Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: It started out quite promising - beautiful prose.. However, as you read further, you discover a rather boring cliche plot. The ending was blah - so hollywood-esque. It was disappointing for it could have been better.
Rating: 
Summary: Something to Read and Think about
Review: Many reviewers disliked this book for its cliched plot. I too was dissatisfied with what seemed to me to be a mismatch between an exquisite writing style and what seemed to be a banal story. I think each reader can take more away from this novel than the triteness of the romance. In fact, I think that this apparent conflict between story and style works well to show the reader that what is on the surface is never all that is there. An old message, of course, but one that bears repeating.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the time.
Review: This is the only selection of my book group I have not been able to force myself to finish. I am a lover of magical realism but I found this book to be annoyingly trite. I can't really complain about the author's writing style, but her story was so adolescent that by the time Raven appeared I thought: I know where this is going and I couldn't force myself to continue. Not in the same league with God of Small Things or Like Water for Chocolate.
Rating:
Summary: Over-rated, over-hyped, amateurish and disappointing
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the author's previous book (a collection of short stories called "Arranged Marriage") but this foray into magical realism left me cold. I was totally unimpressed by the plot, the main characters, and the writing style in general. There were a few bright spots, but the book just never came together. Magical realism is a powerful tool demanding a deft touch; unfortunately, "Mistress of Spices" was just plain clunky. It's a shame, because it probably could have been saved by a good editor and some thoughtful rewriting. I hope the author's next book is better.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre, cliched, good use of language, but boring
Review: I am an avid reader of fiction. I liked Arranged Marriage, but I couldn't get into this one. It was boring and all the chapters having spice names--mind you, these spices were never referred to in the chapters themselves--seemed extraneous and self-consciously artsy. For the way that the book exoticized the woman, the author should be ashamed. What is this, Rudyard Kipling? The writing itself was OK, but for the flaws in the story, good writing could do nothing to make this a good book. Lastly, Oakland is not as bad as she's made it out to be. But the author playing into stereotypes does nothing to surprise me.
Rating:
Summary: The story made me want to finish reading it.
Review: This is the story of Tilo, a young woman who has been trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. As the mistress, she inhabits a crone's body, but the man who falls in love with her can see her the way she really is through her eyes. As one of the reviews says it is a marvelous combination of myth and romance. After some puzzlement with the story line, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was interesting that as the mistress she was not allowed to leave the shop. I have a personal problem with any additional restrictions being place on women, even in this context. But, on each occasion that she went beyond her limitations as a mistress to help someone nothing really bad happened to her, so I guess "its all good". Has anyone used any of the spices mentioned in this book? They sell Fenugreek here in the Commissary, but the bottle does not say what its used for, in the book it says its "renders the body sweet again, ready for loving."
Rating: 
Summary: Great writing, much better than God of Small things
Review: This book does what the God of Small Things tried to do. It was magical, but still steeped in reality of today. The writing was wonderful, not too many metaphors, but just enough to make this a descriptive, evocative story. Ending was a bit dull.
Rating:
Summary: NO ORDINARY SPICE
Review: Writing in the first person, the author draws you in to her world making it impossible to escape. The poetic prose is refreshingly different and so binds this tale of myth, romance and social critique into some extraordinarily mesmerising, sending it sky high. This is no ordinary spice at work here.
Rating:
Summary: Poetry in prose
Review: I underline. I nudge the person next to me and read paragraphs that soon become pages. I am flooded by the sentences that turn simple words into intracate images, smells and feelings. The novel reads like a long poem laced with character development and plot; I recommend the novel for poets, writers, readers or anyone who is captivated by the power and mystery of the written word.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Lush
Review: This book is simply wonderful! Chitra Divakaruni has cleverly captured the essense of spices in the personality of this young lady turned old. The descriptions are absolutly absorbing. I would recommend it to anyone! I listened to the tape over and over!
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