, Mr Myers, James Runcie on the line for you.

Anne Rice in style

This is a delightful novel. It's almost a short Anne Rice. Simply put, the cacoa bean is used to create an elixir of immortality and, like most of the vampires of Rice, our erstwhile hero Diego de Godoy wanders back from the New World to Spain and beyond attempting to reseek his lost Aztec love, Ignacia. With his faithful dog who makes the perfect silent partner over four centuries, Godoy perfects the chocolate art and the ties between both it and love are there as a major theme. The novel is a series of episodes, from the Bastille, to Freud, from Hershey to the whore houses and each one touches on the almost epicurean meddling in important historical moments until Diego realises that he simply missed his love by a matter of not thinking.I highly recommend this. It is an almost dreamy telling, easy on the eye and, whilst it can be though-provoking, is almost wickedly sensual in its cares.