Laura Esquivel Books

During our first book club meeting, we discovered that we had a lot to say about this novel. There are many wonderful themes to discuss and ponder. At different points in the novel we felt both compassion and disdain for Jubilo and Lucha. The ending is great and we had a feeling that life had come full circle for some of the characters. We're hoping for a sequel to find out about more about the lives of Jubilo's children!

Very few times in life do we get the opportunity to read what we are feeling, and what we truly think and can't express about the people we love.
In this book, Laura Esquivel does just that. She weaves the fabric of love, our most intimate thoughts, desire, passion, true friendship, anger, and betrayal, through the life of Jubilo Chi, a telegraphist... a normal everyday man ... a person like you or me ... maybe someone you know ... or knew.... maybe, maybe... someone like your dad... and she helps us realise that love is always... AS SWIFT AS DESIRE

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Muy pocas veces en la vida tenemos la oportunidad de leer en palabras de alguien mas lo que realmente sentimos, creemos y que no podemos expresar acerca de quienes amamos.
En este libro, Laura Esquivel hace justamente eso. Ella teje la tela del amor, los pensamientos mas intimos, el deseo, la pasion, la verdadera amistad, la ira, y la traicion a traves de la vida de Jubilo Chi, un telegrafista.... un hombre normal.... una persona como tu o como yo... o tal vez como alguien que conoces... o conociste.... tal vez, tal vez alguien como tu papa..... y comprueba una vez mas que el amor es TAN VELOZ COMO EL DESEO

Había tenido la oportunidad de leer Como Agua para Chocolate y me fascino. Ahora decidí leer esta novela pues me habia encantado la manera de escribir de Laura Esquivel. Sin duda esta historia es tan erotica como "Como Agua para Chocolate". Laura Esquivel sabe como manejar las palabras para hacerlas sensuales, tristes, cautivantes, interesantes sin dejar de ser aburrida la historia. Me encanto.

El libro es muy comprencible y corto por eso es que lo escogi para saber los problemas de los personajes y aveses esta trizte . por eso es que se los recomiendo es todo por ahora .

Jubilo Chi is a remarkable little boy who always smiles, who brings laughter and smiles to everyone around him. Learning to translate (and mediate) between his Mayan grandmother and his Spanish speaking mother, he becomes profoundly impressed with the power of words and the mystery of communication--and so, he decides to become a telegraph operator when he grows up.

Tan Veloz is the story of Jubilo and his life, and especially of his lifelong and sometimes stormy love affair with Lucha, his childhood sweetheart, later wife, later ex-wife. Seen largely through the eyes of his daughter Lluvia, it is a story of the intricacies and difficulties of communication, and of life. The story is not always happy, but the characters are always fascinating, characters you would love to meet. The book also has a great villain, don Pedro. A villain you will love to despise. What else could a reader ask for? I won't tell you the plot, but let's just say it will keep you turning pages.

A charming book by an author who obviously understands the human soul and the mysteries of love. I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

the first time I saw one of Laura's books we were in Phoenix
exhibiting my husbands sculpture show. The weather was hot the sun almost always lite the intense blue sky. Bruce first read the book and highly recommended it to me because of the similarities of ethnic origins.
To read Like Water for Chocolate is like taking a emotional course on life. Laura's story telling made it's way through my eyes and landed in my heart. Her descriptions of her emotions and the linking to food and it's preparation was superb. You will find that you prepare and enloy food in a way you never did before. If you want to be in someone else's shoes and heart for the length of this book then I highly recommend it. I savored every page of the last chapter, knowing that the end
was near, I could not bear to finish it. I have tried to explain my feeling through my sculpture, I can only hope that I can
achieve as well as Laura Esquirel does.
I always have one of her books on the go. Instead of reading from start to finish I now read a chapter here and there as an emothional treat. It's not where you end up, it's how you get there. thankyou Laura Esquirel for that.

This little book of fabulous stories and illustrations by Francisco Melendez make it unlike anything else I have seen by Esquivel. It was found in a bookshop in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. I would suggest you try to find a copy of this title if you can.

very well written & interesting - therefore difficult to put down at times.

"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. :)

"Like water for chocolate" is not a voluminous novel, but it is memorable. Laura Esquivel managed to connect the magical realism (in an easy form, I admit, but nevertheless very reminiscent of Marquez, Allende or Llosa) with the style of tasty books by Peter Mayle (Provencal series) or Lily Prior ("La Cucina" - a class worse than "Like water for chocolate").

The story of Tita, the youngest of the three daughters and therefore committed to the traditional Mexican fate of the spinster caring for her mother until the mother dies, is told in chapters, each of which starts with a recipe. Tita is fascinated by cooking and spends most of her time in the kitchen, and her culinary excellence causes Pedro to fall in love with her. The love is doomed, however, because of Tita's mother, who wants to execute her traditional right. The lives of all the sisters are depicted, their fates interchanging and seemingly improbable, but interwoven with Mexican history and elements of magic. This novel takes the reader and it is impossible to get out of its grip before it ends... And the exotic recipes, full of tasty ingredients and causing unexpected events - are, in addition, delicious.

I'd first read `Like Water for Chocolate' about 10 years ago and had found it simply amazing. Then again, it had been the my first contact with a book so unique ... the first novel to talk about the "magical" power of food, a combination which is now much more common thanks to writers and books like Joanne Harris' wonderful `Chocolat', Lily Prior's `La Cucina', Anthony Capella's `Food of Love', and Isabel Allende's `Aphrodite' and many others. In fact many of my favourite books fall into what has now become a genre in its own right.

`Like Water for Chocolate' may have lost some of it's uniqueness over the years but much of its magic and power is still there - even for a reader that's become much more jaded over the years. Well worth a read.

Like Water For Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel, is a delicious romantic fantasy that will leave you ravenous for both more of the story and for some traditional Mexican dishes as well. The author cleverly interweaves the recipes and the loving preparation used, that mark the holidays, the significant moments and the passing of time in the life of the De La Garza family, in particular the love of two star-crossed lovers Tita and Pedro.

Tita is the youngest of three sisters. It is the family tradition that the youngest daughter has the duty to care for her mother until she dies. Tita may never marry or strike out on her own until this day. In Tita's case, this presents double trouble. First, her mother, Mama Elena, is not the most pleasant person to care for. She is a tough task master, and will not stray from this tradition in the least. It also means that Tita may never be united with Pedro, the man she shares a deep and passionate love with.

You can almost taste and smell the delights coming from Tita's kitchen as we follow her through the years, and she becomes the all important head chef for the family. The recipes themselves seem to hold the secrets of life and love in this wonderful journey through Tita's life and dreams.

There is also a nice, abridged audio edition(ISBN 0-553-47255-0) available. If you are interested enter the ISBN in book search and see my review of that edition written on 12/9/04 for details.

The story is magical. It's a beautiful adult fairy tale....Enjoy...Laurie

Laura Esquirel presents a book of magic, love, and destiny from the land of Mexico in her acclaimed novel Como Agua para Chocolate, which is translated as Like Water for Chocolate. The novel is about the story of Tita who, as the youngest daughter of the tyrannical Mama Elena, is oppressed by a family tradition that forbids her to leave her mother as long as she lives. The man of Tita's dreams, Pedro, marries her sister Rosaura when the matriarchal Mama Elena refuses to give her blessing of matrimony between Tita and Pedro. Upon the marriage between Pedro and Rosaura begins a life-long feud filled with jealousy, deception, passion, and, ultimately, love. Like Water for Chocolate is narrated by Tita's grand-niece who interweaves the recipes of her great-aunt with her legendary story. This novel incorporated with humor, sorrow, magic, and true love, represents an originally eccentric fairytale story.
The story of Tita has the basic fairytale style in which an obstacle prevents her from following her dream. Her evil and oppressive mother forbids her to marry her love while her sister "steals" that very love from her. Mama Elena is depicted as an spiteful and dictatorial mother who has no compassion for her daughter Tita. Mama Elena imposes on Tita the family tradition that she must serve her mother until her death. Restricted by this unfortunate fate, Tita is not able to fulfill her ambitions. Even though Rosaura is not a formidable sister, she is caught in her mother's scheme to marry Tita's love, Pedro. Hence, Mama Elena and Rosaura's character serve to represent the impediment in Tita's life.
Each chapter of the novel begins with a recipe that relates or reflects the highlight of the particular chapter. Tita perceives her duty to cook for the family as a privilege she cherishes. Tita has no right in the household of Mama Elena; however, cooking serves as means of expressing her conflicting emotions. Tita's emotions, sorrow, anger or happiness, emerge out in her cooking. For instance, as Tita is preparing her sister and Pedro's wedding meal, she weeps absorbed by a heart ache and grief. When the guests start eating the meal she made, they all start to remember lamenting moments in their lives and begin to weep to ruin her sister's wedding. Tita's cooking has magical effect on those that consume her meal by causing them to experience the emotions she is enduring. While the recipes in each chapter depict the rich culture of Mexico, they by enlarge, serve to metaphorically represent Tita's state of mind.
Esquirel's use of magical realism in the novel contributes to the fairytale aspect of the story. The final scene of the novel represents the most eccentrically magical and romantic moment in the story. Tita and Pedro are finally together after her sister's death. As they are lying in bed in state of bliss, Pedro dies. Upon realization of his death, Tita she begins to eat a box of candles one by one. As she chews, she lies next to Pedro's dead body and thinks of all the fondest and brightest memories she had with him, which causes their bodies to set in flames. As their bodies burn in the flames, Tita and Pedro's soul join and lives on forever. This uniquely romantic ending interweaved with magical realism finalizes Esquirel fairytale.

her best book. it is so romantic! Makes you feel like you are in the story.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Laura Esquivel's "Like Water for Chocolate" is a dreamy, gauzy tale, a celebration of life that ends in ecstatic death. The prose is matter-of-fact and often instructive, as when Esquivel writes directions for cooking traditional dishes or making home remedies at a Mexican ranch over 100 years ago. This is interspersed with slang expressions that jar, seeming too contemporary for the setting.

At one level, the book seems almost a parody of itself and the reader could laugh out loud at the transposition of inexplicable, allegorical happenings and the prosaic description of cooking and ordinary days.

One another level, the reader is swept away by dream-like images, a "wishing makes it so" reality in which feeling, and thinking, can affect people and events. (Note: Coleridge's "willing suspension of disbelief" must be heavily applied!)

The lead character, Tita, is brought vividly to life; the reader knows her in full. The other characters are much more sketchily depicted, especially Tita's love, Pedro, who remains a cipher. Pedro is magnetically drawn to Tita by sexual desire; Esquivel doesn't give the reader any other basis for their relationship.

In the end, sex and death bind Tita and Pedro together in erotic euphoria. Romantic readers will relish this book. Others may find it strange and at times, even unintentionally funny.

A look at the inner workings of a Mexican family through recipes, magic and sex. A charming read. Highly recommended.

besides the excellent recipes wholly printed in the book version, here is my review of the movie, which is not as detailed nor able to be prolonged but is true to the book (unlike other movie versions of books in which some stuff is changed):

after you watch this movie, you will either want to eat, cook (preferably one of the mentioned recipes), make love or all three! i saw the version dubbed in spanish, and also read 3 selected chapters from the book, for spanish class. it's a work of art and genius, and it must be watched all the way through without stopping. the characters are excellently portrayed, and it combines love, feminism, drama, sensuality, lust, hope, passion, and humour, topped with cultural tradition and folklore. i don't know which one is better, the book or the movie. all of the 5 senses are provoked on a deep and perhaps even primal level, especially taste and smell, feverishly yearning for a sum greater than their overall parts (gestalt) - which brings up the sixth sense, intuition.

I bought this book for my goddaughter who is a senior in high school and taking Spanish 4. But I have a copy myself and it is the best story I have ever read. The story has influenced my life, which is unusual for a novel. It is heart-warming, romantic, and inspiring for a decent gourmet chef like me. You'll love this story.

Esta obra es preciosa... Tiene una historia tan tierna, y romantica a la vez, que te cautiva desde el primer momento que empiezas a leerlo. Es facil de leer, interesante, y entretenido. Se lo recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera disfrutar de una historia de amor, llena de sorpresas y pasion...

Imaginatively told, romantic and sensual - this is a Latin-style fairy tale for adults only. Tita, our heroine, has a life of work & misery, caused by her mother who is cruel beyond reason to her and has brainwashed her since birth into believing that the youngest daughter must remain a spinster and take care of her mother for ever. Fortunately Tita is blessed with magical cooking skills that allow her to attract lovers and cast many types of spells over the people that consume her dishes, amazing events occur all around her. Tita is not the only talented member of the family either, her sisters are notable personalities as well.

I recommend this as a light & funny escape from reality.

Debo confesar que durante los primeros capítulos tenía el prejuicio de que lo que leía era un libro malo, escazo de literatura, hasta que poco a poco capté el concepto: Esquivel de una forma muy sutil, logra a través de una técnica que se vale de un lenguaje muy coloquialmente popular, de una narrativa muy simple pero efectiva, de un estilo sin complicaciones, transmitir su mensaje de La Ley del Amor. En efecto sólo como Mexicano puede apreciársele en su nivel de comicidad, pero considero que el no serlo no descarta en lo absoluto el poder disfrutar el libro ampliamente ("graciosidad" incluida). El recurso de ilustraciones hermosas + música clásica y música popular resulta muy bien logrado, opinión personal.

Al final de cuentas, esta obra logró "convertirme" de mi prejuicio inicial, a mi opinión final: una creación literaria muy entretenida que *NO* es pretenciosa (lo cual es clave de su buen resultado) y que por tanto, bien se merece el crédito al que se hace acreedor> un buen libro que no pretende ser más que una lectura grata para su lector.

I did have tons of fun reading this book. As a Latin I do love a lot Cuquita's character because she represents many people I know. She has the pepper of the story.

The whole plot is treated in an amusign way so you will never, ever get bored.

Ninotchka Freer
San Jose, Costa Rica

Very Different way of looking at life after death. I love ALL of Laura Esquivel's works of art, but this was simply entertaining.

This book contains romance and much imagination. It uses the impossible and possible to build a story of love and charma.

...almost as much fun.

Whereas in Like water for chocolate emotions are passed on to others through food, in this book the medium is music. The book comes with a CD and through the story there are indications as to when to play each track. Although this implied having to be in proximity of a CD player while reading, it was a lot of fun and the music selection is quite interesting as well.

If you have to choose between this book and Like water for chocolate, go with the latter. But this is still a nice story told in Esquivel's wonderful style.

I totally enjoyed this book, though I had to read it twice to really let it all sink in. At first you might think "How straight!". But that is EXACTLY WHAT IT IS NOT. It is a fantastic analysis of human nature through the medium of cooking. Each article is full of wit and humour and depth ( ... and horror at times). Laura Esquivel is my favourite author and she has not let me down on this collection of "theories". IT AINT BORING!!!

For those of you who expect something along the same lines as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "The Law of Love," you will be disappointed. "Between Two Fires" is basically a collection of thoughts, or short essays, taken from articles published in "Vogue de Mexico;" prologues to books such as "The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking," by Rick Curry; or speeches made at book fairs and psychoanalyst workshops.

"Between Two Fires" does not carry the heady aroma and full body of Esquivel's previous books. One feels as though someone forgot to keep stoking the fire and the meal, so to speak, has well ... gone cold in places.

If however, you want a quick, short read to pass the time on the bus, train, underground, in the doctor's waiting room or waiting for the kettle to boil whilst in the full knowledge that you can finish a chapter by the time you get to your destination, are called for your appointment or need to make tea for the neighbours, then this is an ideal book to carry along with you. It is basically an anthology of memories, thoughts, ideas, short stories, interwoven with the ever present taste and aroma of the kitchen.