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BOOK REVIEW

"Like Water for Chocolate", is a creative story intermixed with romance, sex, war and
homemade recipes. When Tita De la Garza' s hopes of marrying her one true love, Pedro,
are crushed by her obligation to take care of her mother, Mama Elena, for the rest of her
life, her heartfelt emotions have been transmitted through the delicious meals she cooks
for her family and friends. Everyone who eats her meals experiences the same love, anger
or sorrow that Tita felt while cooking her meals. Tita' s forbidden love with Pedro
begins the many challenges the De la Garza family faces. Each separate character
struggles to overcome the challenges and betrayals of marriage, the bindings of
tradition, and the search for one' s inner self. Each month presents a new, unpredictable
story accompanied by a De la Garza family recipe for dinner, love, and common ailments
such as burns and bad breath. Through each separate story and character, Laura Esquivel,
the author of the novel, effectively conveys the importance of following one' s heart in
order to achieve happiness. Tita follows her mother' s wishes instead and remains
despondent for the greater part of her life. Each character' s personal struggle
exemplifies the innermost defects and weaknesses felt in all of us. The conquering of
these struggles to reach our desires often comes from breaking traditions, breaking
bonds, and breaking hearts. Esquivel uses clever fictional elements to exaggerate the
feelings of each character, such as when Gertrudis, Tita' s sister, rides off naked with
a revolutionary soldier and doesn' t return for years. Her exaggerations allow the reader
to experience the personal feelings of each character, observing their challenges and
predicting their decisions. Esquivel' s novel is simple and entertaining to read.
Although it' s a romance story filled with unrealistic events, predicting the outcome of
Tita and Pedro' s struggle for their love allows the reader to become involved in each
character' s life. The fictional elements, however, exaggerate the innermost feelings
that each character experiences. The reader can actually feel the resentment and hatred
that Tita has for Mama Elena and the torture Pedro endures while trying to stay close to
Tita. The fact that Tita' s guests experience her feelings through their food, adds a
creative element to the novel. Although it' s highly improbable, Tita' s feelings become
magnified since they' re felt by numerous people rather than a single person. At first
the De la Garza' s recipes and preparations seem out of place, but the further one reads
into the book, it becomes apparent how important the recipes are and the creative touch
they add. All feelings and events in the story are related to food. When Tita feels
lonely, she relates her situation to the last pepper will remain untouched because no one
wants to feel selfish, taking it for themselves. "Like Water for Chocolate", stresses the
importance of following your heart and discovering your inner self. Esquivel wrote about
the importance of choosing your own paths, even if they aren' t necessarily the best
ones. It' s unavoidable to discover the right choices in life without making wrong ones
first. The surprising final chapter of Esquivel' s novel brings a sense of conclusion to
the problems that the characters deal with throughout the entire book. The closing
chapter explicates the realization that in order to achieve happiness, traditions and
hearts sometimes have to be broken. As a bystander to the character' s lives, it' s
obvious which choices they should make to find the utmost happiness and resolution. But
it was the anticipation of discovering which choices they would make for themselves that
make the novel intriguing