Rating: Summary: mouth-watering but disappointing Review: At first I thought I had found a jewel of a novel. The reading seemed pure pleasure. Gradually, however, I began to see how shallow the idea behind the book is. The goodness of the positive characters makes you sick after a while just as too much chocolate does. The poor fiend of a priest for a change makes you feel sorry. If you are looking for heavy, naive symbolism and a black-and-white world here's a book for you.
Rating: Summary: A seductive book about the powers of chocolate and kindness Review: Harris is a very talented writer, and I found myself doling out Chocolat in small, delicious bites, chapter by chapter, not wishing the book to end. Her prose rings with intelligence and grace. However, very conservative readers may bridle at the strongly anti-clerical, pro-pagan slant of the book, as well as at the fact that almost all the bad guys are men, and almost all the good guys are women. Nonethless, this is a singularly enjoyable novel.
Rating: Summary: A scrumptious feast for the mind and the tastebuds Review: A sheer delight in viewing the characters in a small insular French village and her ability to describe the making of chocolate treats so vividly that one's mouth waters. I swear that have put on 10lbs!
Rating: Summary: A sensory delight. Review: A great first novel, that compares with Laura Esquivel,s " Like water for chocolate " in ever department.The best book of 99 so far.
Rating: Summary: Gave me a hypoglycemia attack! Review: This little book is full of wonderful ideas for treats and snacks, but skip it if you do not appreciate out-of-date-church bashing.
Rating: Summary: Not as literary as the cover indicates Review: IMHO, the good characters (Vianne, Armande) were all good, and the bad (Reynaud) were all bad. It would have been more interesting with more ambiguity. But the desciptions of the candies were delicious, and I had to stop for chocolate breaks while reading.
Rating: Summary: Easily the finest story I've read in recent memory........ Review: Though the plot does, indeed, revolve around chocolate, there's far more here than a simple food fetish. The dazzling, ethereal quality of the narrator and her daughter, their liberating effect on the dour and insular community they wander into is, for lack of a better word, a light and airy magic. The newcomers' presence, and their opening of a chocolaterie across from the local church, changes the emotional balance of the village. This raises the ire of the local curate, whose control over his flock erodes as they succumb to, heaven forbid, the pleasures of the bonbon, and to the graciousness and spirit of Mme. Rocher and daughter. The author's tone captures perfectly the essence of each character's role in the drama that plays itself out, and its timelessness could place it in this decade or that of a century ago. You won't be disappointed. And that I sort of fell in love with the narrator by page three has nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
Rating: Summary: I'm a Chocolat Lover Review: This book was delicious in every sense of the word. Just finished it and I am going to read it again right away. Made me want to visit France. Such imagery. Best of all, I got to know the closely defined characters. Her way of writing makes me want to figure out how she does all that without bogging down the eye.
Rating: Summary: Every page will make you crave Review: An absolutely wonderful and sensuous book - every single page is crammed full of delicious descriptions that will overwhelm every sense.
Rating: Summary: Great Fiction!! Review: The book is fiction w/ metaphysical elements mixed in with a modern "Like water for Chocolate" type of theme. I really enjoyed it! A book I didn't want to end!!
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