I really enjoyed this book. I felt it was very creative how in each chapter there was a different recipe in each chapter, and the recipe was symbolic for the characters emotions. I definitely can’t wait to watch the film.
“Like Water for Chocolate” was very relatable to me because just like how in the book Nacha and Tita were very close, and had each others back. That is just like me and my mom, only difference is that Nacha is not Tita’s biological mom. On pg. 30, when Nacha and Tita were crying in each others arms, that was relatable to me and my mom. There have been plenty of times when I and my mom would be having a conversation, and we will just cry while hugging each other. My Mom would also help me with a lot of things such as, cooking, homework or grocery shopping. She also helped me with issues I had. Just like how Nacha would help Tita. She was always there for me.
“Like Water for Chocolate,” did communicate with me because as I was reading it. I thought about me and my family with all the fights we had and our problems. My views did change after reading this text. I never realized just how important food is to a family and what it can be symbolic of. For example, on pg. 178, when it talks about the water coming to a boil; then remove it from the heat. I thought that part was very influential, not only because it was talking about Tita but also talking about everyone in the world. Sometimes I don’t like being mad, angry or in a bad mood. I just want to be happy all the time, but in order to be happy I have to reach my boiling point, so I can be relieved of my anger and problems. If I don’t boil up, then I will just be holding all my anger inside, then I will explode. Just like in the book “Like Water for Chocolate” how if the water over boils it will overflow which is not good. After reading that part of the book I now realized that being mad or angry is not necessarily a bad thing, but helps me to relieve my stress and problems.
The thing that’s so amazing about “Like Water for Chocolate “is that it relates to so many families. In every family food is important and represents love. A good example, of how the food represents a memory or love is on pg. 47, when Tita was cooking the quail. She was cooking out of memory and love for Nacha. I didn’t realize until that specific part that food is symbolic of my family’s love for one another, as well. Whenever I, my mom, grandma and everyone else in my family are cooking, or about to eat seafood we always think about my grandpa because he loved seafood so much. He passed away just like Nacha had passed away. The Quail that Tita was cooking represents the love she has for Nacha. That’s what the seafood is to me and my family it represents the love we have for my grandpa.
Even though, this is an amazing text. There were some parts that bothered me for example, the fact that Tita went with Pedro and not Dr. John. I felt their relationship was based on lust not love. For example, on pg. 154, when Pedro was approaching Tita it mentioned there was “lust” in his eyes. I always thought a woman would chose love over lust but in North America our meaning of “love” must be different from those in Latin America.
I really enjoyed the text as art because it made me look at food in a different way. Whenever me and my family cook certain foods I will know that it is suppose to represent something, and mean something to us. I now know that food brings a family closer together and is symbolic of love.
I would definitely read some more of Laura Esquivel’s work. The way she approaches magical realism in this book, by having all the different recipes be symbolic of every characters feelings was impressive. Once, I read this book I had to continue reading it. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next. I would recommend this text to my entire family.
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