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Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies | 
 enlarge | Author: Laura Esquivel
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $2.40
You Save: $11.55 (83%)
Rating:  436 reviews
Sales Rank: 2855
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 038542017X
Dewey Decimal Number: 863
EAN: 9780385420174
ASIN: 038542017X
Publication Date: February 1, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ** Possible marking on cover. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases.
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| Also Available In:
| • | Hardcover - Like Water for Hot Chocolate | | • | Mass Market Paperback - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Mass Market Paperback - Like Water For Chocolate | | • | Paperback - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio Cassette - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio Cassette - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Hardcover - Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, With Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies | | • | Audio Cassette - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio CD - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Hardcover - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Paperback - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Unknown Binding - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | School & Library Binding - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Paperback - Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, With Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies | | • | Hardcover - Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, With Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies (Curley Large Print Books) | | • | Hardcover - Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies | | • | Unknown Binding - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio Cassette - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio Download - Like Water for Chocolate | | • | Audio Download - Like Water for Chocolate (Unabridged) | | • | Kindle Edition - Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies | | • | Hardcover - Like Water for Chocolate |
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Product Description
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in tum-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit.
Download Description
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life inturn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with itswinning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The classic lovestory takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter-to-be weeps so violentlyshe causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices andfixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes away of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef. She shares specialpoints of her favorite preparations with listeners throughout the story.
"A tall tale, fairy tale, soap-opera romance, Mexican cookbook, andhome-remedy handbook all rolled into one."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "A wondrous romantic tale. Esquivel has given us a banquet."
LOS ANGELES TIMES "Like Water for Chocolate is deceptively simple and simplywonderful. A story of love, sex, war, and the sweep of Mexican historythat belongs to women."
BOSTON GLOBE "A mystical, piquant novel. Like Water for Chocolate is a savoryand satisfying tale."
PEOPLE
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| Customer Reviews: Read 431 more reviews...
Quirky but fun all the same June 4, 2008
David Edmonds (Lansing, MI)
A delightful little book, Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate is almost a modern-day fairy tale. Told in monthly installments, the novel is simultaneously story and cookbook, filled with both recipes and home remedies and as well as the story of Tita, our heroine, who was born, raised and taught in the kitchen, and who has the amazing ability to cook her emotions into her marvelous recipes. Tita's story is one of longing, love and the need to be her own person; to escape the tyrannical presence of her mother and create her own life with the man she loves. It's a relatively fast read, but enjoyable all the same.
 IB English HL Book Review May 28, 2008
clb9016 (virginia)
If you enjoyed Allende's The House of the Spirits, then this is the right book for you! Much like Allende's novel, Like Water for Chocolate combines the ordinary and the supernatural in the portrayal of two young, Latino lovers living in the midst of civil war. However, Esquivel's work remains unique though her use of food in not only emphasizing her pride in the Mexican culture, but also in expressing the strong conflicting emotions that are deep within the hearts of the characters. Through the use of magical realism and the motif of food, Esquivel depicts a love story that explores the classic theme of what happens to a dream deterred.
Every chapter of the novel begins with a recipe, which serves to accentuate how the life of a traditional Mexican family is centered on the kitchen. Thus it is no surprise that the main character is no other than the youngest daughter and head chef, Tita, who is characterized as a talented young girl whose spirit is constantly broken by her mother's incessant upbraiding. Tita's lifelong pain is symbolized through the motif of onions, which appear throughout the novel during times of deep sorrow and heavy weeping. Esquivel's use of food as a motif is further evidenced by Tita's culinary masterpieces--such as the rose dish that causes its consumers to be afflicted with erotic obsession. Overall, Esquivel's originality is derived from her ability to mix the elements of cooking, erotica, and the magical realism in creating a novel that demonstrates the consequences of emotional repression. I personally recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a love story chock-full of Hispanic culture, garnished with elements of the supernatural.
 Mystical, Erotic, and Delicious May 24, 2008
T. Phan (VA)
Get ready to be engulfed in the mouth-watering aroma of delicious Mexican dishes and a tale of romance, mystique, and an all-consuming passion. Laura Esquivel's beautiful novel, Like Water for Chocolate, is a combination of simple prose and the charm of magic realism that makes it a delightful and fascinating read.
The novel encompasses the life of Tita de la Garza, the third daughter of Elena, from her unusual birth to the spectacular event of her death. Intertwining with Tita's story are monthly recipes that are served during the course of her life and have had significant impacts on Tita and the people around her. The dominance of food throughout the novel is further embellished by Esquivel's use of magical realism. Taking a role itself, the appearance of food or the ingredients that are used to prepare food instigate a myriad of events in the story. Tita's birth is explained as being triggered by her cries within Elena's womb due to chopped onion, and the dishes that Tita prepares carry a magical power that could induce tears or passion once consumed, such as the "Chabela Wedding Cake" and "Quail in Rose Petal Sauce."
Thwarted of the chance to marry her only love, Pedro Muzquiz, Tita transfers her emotions into food and allows her cooking to express the concealed feelings she has for him. Just as strong as her passion is for food, Tita's and Pedro's ardor for each other surpasses all boundaries of time and familial obligations. The fierce passion of their love is so powerful that it magically ignites them at the final climactic moment of their joining, causing a great fire and ultimately concluding Tita's life.
Overall, Like Water for Chocolate is a sumptuous and sensual tale that will evoke a sense of longing in the reader's heart and appetite.
Deliciously juicy May 20, 2008
Christyn A. Ross (Gladstone, MI USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Like Water for Chocolate" was a romantic food novel that I was required to read for my college English class. The book was very realistic at times but would have certain elements playfully exaggerated with a fantasy twist. It was unique how the Laura Esquivel incorporated recipes to go with chapters of the book. This novel was written beautifully and will leave you in a half fantasy world of love surrounded in a deep aura of Spanish foods. It truly transports you to another world. Recommended for the romantic. :)
Anything is better with chocolate April 25, 2008
Carol H. Perry (Waco, Texas United States)
Chocolate in the tummy, title or story improves the experience.
This book is on my stack of all time favorites-some of the dramatic images will amuse you and stay with you-for years.
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