Book Review: Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel

Rating: 1 of 5 STARS

Source: On lists for World Literature reading, potential for E's English II

Oh boy, was this bad. Another book that I was glad both protagonists died in the end. Actually, by the end of the book, there wasn't one character I liked! E and I were going to read this one for her World Lit requirements, but I decided to save her from the suffering of it.

Poor writing (may be the translators fault), lame story, and just plain gross and extremely immoral situations. One woman dies from a massive fart. A man dies during sex. Another just goes up in flames. I think there was supposed to be some feminist point to the book, but for the life of me, I don't get it! I think this Amazon reviewer says it better than I could:

"This book reads as though written by someone with a fifth grade education, at best. I found that the writing did not flow, made no sense at all, and placed all of the emphasis in the wrong places. Where there should have been ANY character development, there were uninteresting, tedious descriptions about food. The placement of "magical" events did not even fit in with the story. In all, this book was a waste of time and paper and if anything, it deserves 1 star because someone would have to try REALLY hard to make something that BAD!!!"

I agree, so I gave it ONE star just for the creativity it took to write this poorly. Another Amazon reviewer said this: "This book shouldn't have even been printed! If it weren't for English teachers all across the nation, this book wouldn't have sold 1 copy."

Good point. You'll find this book on a lot of suggested readings for world literature. I just don't understand...Does anyone actually read these books before they put them on our children's reading lists? There was actually a rape disguised as a 'love' scene. Ick..ick...ick!

Sorry to be so negative....but it was really that bad. Anybody want a copy? I have two since E and I were both going to read it together! :-0 Ugh. On second thought, they're going in the trash.