Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Like Water for Chocolate

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Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

4 reviews

karol99's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Hard for me to complete it because I read it in Spanish, but once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed it. It always surprised me and had me engaged in the story.

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rieriereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

"It was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present."

I didn't know pretty much anything about this book aside from the description (which I don't recommend on doing. There may be themes included that might make you uncomfortable), and when I finished it the next day I knew that Like Water For Chocolate is one of the books I would have a hard time reviewing. There are parts that I loved, and parts also that I hated. Basically, I have a love-hate relationship with this.

The things I loved:

- The recipes included in the beginning of each chapter. It gives me a sense of nostalgia of my early memories with my late grandmother who loved to cook, eat, and talk about food and recipes.

- The inclusion of magical realism in the book. This could be a hit or miss, but I really liked it (I may be biased since I had happened to realise I like books that includes magical realism, haha).

- And lastly, the paragraphs/lines that made me stop reading in order to reflect my emotions, write down my thoughts/rants. It made me compare the De La Garza family to mine.

The things that I hated:

- The ending felt flat, and although I sensed it in advance (and had even prepared myself) it still disappointed me. If it was different, I feel that I would have rated this 4 stars instead of 3.75 (still a good read in the end though).

- The pacing and writing, although this is my first Laura Esquivel book, I love how she made me feel different emotions through the whole journey. Unfortunately, there are parts that felt dragged, flat, and simply "meh" that made me skip paragraphs.

Like Water For Chocolate is overall a good read. I could see myself rereading this again, not soon though, maybe in a year or two. I would recommend to anybody who loves magical realism, short stories, and food (especially food). I would recommend though checking the trigger warnings first before starting.

Content Warnings

sofipitch's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was really enchanting. I'm obsessed with the format, people joke about how online recipes will have long life stories no one wants to read but Sra Esquirel actually did an amazing book in that format. Also I would never have expected something from 89 to be so sex positive, it was extremely refreshing.

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francestea's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

An old favourite (especially the first several chapters)! I would really love to edit out the outdated racial language and fatphobic remarks to make this book hold up long term.

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