Like Water For Chocolate

 I'm writing this from my computer. I feel like this has been a plant that's been in the sun too long and I forgot to water it. It shouldn't have taken me so long to get through a book but life does get in the way sometimes. Happy spooky season! Since Halloween is right around the corner, I figured I'd read The Phantom of the Opera after I get done updating this book!

This book came to me by one of my Facebook groups when I asked for a few novels from around the world. Someone gave me this book to read. I'm not the brightest at pinpointing magical surrealism and sometimes I can't quite interpret it correctly so this gave me some much needed practice. It's not saturated with it but it's definitely there and alive as part of the story. Right off the bat, from the very first page, I knew I shouldn't take this book too literally. I did thoroughly annotate this book with I think four different highlighters. One for quotes I liked, one for Cultural references, one for new words, and one for relatable in this world. There's a lot of: Cultural references, and Relatable in this world, things I picked up on. 

I'm pagan. And I absolutely love to cook when I have the time for it. It's one of my lesser hobbies but I do genuinely enjoy it. One of my friends and one of my aunts are both kitchen witches, and amazing at cooking the most fantastic foods. They're more into it than I have the time for. I had them both in the back of my mind when I read this book. It came in monthly installments with a recipe or two for each month and it progressed as the novel went on. They sounded wonderfully delicious, and I snagged one I myself wanted to try out. I love books with little things like this in them. 

Before I get into the fun stuff, I want to address some of the serious themes presented in this book. Oppression, especially women oppression. How they're always the ones who have to cook and take care of everyone, and how everyone thinks marriage and babies are the ultimate goal of women. Now there is a second type of oppression coming from a tradition with Tita's family. Since Tita was the first born daughter, her family tradition stated she would be forever doomed to not marry, and instead, take care of her mother until death. Her mother was very strict about this by being harsh, and on occasion, beating Tita. Tita did almost everything in her power to free herself of this oppression through attitude and behavior.

This is where the book gets interesting. She was practically born and raised in the kitchen her whole life. Her emotions are tied to the kitchen. She uses food as a way to express herself, mixing and cooking, and taking her anger out on these emotions as an outlet. Now this is where it gets fun. No matter what the emotion, if she's feeling the intensity of the emotion in herself, the people who eat the food also experience this wave of emotion. Of longing, of hatred, or of heated love.

When one of these scenes were playing out, I actually had to stop reading for a second to ponder what was really happening. Was this person really running naked to this guy or is this symbolizing something more? Once I figured that out, it was easier to read the book. I also loved the magical aspect of it. These people were literally experiencing Tita's emotions in real time. When she figured out she couldn't have the love of her life, she was crying as she was mixing and some of her tears ended up in the food, making everyone wail over their own lost loves.

It's definitely a bit of a sad book. Sometimes the advice on how to...treat things isn't very accurate in the book. Like when somebody gets burned, the method is egg whites, and raw, grated potatos with some oil mixed in. Obviously, we don't put oil on burn wounds so it is slightly misleading in this area compared to what we know in today's world. That's only a minor thing but I think it's worth mentioning.

This also takes place during the Mexican Revolution. One of the characters was talking about her orders being to attack this place, and upon looking it up, it's a legit place where a blooded and awful battle well...took place during the revolution. It had scenes where the revolutionary army was getting a little closer to their farm until it was right on them. Two characters get attacked and during other dialogue scenes, they briefly talked of how difficult it was getting certain things because the trade wasn't safe, routes messed up, and gun fights almost around the corner. In fact, a side character died, and the baby still had to be nursed. The mother died due to her being an innocent casualty among the different groups. How food was scarce since the farm got hit. These were the areas I looked out for and highlighted. 

One of the fun little details I thought was kinda cool, in a few areas of the book, the farm starts getting haunted. Of course, it only comes at Tita because of the oppressive nature her mom had on her but it was still a nice detail to add. 

All in all not a bad book. I however, did hate the ending.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK, STOP HERE. CONTAINS SPOILERS.

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I hated the fact she chose Pedro over John. Young love is always very passionate, especially dealing with circumstances Tita had to deal with. I'm not saying their love wasn't real, but I'm saying I think John would have been the better choice for her, because he brought her a new beginning. He saw the worst in her and brought her back to life. Pedro I think, just had the lust. I think Pedro just kinda, represents Tita's oppression. I understand that's the point, and she yearned for him throughout the whole book. I do think they deserved to have a moment, but it shouldn't have overshadowed what John did for her. He was a kind man. Pedro was just... all over the place. It was more passion than love. I wished Tita saw that. Plus, Pedro already had a child- it just felt so selfish of him to only think of himself and not his family. It was a complicated and messy matter. John would have saved her all of the heartache.

Despite this disappointing ending. I still think it's a good book and one that'll stay on my shelf. And by read, I mean physically read. I did physically read this book.

The blog lives! Though a bit dry. It gets lots of water tonight!

Next episode, The Phantom of the Opera! (Or when I'm done with my current audiobook. It'll prolly be the audiobook.)

Happy Spooky Season!

10/26/2026 1834