Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel / Review

 I am taking a break from my normal reading rotations to read some books that I might want to teach to my IB students next year. One of their requirements is to read four works of “world literature”, which IB defines as literature about another culture not originally written in English. After asking another teacher about her recommendations, I grabbed Like Water for Chocolate, a book I have heard a lot about but never read myself.

During the Mexican Revolution, Esquivel centers her novel around a family of women. Two strong women in particular, Tita, and her demanding mother, Mama Elena, form the crux of the novel as each explores a woman’s role in the household, a microcosm of society.  As the novel opens,  Tita is cursed by virtue of being the youngest daughter; in her family, this means she is not permitted to marry and must instead dedicate herself to her mother’s care for the rest of her life.  When Pedro, Tita’s true love, comes to ask for her hand in marriage despite Mama Elena’s rule, he leaves affianced not to Tita but to her older sister. While Mama Elena assumes Pedro is happy to have any wife at all, Pedro agrees to the arrangement so that he might be near Tita forever.

Thus begins a lifetime of conflict and barely-repressed sexual tension — Tita remains on the ranch to bathe and feed her mother. Pedro moves onto the ranch as Rosaura’s husband. Mama Elena mediates, ensuring that they are never able to even speak to one another alone.

This is a book that is full of beauty, drama, and charm (a word I’ve been using a lot recently to describe my reading).  Esquivel’s writing is lush and evocative. While I have gone on record as rarely liking books about food (although I love food), it works in this book. The descriptions of food are symbolic and lovely without being overwrought. The recipes that punctuate each chapter reveal and uncover the character’s emotions and motivation.  Esquivel also succeeds in this novel by writing about war without writing a war book. When the outside world of the revolution intrudes upon the family’s ranch,  the novel does not lose heart. It is emotional without being melodramatic, romantic without becoming a romance — it’s really a great book.

Moreoever, Esquivel falls into the tradition of magical realism in a way that feels as poignant as Garcia Marquez (one of my favorites). In particular, food proves to be magical in its feats — to seduce and punish. While this may be uncomfortable at first for many readers (it’s hard to believe that Tita’s tears literally fill up the kitchen — but they do), it adds to the verve of Esquivel’s writing.

Will I be including it on my syllabus next year? It seems likely at this juncture; plus, imagine the great “educational gatherings” (that’s what we call a party in teacher-world) we will have with all of these recipes!

Tags: Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate, Review