February 25, 2010: Page Turners 7 p.m.

Book: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Discussion:

Many of our regular members returned this month to discuss Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. The majority of the group liked the book, six readers gave it a thumbs up, four voted sideways, and one gave it a thumb down. The major complaint about the book was its fantastic nature. There are several elements of magical realism and mysticism in the novel, which may not be to everyone’s taste.

The translation was also remarked upon. One member has seen the movie four times, both in the original Spanish and the English version. She told us she had heard that the translation was not exact and that a bit of the story’s power may have been lost. Another Page Turner has read the book in Spanish and English and said the original version was much better.

In spite of this, more than one group member found that some of the book’s scenes were very humorous. One particular scene involved the sister Gertrudis getting very agitated after eating some of Tita’s cooking and trying to cool off in the shower, only to have the water evaporate from the heat and end up running around the farm naked.

In addition to Gertrudis, we discussed Tita’s sister, Rosaura, quite a bit, especially the bodily issues she suffered from after marrying Pedro. No one seemed to particularly care for her, perhaps because she married Tita’s boyfriend, though one Page Turner did mention that she did not have much of a choice considering how the girls’ mother Elena was.

At this point we began to discuss the mother in detail. Elena was a traditionalist, which was why she singled out one of her daughters, Tita, to care for her until she died. The other girls were allowed to marry in order from oldest to youngest. She often repeated the phrase hasta el muerto to Tita, reminding her that they would be together until she died. Several group members said that the remark resembled a kind of threat and probably made Tita wish her mother would pass on sooner than later. One Page Turner slyly mentioned that this threat could have put Elena in grave danger.

We also discussed the rivalry between Pedro and John Brown for Tita’s love. Although we knew Tita and Pedro were the star-crossed lovers of the novel, a few of us were rooting for Doctor John, even if we knew he probably would not get the girl. The wedding at the end, where Tita’s niece marries John’s son threw some of us off a bit. I personally was hoping the wedding in question would be Tita’s and John’s.

We soon strayed into talking about food and cooking. I told the group how I had heard that most of the recipes included in the book did not really work out when made, but that after reading the book I wished I had something fancy to eat, such as the quail with rose-petals described in the story. One Page Turner said that if she had to cook like Tita did her family would never eat!

From here the conversation segued into families in general. We talked about the roles families play in different cultures and in our own.

We ended the meeting by discussing the significance of the title of the novel. Apparently, chocolate has to reach a certain boiling point when made. If it does not get hot enough it does not turn out well, but if it gets too hot it boils over. We decided that the chocolate represents Tita and her emotions, and that her feelings often boiled over!

As usual, flyers for upcoming library programs and next month’s selection, in this case Edward P. Jones’ The Known World, were distributed at the close of the meeting.