The Discovery of Chocolate

Rating:
Summary: Just so-so
Review: "The Discovery of Chocolate" is the story of Diego (and his trusty Greyhound, Pedro), a Spaniard from the time of the conquest of Mexico. While in the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, he meets Ignacia, a woman who imparts to him the knowledge of love, passion, and one of the greatest substances on earth: chocolate. But they are seperated when Cortes and his party leave for Spain once more; but not before Ignacia has given Pedro and Diego the elixer of life--Diego will grow older slower than normal people--he, as he discovers, may live to be a thousand years. He drifts through history in a daze, brushing past the Marquis de Sade in the Bastille and Sigmund Freud in Austria, and invents the Sacher Torte and the Hershey Kiss. All the while, he tries to unlock the secrets to the greatest pleasures on Earth: love and chocolate.

I was initially attracted to this book for the name, and the synopsis intrigued me, so I purchased the book. However, I became skeptical once reading the book. The book is written in a formal prose, which makes the scenes of love, passion, etc, not so nice to read--just sort of akward. Diego also has a very chivilrous attitude, and while this is sort of sweet in the first five pages of the book, it becomes annoying later on.

I was ready to put the book down, but Diego was introduced to the Marquis de Sade, so my interest was prolonged. Unfortunantly, the book didn't pick up. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't very good. For the most part, it was pretty boring. Also, there are certain characters (Claudia, mostly) who are just plain depressing.

The bottom line is, this one depends on your taste. If you can, read an exerpt before buying it. I personally would recommend that most people forgo this one, but you might want to try it anyway, just for the heck of it. It's not too intense, or too long, so it might make a nice summer read.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I gave The Discovery of Chocolate three stars because it was pleasurable, if a bit lightweight. Although Diego concludes after his encounter with the Marquis de Sade that pleasure alone is not enough for a good life, it is in this case sufficient for a reasonably entertaining and enjoyable novel. It kept me engaged mainly by its leisurely, loving descriptions of chocolate: its taste, its preparation, and its effects. I wasn't particularly impressed with Diego's philosophical musings, or particularly convinced of his passion for Ignacia. I also found myself wishing that Diego would, at least every now and then, meet someone who wasn't destined to become a famous historical figure: it seems that the chocolate potion confers not only longevity but an astonishing ability to attract an array of celebrated (and notorious) figures from the Marquis de Sade to Freud to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. I object not so much to the improbability of this but to the fact that it's getting to be somewhat of a cliche. Nevertheless, I was able to overlook a lot for the sake of the chocolate.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining (in the style of magical realism)
Review: This is an extremely entertaining book... Like all good books, it is a love story at heart that uses the magical lore around this thing we call chocolate to tug at the heart strings of the reader...