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Summary: Spice Guide
Review: This book is entrancing and interesting for its spice lore and other lore of ancient (& current) India, told most evocatively. The only weak point I found was the love story of the main character, which I found to be less satisfying than the rest of her own story and those of the other characters that she follows. But the book more than makes up for it; that is about 15% of what is otherwise a real tapestry of the senses on paper, and a wealth of lessons on love and life.
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Summary: Charming
Review: I really liked this book but found myself getting a little confused here and there. Great story line and a lovely ending...
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Summary: Mistress of Spices
Review: In The Mistress of Spices, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni deftly weaves a tale of cultural maturation from the fabric of the main character's past and present. Mistress of Spices is a story of cultural synthesis, a story of a cultural becoming. Through the character of Tilo, Divakaruni tells a story of how cultures can not only co-exist, but in fact combine and transmute into a more full account of one's cultural self. She allows for the cultural self to be possessed and defined by the individual, as evidenced by the characters of both Tilo and her lover, Raven. All this is accomplished through a quickly moving story that is both lyrical and accessible. Mistress is Spices is an enjoyable read for its language and story, and a compelling cultural study for its theoretical content.
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Summary: beautiful
Review: i thoroughly enjoyed this book. the world of spices is magical and so are our lives when you add a little extra spice.
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Summary: Predictable, Yet Enjoyable
Review: "The Mistress of Spices" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a magical tale and love story along the lines of Joanne Harris' Chocolat. Just substitute phat kiri and kalo jire seeds for confections.As a young girl, Tilo had a gift that eventually led her to the Island of Spices, where she pledged her life in the service of "the spices," which seem to have powers and wills of their own. Tilo -- and the other women like her who become mistresses -- is plopped down around the world in little shops to sell the spices. One of the cruel tricks played on the mistresses is that no matter their age, they exist trapped within the body of an old woman. The spices do this in order to prevent their mistresses from being tempted by bodily pleasures that might draw them from their pledged, immortal service. No matter what ails you or troubles you, Tilo is able to see deep into your soul and she has just the spice to heal or help you. However, when Tilo begins bending the spices to her own will -- ignoring what they say she should prescribe -- she discovers how quickly the spices can turn their magic against her. Often, the spices punish her by mutating the expected outcome of her meddling, harming the people she is trying to help. Then, one day, Tilo meets an American man who seems to see through her false outer skin and, well, this is where the story becomes predictable. After incident-free decades of service to the spices, Tilo suddenly begins to really care for the people who visit her shop -- the troubled teenage boy fetching spices for his mother, the young woman whose father forbids her to marry outside her race. And -- surprise! -- Tilo falls in love with the American. Although you pretty much know how the story will end, Divakaruni makes the ride to your final destination comfortable and enjoyable. Happy endings abound in this feel-good story that also manages to impart insight into some non-culinary uses of spices you might just find in your own kitchen cabinets.
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Summary: The first and the best
Review: This first novel of Divakaruni is in my opinion her best. I also feel it is the best novel by an Indo-American writer that I have read. Mystic, realistic, lyrical, poetic are some adjectives that come to my mind. I wont detail the plot, that would mar the interest for the reader. A close second to Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible" and this is a first novel too.
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Summary: A Sensual Literary Feast
Review: If you love the magical realism of Isabelle Allende, then you'll enjoy this book. It's so exciting to discover a new author, especially one with Ms. Divakaruni's exceptional talent. I loved this exotic, mythical tale of the Mistress of Spices and couldn't put it down---I pulled a late-nighter and read it in one sitting. The writing is mouth-watering, lush, lyrical and sensual. Don't pass this one up!... I sent a copy to one of my best friends and she heartily agreed with me...so I know it's a good read!...
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Summary: Suspended between two worlds...
Review: Divakaruni's first novel reads like a fable, as she blends Old World India with New World America. An aged woman, Tilo, an Indian immigrant, serves as the "mistress" of spices. She unravels her mythic past to set the stage for the present. Highly fantastical, it is necessary to suspend belief in the reasonable as Tilo describes her early life, training for this unusual vocation. Using traditional Indian spices, some with particularly healing properties and required rituals, to attend to the various physical and emotional ills of her customers, Tilo carries on a constant dialog with the spices, and each chapter introduces another spice and its uses. The language is often poetic, her descriptions full of visual impressions: "my cloak dragging in salt dust like a torn wing". Divakaruni cleverly uses her story line as a vehicle for exposing the social stigma of immigration, as well as the ills of modern cities riddled with poverty and crime. Where it could be strident, instead the writer introduces her character's problems and complexities in the context of understanding. In the course of her conscientious ministrations, Tilo unwittingly falls in love with a man she calls the "American". She cannot fathom his motives in their mutual attraction, as she is "disguised" as an old woman and he is a man in his prime. Soon the present pulls as strongly as the past, and desire clashes with duty. Her serenity shattered, Tilo is forced to make life-altering decisions, agonizing over her choices; in the end, the direction is clear, without doubt. With the aura of a fable, I often felt too aware of the transition from the believable to the unbelievable; the author's device should not have been so obvious. In her following work, however, particularly Sister of My Heart, Divakaruni is able to overcome such flaws without losing her power or her poetry.
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Summary: I'm hooked
Review: This book was by my bedside when I stayed over at my friend's. I planned to reach a few pages and doze off. I could not put it down! I have generally found writing by Indian authors to be somewhat heavy going and was very pleasantly surprised by the author's light touch. The book also gave me a penetrating glimpse of Indian immigrants in the US, a side I could only guess at previously.I look forward to reading the other books by Ms. Divakaruni
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Summary: The power of spice
Review: A beautifully written and beautifully detailed book. The subject matter was new to me and completely compelling. The author managed to draw me into world totally foreign to me. I didn't want to put it down.
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