The bestselling phenomenon and inspiration for the award-winning film.Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance and bittersweet wit. This classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her … pregnancy. While still in her mother’s womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef, using cooking to express herself and sharing recipes with readers along the way.
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I had read this with the CD of background music that was orchestrated specifically to accompany this book. It was almost gilding the lily. The novel was evocative and drew you into a semi-mystical world. It has been decades, but lighting a match still reminds me of this book.
This Mexican classic stands the test of time for its magically woven tale of love, loss, food, family and, ultimately, hope. Its message is simple yet beautiful: true love is everything. (And, oh, the food!)
This story takes place on the De la Garza ranch. Mama Elena gives birth to a little girl named Tita – right in the kitchen where Mama Elena was working. Tita knows this is what lead to her love for cooking and creating delicious dishes.
Tita grows up as the youngest daughter of Mama Elena, and the tradition in her family is that the youngest daughter never marries and always takes care of her mother. But Tita is in love with a boy named Pedro. And Pedro loves Tita. Mama Elena refuses to let them be together, so Pedro marries Tita’s eldest sister so that he can always be near her.
Over the course of their whole lives, Ttia and Pedro love each other. Pedro stays married to Tita’s oldest sister, has children with her, and even moves away for a time. Tita falls for another man named John, but never comes to love him like she loved Pedro.
They spend their whole lives circling each other. Through a tale of magical realism, and a tale that is chalked full of metaphors and figurative speech, Tita finally learns about love and passion. Food is the central theme of this book and it helps express Tita’s feelings and understanding of what is happening around her.
This was a very interesting book. I really liked it, but it took me awhile to get into a rhythm with the style of writing. It reminded me a bit of the writing in 100 Years of Solitude. It took some concentration to find the deeper meaning in what Tita was trying to express. Many of the characters die during the book unpredictably and in very bizarre ways. Above all, this book will make you hungry – the meals she describes and cooks are mouth watering. They all sound delicious.
If you are into magical realism type stories, and are okay with a bizaare tale, then this book is for you.
For my classic book this month I wanted to find something a little more upbeat and whimsical than what I’ve read previously, so I settled on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. It tells the story of Tita, a gifted cook and the youngest daughter of the all-female De La Garza family, which means she is forbidden to marry as it is her duty to look after her mother until she dies. Regardless, Tita falls madly in love with Pedro and when her mother refuses to let them marry, Pedro takes drastic measures to ensure he is able to stay by Tita’s side. This book was utterly magical and a total delight to read. The imagery, the recipes, the romance all cane together to make a truly beautiful story of finding yourself and your own happiness in a world that seems determined to keep you down. Fabulous quarantine reading!
It was so great, It even has real traditional recipes in it. I really recommend it. I am not much for Romances, but this was so great. I even learned a few traditions from it.
Better in Spanish than in translation.
Magical
I loved reading this book repeatedly. It reads so well, like watching a movie. The details, feelings, emotions and passion are so vivid and enticing. I read this long before the two movie versions came out and of course the book is always better. Beautiful read.
It was a delightful and tragic mix of love story and tall tale telling
After reading this novel, you will look further into your own relationship with the women in your family (mother, sisters, daughters, and granddaughters). Tita did not choose her family or her place in the family female hierarchy yet, she has to pay a high price for both. But Tita is not going down in flames alone. She takes the reader and her family through the twisted ups and downs and all around of an emotionally torturing roller-coaster.
You have to suspend expectations of reality & read it as an adult fairytale. From THAT perspective it is pretty good. Definitely different from anything I’ve read before.
Nice to take a look at other cultures.
This is a powerful book
One of my all time favorites. Just reread. Just as good as the first time!
This is one of those exceptional books that is very strange but in a wonderous way. I read it many years ago but it has really stayed with me. I think it’s a book every serious book lover or cooking lover should read. They made a movie of it. The movie can’t replace the book but it was really good.
I loved this book. The characters, the food, the story the whole package. This is a must read book. It is not like any other book I have read before.
Wonderful! A classic
I really don’t understand all the hype over this book or the fact that a movie was made out of it — which I can’t bring myself to watch. It was the designated book for my monthly book club so I kept reading to the end even though all I really wanted to do was toss it across the room after the first couple chapters. I read through it in the same manner some people rubberneck the scene of accidents. It was deliberately fantastical, of course, in the same manner as the American tales of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. But those books had both lovable characters and villains to flavor the tales. The only lovable character in this book at all was the main character’s discarded suitor. Instead, (spoiler alert) the main character chose to go back to her former love who was about as despicable as they come. Our book club was divided about 50 – 50 between those who hated it and those who liked it a little. Nobody liked it a lot.
The writing is beautiful and lush.
They have always said that a way to a man’s heart is food. Cook a meal for him and he is yours forever. But when you are stuck in a family tradition that doesn’t allow you to marry, well, there are some things in life that even life long traditions can’t stop.
Tita, the youngest daughter and cook of the De La Garza family is forbidden to marry until her mother’s death for she must care for her widowed mother. It is her duty. It is her right. It is tradition. When Tita meets Pedro it is instant attraction on both sides and both have confessed their love to each other. Because of Tita’s family rules Pedro cannot marry her. So he marries her sister so he can be close to Tita.
Nothing can go wrong with that logic right?
Tita’s cooking skills is highly known for making a person feel emotions that are beyond their control. When Tita is cooking, an unexplained phenomenon happens…her feelings, her emotions are transferred to the food and when you taste her food you not only taste the spices but you taste her feelings, her sorrow, her happiness, her lust and you start to lose control of your senses and let your emotions control who you are.
But not everyone shows their emotions to others. Many believe it is best to keep emotions bottled up for years, never allowing those that are close to see you feel anything. That is how Tita’s mother believes. Never show your emotions. Stick with the family traditions and never falter. And when a child goes against those traditions, goes against her, she abjures them from her family and from her forever.
All Tita wants to do is find love, experience what those feelings are and how to express them herself. She lets those emotions flow into her cooking and see the result in others but will she ever be able to feel them herself? Can she ever move on from her love of Pedro? And how can she experience love when love abandoned her household?
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A wonderful story of a Mexican family told in a tale of recipes and traditions that will really showcase what really goes on in a tight knit family. I personally enjoyed this story for I am Hispanic and many of the tales that was told in this story are many a tales of my own heritage. Loved the recipes that was mentioned and the way Laura Esquivel wrote the stories intertwining with recipes to tales of what happened to her family. I had this book for my book club and everyone was just fascinated with the story and there was tons to talk about like how the traditions were so sincere back in the day and how we are losing those traditions now. The real question now is…do we really need traditions in our lives and if so how do we get them back?