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Summary: Good overcomes evil in an evocative lyrical tale.
Review: On Ash Wednesday, a single mother, believer in mystical powers, opens a chocolate store across the street from a Catholic church located in Southern France. Thus starts a battle between good (the mother) and evil (the catholic priest). Harris writes a lyrical tale with a vivid cast of supporting characters, delving into the past of village's residents, revealing the dark secret of the priest's youth. Prejudice against a group of gypsies becomes a central theme, and all the while, the protagonist provides warmth and counsel in her chocolate store. A great read.
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Summary: A lusciously mystical novel
Review: In this lusciously mystical novel,Vianne Rocher and her young daughter Anouk arrive in a small French village on Mardi Gras. Vianne, the daughter of a gypsy - and a wanderer herself, sets up her chocolate shop during the most austere of Christian seasons, Lent, thus, infuriating the local priest who knows his parishioners will struggle with their Lenten vows. Vianne turns out to be a not-so-ordinary shopkeeper, and Reynaud the priest is not the holy man he pretends. With its tantalizing descriptions, this book will have readers dreaming of the finest chocolates and confections. Although I found the language a bit self-conscious at times, Harris uses words skillfully to evoke the mood of sugared magic. The unsatisfying ending and the one-dimensional way Vianne falls in love with the gypsies can be forgiven in light of all else Harris offers the reader. I can't wait for the publication of her next book.
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Summary: Easy to read, relaxing but a little bit poor.
Review: I read this book very fast but not because I couldn't wait to see what happened next, but because it is easy to read. It made eat chocolate more than I usually do.
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Summary: A failure in it's attempts to evoke a magical realism.
Review: Joanne Harris has tried to inject her work with magic, passion, sensuality... and has failed. Her characetrs are paper thin and poorly developed, the direction of her story obvious, and her descriptions of people, place, and the passion of the book CHOCOLATE are more often than not weak and ineffective. A real disappointment, Harris should leave the weaving of magical and sensual tales to the real masters of the art such as Allende.
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Summary: A fairy tale in the tradition of Mary Poppins
Review: Chocolat is a fairy tale, and Vianne a second Mary Poppins. The story goes on smothly with good and evil narrating it at alternating chapters. As any tale, the book has a moral (a simple one, in this case) that can be seen only abstracting from the details of the story itself.
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Summary: Your senses will be left reeling!
Review: This book is a glorious invasion of the senses, delivered with astounding attention to detail. I haven't read such a rich, exocative novel for quite some time. You can taste the chocolat on every page!
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Summary: A Delightful [Delicious] Tale for All!
Review: A couple criticisms of "Chocolat":I was a bit dismayed to read the [not so] steamy scene between Vianne and Roux...their end-of-the-book meeting seemed a little too contrived for my liking. Next, I LOVED Anouk and thought she stole the show of characters. Vianne tended to be a bit conceited with everyone she encountered, especially being the liberated black sheep of the village. Finally, the plight of the priest was by far the biggest let down. I [in all my hatred for priests who preach silly and petty traditions] was hoping for a greater penalty to befall our candy-choked clergyman than simply being caught by Vianne and a few townspeople. All in all, this was a great find, and I will definitely recommend it.
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Summary: Disappointing, superficial characters and plot lines
Review: I read this for a book club, and as a chocolate fiend, was excited. While it was a quick read, how many cups of hot chocolate can you hear described? The characters were poorly developed and therefore, one dimensional; I was never able to picture any of them. The narrator Vianne, was not likeable, but rather, self righteous and unnessarily provocative of the mores of the town. Although I am not a Catholic, I found the church-bashing outmoded and hard to take. All in all, a mediocre novel.
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Summary: Makes you mouth water...
Review: Great book. I loved the notion that Vianne and Anouk were like a couple of 'white witches' who blow into town on a good wind, do good, improve peoples lives and blow back out again. I particularly liked the character of Amande and I wished I could of gone to her final birthday party: it sounded fantastic! I must admit I was little disappointed with what finally happened to Father Reynaud, he'd been build up as such a sinster character and I thought he was going to do something truly terrible, so the ending seemed a bit of an anti-climax. But, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this deliously different, quirky little tale.
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Summary: Two Favorites -- France and Chocolates
Review: Please indulge yourself and read this book. You'll be glad you did
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