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Summary: Recommended reading for intermediate students of Spanish
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343)On one hand, this book is a melodramatic love story that waxes a bit TOO melodramatic at certain points. However, the book is also entertaining. There are numerous gothic elements: forbidden love, strange family traditions, even a hint of the supernatural. Moreover, Como Agua Para Chocolate provides insights into a turbulent era in Mexican history. As a native English speaker, I would recommend this book to anyone who has studied 2~3 years of Spanish. Spanish novels are often more difficult to decipher than nonfiction, but Esquivel's prose is highly readable, and within the grasp of non-native Spanish speakers. This is not a book that is going to change your life, but it's well worth the time and money.
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Summary: Fantastic story and ...
Review: ... a fantastic movie. I saw the movie when it first came out, and have just read the book. However much I enjoyed the film, I must say that reading this story is even more enjoyable than watching it on screen. You feel for the main character in this book, Tita, and you can almost smell her emotion-infused recipes as you read about their preparation. I strongly recommend this book.
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Summary: Definitely pick this one up.
Review: A delightful, fun, easy to read novel that doesn't hesitate to disregard the natural laws of reality in order to improve the effect of a scene, like having its protagonist cry so much during her birth that the floor had to be swept for it was literally flooded with tears, to characters who behave more drastically and spontaneously than in reality in order to move the plot along, and yet, despite this, the characters, the plot, and the literal magic of Tita's cooking, somehow ring true to life on a more funadamental level, so that once you start, you won't be able to put it down. A great book.
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Summary: a feast of the 5 senses, come to life
Review: besides the excellent recipes wholly printed in the book version, here is my review of the movie, which is not as detailed nor able to be prolonged but is true to the book (unlike other movie versions of books in which some stuff is changed): after you watch this movie, you will either want to eat, cook (preferably one of the mentioned recipes), make love or all three! i saw the version dubbed in spanish, and also read 3 selected chapters from the book, for spanish class. it's a work of art and genius, and it must be watched all the way through without stopping. the characters are excellently portrayed, and it combines love, feminism, drama, sensuality, lust, hope, passion, and humour, topped with cultural tradition and folklore. i don't know which one is better, the book or the movie. all of the 5 senses are provoked on a deep and perhaps even primal level, especially taste and smell, feverishly yearning for a sum greater than their overall parts (gestalt) - which brings up the sixth sense, intuition.
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Summary: UN LIBRO MARAVILLOSO
Review: Es un libro maravilloso:
Como agua para chocolate es una novela que trae con sigo varias recetas y remedios caseros que llaman la atencion desde el principio hasta el final de cada una.
La historia que Laura Esquivel narra es tan cautivadora que les recomiendo este libro ya que trae todo tipo de cosas que se relacionan entre si, como la comida , el amor , los conflictos.
Bueno como agua para chocolate fue escrita por Laura Esquivel esta autora es tan reconocida que cautivan a todo lector.
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Summary: Excelente...No puede ser mejor de ahi!
Review: Esta obra es preciosa... Tiene una historia tan tierna, y romantica a la vez, que te cautiva desde el primer momento que empiezas a leerlo. Es facil de leer, interesante, y entretenido. Se lo recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera disfrutar de una historia de amor, llena de sorpresas y pasion...
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Summary: A Mexican Cinderella Story
Review: Imaginatively told, romantic and sensual - this is a Latin-style fairy tale for adults only. Tita, our heroine, has a life of work & misery, caused by her mother who is cruel beyond reason to her and has brainwashed her since birth into believing that the youngest daughter must remain a spinster and take care of her mother for ever. Fortunately Tita is blessed with magical cooking skills that allow her to attract lovers and cast many types of spells over the people that consume her dishes, amazing events occur all around her. Tita is not the only talented member of the family either, her sisters are notable personalities as well. I recommend this as a light & funny escape from reality.
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Summary: Mystical and Romantic
Review: Like Water For Chocolate is a wonderful and enchanting novel overflowing with intense passion and desire. It is a beautifully written Mexican story about a girl named Tita who is denied her first true love. It tells of the suffering, struggle, and power of women living in a deeply-rooted heritage full of war and countless traditions. Uniquely written, the novel is a story told in twelve monthly installments interwoven with recipes that enable Tita's freedom and individuality to shine through her deprived childhood. Her talent and love for cooking are easily understood as she demonstrates the power of food on the soul. This novel focuses on Tita's quest for love and happiness, which, in return, bring out the reader's most intimate emotions. It is a fun book persuading the reader that perhaps magic and reality are one in the same. It is a romantic fairy-tale as well as one of the best page-turners I have ever read.
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Summary: FOOD AND DRAMA, CAN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!
Review: Like Water for Chocolate was an amazing story of love and triumph. A teenage girl lives a life full of all kinds of powerful experiences which she comes about because all of her different emotions. The girl, Tita, learns that she is forced to live an unmarried life in order to take care of her mother. When her mother realizes that Tita shows affection towards Pedro, Tita's one true love, the mother marries him off to Tita's older sister. This creates a very difficult situation for the rest of Tita's life.
Tita is also the head cook of the household. Through her cooking, which is vibrant and glowing with emotion, she spills her feelings of longing, frustration, rebellion, and love. Good, bad, loving, or sad Tita's feelings are so powerful that it affected everyone who smelled, touched, and tasted her wonderful food.
This makes for an interesting and fascinating story which is written in an incredibly unique, simple style. Like Water for Chocolate made me respect the different types of love in one's life. Even with all of the difficult events in her life, Tita found her true love. I admired her because she always had and showed love for other people which sometimes kept her from making decisions that were in her best interest. I recommend this book because it's a different type of love story which anyone can relate to.
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Summary: Like Water for Chocolate
Review: The book "Like Water for Chocolate" is a great book. The book deals with a teen-age girl who wants to marry but can't because her family tradition won't allow her to. The tradition is that she is unable to marry because she is the youngest and will need to take care of her mother.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book gets kind of confusing but overall it is a good book that deals with love and desire.
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