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With more than two million copies in print, this beloved novel has become a treasured part of America's literary memory. Now, for the first time, this "tall-tale, fairy-tale, soap opera romance, Mexican cookbook, and home-remedy handbook all rolled into one" (San Francisco Chronicle) is available in trade paper with the original art from the hardcover.
Author biography courtesy of Random House, Inc.
A friend recommended this book and eventually loaned me her copy because I had it on my "to buy" list for so long. I read it and was delighted. A family tradition forbids Tita from marrying her beloved Pedro. Well, he wants to stay close to her---so he marries Tita's sister Rosaura and the entire family lives under the same roof. Tita is the family cook and she reveals her love for Pedro though her extraordinary cooking. Author Laura Esquirel combines mouth-watering recipes, Mexico during the Revolution, forbidden love, romance, tears, and laughter in this scrumptious "Mexican Cinderella" story. I love this book.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 19, 2011
The book Like water for Chocolate, by laura Esquivel, is a story about enchanted love, family, and homemade recipes. It takes place in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It's about a young girl named Tita who wishes to marry her love of her dreams, but her mother and a Mexican tradtition is holding her back. The tradition indicates that the youngest daughter must not marry and stay at home to take care of their mother until she passes. Tita's mother, Mama Elena, doesnt make the exception to Tita and arranges her other daughter Rosaura to marry Pedro. Pedro accepts to marry Rosaura but only to get closer to Tita. Punishment for Tita's willfulness, Mama Elena makes Tita make their wedding cake. Tita has such passion for cooking that the wedding guests were overcome with sadness as they ate the cake because Tita was sad while baking the cake. This is when she first deiscovers her culinary talents and unique tecniques. As I read the book, I really liked how the chapters begin with recipes because it gives you a sence of whats comming and it also gives you new ideas for dinner. I also like how the elements of the story compliment eachother. There are sad times, and happy times and it all blends well together. I would reccomend this book to mostley girls who like cooking and love stories, although it is acceptable for all women. With Laura Esquival's desciptions, you are able to picture them in your mind. This book is very good and a novel worth reading.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 23, 2008
I was required to read this novel for my summer english class. I probably would of never read this book otherwise. It was an entertaining read and is better than the adapted film version.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 2, 2006
I recomend this book to anybody I used to hate reading but after I read this book it changed me
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 2, 2011
Tita may be the protagonist, but John's the one I feel sorriest for in this story.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 20, 2011
The prose is deceptively simple, the story also appears to be simple. But the author packs a great deal into the short novel. Good starter for those interested in magical realism.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 9, 2008
this book captures you imagination. it's a great example of mexican/ hispanic culture and traditions
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 20, 2004
'The Horse Whisperer' was this way and so was 'The Piano' What, you get tired of someone and then decide you can hurt others by paying attention to your own selfish desires? Since when is that adult? Now, on the good side, the recipes were good, and I empathize with Tita and her problems with her witchy and nasty mother (who could benefit with a good slap and maybe some intensive therapy) and the plight of women in turn of the century Mexico. Also, I feel sorry For Rosura, who was brought up to be the 'good' girl. She was way too shy and reserved. Not her fault. Tita and Pedro shouldn't have sneeked around on her. That was totally unfair, period.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 5, 2000
I could not put this book down. It tells a great story about love and life and keeps you intrigued till the very end. With wonderful characters, you can't go wrong with this novel.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 12, 2011
Like Water Chocolate is a great read for anybody wanting to learn about Mexican culture. It starts off with some background information on the birth of a Mexican girl named Tita during one of the revolutions against the wealthy land owners. Tita at a young age falls in love with Pedro, a boy from her village, and they swear to love each other for ever. When Pedro finds out that Tita cannot marry do to the Mexican tradition of the youngest daughter having to care for her mother until her death, Pedro decides to marry Tita's sister Rosaura so he can be close to Tita. Throughout the story Tita and Pedro find different ways to share their love while life goes on around him. By the end Rosaura dies and Tita's other sister Gertrudis joins the revolution and throughout the story provides Tita with advice and tips on Tita's secret relationship with Pedro. The story has many more climactic events and leads on to the climax of the story and its resolution. The book provides very good insight to the Mexican culture and lets you imagine what it would be like to live in that society. It is laced with many home remedies and recipes that show the way the Mexican people lived back then and make the book a very interesting and give the book a eye-opening power that some books provide on topics of very little knowledge. The book has its downs as well as its ups as parts of the book can go very slowly and some repetition of ideas previously expanded upon can be omitted. This book contains ideas that are considered wrong in our society and can be considered offensive to some woman's rights activist as the youngest daughter has no choice but to live her life in servitude of her mother. A theme that reoccurs throughout the book is to never set aside your love for someone for anything and never let anything stand in your way of love. This book can relate to many Mexicans through the culture of the society and many of the remedies, recipes, and ways of life of the Mexican culture if you account for the changes in the culture that have come through the culture being modernized. All in all this book is a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about Mexican culture or just those who want to read a great book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 1, 2011
This book is dimwitted and absurd.
1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 4, 2009
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquirel. Translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. Published by Doubleday in New York. it came out in 1989 by Laura Esquivel and the english translation came out in 1992. The theme of the book is family values.<BR/> The main character of this book is Tita. Her role in the book is to show how the youngest daughter of the family was treated. She had to obey all of her family rules from her mother. And do everything her mother told her to do. Tita struggles throughout the book to find her own identity.<BR/> The book starts off with the birth of Tita. It then tells how Tita grew up learning how to cook from Nacha. Nacha was like her mother because she took more care of her than Mama Elena did. As Tita grows she starts to cook more and more, it becomes her passion. Then Nacha sadly dies. It breaks Tita's heart. Nacha was there for her whenever Tita needed her, but now she was gone. Soon after Tita falls deeply in love with Pedro. And he too falls deeply in love with Tita. But Mama Elena won't allow this. But Mama Elena does allow Tita's older sister Rosaura to marry Pedro. Pedro only did it to be closer to Tita. Rosaura then became prgnant and gave birth to a little boy. Tita then began to take care of him when Rosaura wasn't able to breast feed him. Sadly he died. Things then started to go downhill with Tita's family. Pedro wasn't paying attention to Rosaura anymore. Tita's other sister Gertrudis ran off with a soldier. And Mama Elena died. And after Pedro cheated on Rosaura with Titas Mama Elena's ghost started coming back and haunting Tita. Tita then thought she has become pregnant with Pedro's child. The ending is surpring to say the least.<BR/> I thought the book was okay. Some parts of it were very boring and didn't have a lot going on. But i did like how at the beginning of every chapter started with a family recipe and it related to what was going on in that chapter. I also thought that there was too many characters going on in the book. I got confused trying to keep up with everyone's names and new people coming and going. Overall it was good.<BR/> From this book I learned the traditons of a Mexican family. I would recommend this book to people who like to cook. Or who like a romantic novel.But if you don't like either of those things I don't think you would enjoy reading this book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Like Water for Chocolate is a fun, quick read. It is about a girl named Tita, who is unable to marry because being the youngest daughter, it is family tradition that she spend her life taking care of her mother. She falls in love with a man named Pedro, who marrys her sister in order to stay close to her. The book is filled with recipes and home remedies. The book is part cookbook, love story, and soap opera. If you want a fun quick read this is the book for you. I am now going to go watch the movie.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 3, 2008
I read this book in about three hours. It was ok, an easy read but, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The only part that really drew me in was the very end. You think it's going to be John and Tita's wedding and then you find it's the children. Again, innocuous but not worthy of any rave reviews.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 19, 2006
In the book Like Water for Chocolate a young woman is prohibited to marry her true love all because of a stupid tradition her mother is trying to endure. Her mother suggested the man to marry her other daughter. The man accepted just to be near his true love. As the years pass by they still feel love for each other but with her mother by her side they can¿t be together. The mother will do anything just to prevent them from being near to each other. If you want to know what will happen between the two lovers find out by reading the book Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Will they be together at the end of the book? Will something make their heart change? Will the mother let them be happy? Will the sister try to help them be together? Hmm¿ very interesting right don¿t wait go buy the book or take it out from your local library. This book is so fascinating that you¿ll be done in no time. You¿ll be reading and you won¿t want to stop. Oh and the book even has a few cooking recipes of how to make mole and some other delicious food.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 20, 2005
This book was absolutely dumb. It was good and plausible one minute - and the next someone's tears are flowing like a river down staircases. Not for realistic people.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 16, 2004
This book was my first romantic novel and I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked the drama between Tita and her sister Rosaura. Each chapter has a different recipe. Throughout the chapters, I found out stories behind each recipe and why they are so special. Tita's mother will not let her marry her true love. So all through the story, there is conflict between Tita and Mama Elena. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading romantic stories.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 28, 2004
I LOVED this book & have bought many copies to give away to my friends. Every time the movie comes on TV, I watch it. It is such a beautiful story interspersed with recipes made with love. This story has everything you could ever want in a book!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 1, 2003
'Like Water for Chocolate' is an amazing book if one likes a bit of folklore and magic with one's romance. Laura Esquirel does a marvelous job spicing things up with love that has no equal in passion or longevity, the transfer of emotions through cooking, and a thousand other fairy-tale details. Her book explores love shunned by society, the mother-daughter dynamic, and the pros and cons of tradition. I was disappointed that I was unable to try even the simplest of the recipes due to their exotic ingredients, but what's exotic in New England may not be so hard to find in areas in and around Mexico. Another disappointment was the organization- Esquirel falls into the writing trap of using countless flashbacks-within-flashbacks, which can confuse the reader. Add to that the ghosts and delusions, and the reader may often find him or herself lost. Still, this book is worth a look by fans of romance and folklore.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 20, 2003
I had to pick a book for one of my classes for whne I was a senior. Out of all the books I had to choose, I picked "Like Water for Chocolate." It sounded interested and learned that is was the BEST book I have ever read. I couldn't put it down. I finished it in like 3 hours, but kept re-reading it until my report was due. The book is over-whelming. I have recommend it to everyone I know and they too have loved it. BEST BOOK EVER!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
With more than two million copies in print, this beloved novel has become a treasured part of America's literary memory. Now, for the first time, this "tall-tale, fairy-tale, soap opera romance, Mexican cookbook, and home-remedy handbook all rolled into one" (San Francisco ...