Buenos noches, mis amigos! Well, good evening to my fellow bloggers! Oh my goodness! Ladies and gentlemen, I have just finished a novel that set my soul on fire! Laura Esquivel's passionate read Like Water For Chocolate opened my eyes to a new level of magical realism. (Si- I was excited to know the title translated to Como Agua Para Chocolate!) My confession for this week is that I am not a very good cook. Hence why I enjoyed Esquivel's brilliantly original use of recipes which directly addressed me, as the reader. Yet wait! There's more! I enjoyed the exaggeration of people, events, things, and actions most! That mis amigos, es the nueva magical realism experience I had! For lighting my inner match, I'd like to thank and highly recommend this book!
Esquivel's idea to start the reader off with instructions to chop onions was bold and luring. It was almost a foreshadowing of the heart ache and weeping that was to come throughout the whole novel. I, myself, do not like chopping onions: I am a crier. It is because of this irritating reaction I shared with Tita that I felt a connection to her. Also, speaking of onions, I felt another connection with the story through the author's use of recipe preparations. The tense would shift from third person point of view to second person so smoothly that is was refreshing. It kept me interested! Best of all, the deliciouso breaks left my imagination time to roam and wander about the romance that continued to bloom in the story. What's going to happen next? Are they going to kiss? So exciting! Alright, here is my next confession: indeed, I do enjoy a good romance read every now and then. I must say, Esquivel's richly Latin forbidden love was far more attention-holding than Hollywood's supposed true love. Would it be fair to compare Tita and Pedro's love and fate to that of Romeo and Juliet? That is up to the reader, as an individual, to decide. Well, I'll tell everyone my opinion of the tasty Chocolate!
I would certainly like to think and hope that I have found my true love. Si, I am a believer of true love between two people. I believe that there is another soul out there for every single person, someone waiting, who is destined to be one's soul mate. Sounds nice, doesn't it? If only it were this simple in real life. That was what fascinated me about Tita's life and changed my view on what makes for a happy ending in love. I felt so sorry for Tita, who was constantly controlled by and overcome with obstacles. She proved to me that true love can be better tended to in the afterlife!
Just so, I was immediately repelled by Mama Elena's Anglo-Saxon/Puritan mindset and her dictator tendencies. Her oppressive government of a ranch was such a horrible life for Tita. Just so, this was not one's typical love story. Si, Tita and Pedro were true loves, and their tale was not fairy-like! I hoped that if I were to ever be in Tita's situation, that I would be able to leave that kind of life in a heartbeat! However, that was not the decision Tita made. Instead of running off with her true love, she stayed and endured the physical and emotional abuse of her mother! Aye, aye, aye! Mama Elena was a perfect example of the archetypal figure, the shadow. I felt that her negative presence was necessary, though. It was a metaphorical parallel to symbolize what was occurring in the Revolution. Battles and romance, what a mixture!
Mama Elena's repulsive tradition for Tita offended me. I felt that it was very wrong to strip one of such personal freedoms. One should be able to love and be with whomever they want! I respected Tita for her strength through her downward spiral but was still saddened by her resistance to Pedro. I would have given into running away with my true love! Like Gertrudis! Yes, I have to say something about good old Gertrudis. What a woman! She stood up to Mama Elena, found her true love, and had also become the General in the Spanish army! I had a lot of respect for her, along with Nacha, who represented the archetypal figure of the mentor. These Latin women were loving and fierce, who played key roles in giving Tita hope.
The best part about this novel was the constant flow of emotions! After all, the title does imply the boiling of water for Tita's famousa hot chocolate. Between the shadow, missing Nacha, missing Gertrudis, tension with Rosaura, her confused feelings for John, and her lust for her true love Pedro, Tita's emotions were siempre (always) on the verge of boiling over, like agua! The constant rush of passion, lust, anger, and sadness was intensely engaging! I loved that Pedro symbolized the chocolate that belongs with Tita's boiling water. Chocolate has been known as an aphrodisiac for quite some time now, and I like how Pedro's passion was a symbol for this! I want to especially commend Esquivel for her use of magical realism to intrigue my soul's passion with phrases like (243-4):
"If a strong emotion suddenly lights the candles we carry inside ourselves, it creates
a brightness that shines far beyond our normal vision and then a splendid tunnel
appears that shows us the way that we forgot when we were born and calls us to
recover our lost divine origin."
Although it was a sad ending, the death of Pedro and Tita gave them the opportunity to leave "together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be apart." Si, so it was similar to the fate of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet! I wasn't as sad for Tita and Pedro because Esquivel briefly showed the reader the "luminous tunnel" that they entered and the Eden they now shared forever! How sweet and oddly satisfying! My only hope was that there passion continues in the heavens! The love that lives between those two characters was inspiring and powerful to behold. I believe this was the first novel that successfully, and unexpectedly, awakened my senses. I would love for Esquivel to write more novels that are as enticing as this one was! Por favor and gracias, Laura Esquivel!
Ha! I really like how your posting is sounding a lot like Alsanea in Girls of Riyadh. You have that same spunky tone and erudite treatment of the topic. You do a good job weaving your experiences and perceptions into a metaphorical interpretation of the themes of the novel. You use good support from the details to support your interpretations. This is a good example of classic blogging.
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