807. Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
1989
Around 260 pages

I still remember the first time I read this novel. I couldn't put it down, and read it all in one sitting. Actually, I was lying on the floor reading it, for reasons unknown. I guess it was just that good!

The novel is divided into 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, and each chapter comes with a Mexican recipe that correlates to a specific event in Tita's life. Tita de la Garza, our main character, is 15 years old at the beginning of the novel. She lives on a ranch near the border with her controlling mother, Mama Elena, and her older sisters Gertrudis and Rosaura. Pedro Muzquiz is their neighbor, with whom Tita falls in love at first sight. Pedro asks Mama Elena for Tita’s hand in marriage but she forbids it, citing the de la Garza family tradition that the youngest daughter must remain single and take care of her mother until she dies. She suggests that Pedro marry Tita's eldest sister, Rosaura, instead. In order to stay close to Tita, Pedro decides to follow this advice.

I don't think there is any other novel that gets me so excited about food. Due to the magical nature of food in the story, it has literal effects on the people eating based on the emotions of the person preparing it. What a brilliant way to tell an emotional story. 

Esquivel is a beautiful writer, and her use of magical realism would make Murakami and Marquez proud. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going here.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Won the American Booksellers Book of the Year Award for Adult Trade in 1994.

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