About this title: Peppered with recipes, remedies and folky digressions, this novel is a treat. The heroine of this fantastical love story, Tita, the youngest of three Mexican daughters, is expected to devote her life to her widowed mother. When her lover, Pedro, asks her to marry him, her mother denies her permission and offers Rosaura, her sister, instead. Pedro accepts in hopes of living close to Tita, but she is unaware of his intentions. When her tears get baked into the cake, and everyone has a slice, they are moved--emotionally, erotically, and physically.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780385420174ISBN:038542017X
Description: Good. First printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Moderate cover wear with scuffing to edges and creasing. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Edition: 26th printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday, NY
Date Published: October, 1992
Description: Fine/Fine pictorial DJ. Cloth backing; 246pgs. Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies; Translated from the Spanish by Carol & Thomas Christensen. read more
"I'm sorry to say that I found this book just plain odd! It got off to a good start. I loved the way each chapter started with a recipe.
Tita is in love with Pedro but as she is the youngest daughter she is not alowed to marry. She must look after her mother until her dying day. Pedro marries Tita's sister, Rosaura, to stay closer to her. I was fine with all this. I was fine with the elements of fantasy, to start with, but when Gertrudis is so hot that she sets the shower on fire and runs through the field naked just to be swept away by some random man Esquivel had lost me!
Don't even get me started on the ending! I've read a couple of latin-american style books and we don't gel. I think I will be avoiding them in the future. I'm all for a Romeo & Juliet storyline but it needs to remain reasonably plausible for me to appreciate it."
"what a fantastic book! It is filled with images of life in Mexico with forelore, superstitions and recipes. It is a romantic, magical story with a heroine who never lets go of hope to be with her beloved--the husband of her sister. It is a page-turner of a book that you can get lost in again and again."
"I'm starting to feel a little hyperbolic - is it wrong to rate everything you put in here as 5 stars?? But - I personally, love this book. I've never seen the movie - I heard it was alright, but not great.
The book - I just love it. But maybe that is because I tend to love the whole Latin-American magical realism genre. The way the veil between living and dead is non-existent, the universally accepted emotional and supernatural cause and effect, the subconscious made into real daily life.
And the recipes, the deep importance and symbolism of food in daily life - that alone is enough reason to love this book. Maybe there are better books that flow more, are deeper. . I dunno. I reread this one every time I go to CA, and I'm just very fond of it. The pervasive idea that repressed and frustrated desire will always eventually be fulfilled, but may bring down the entire world when it is. . yep, read this one.
You'll look at your dinner differently after you do."
"I'd say I enjoyed this. At first I thought the translation was dodgy - after all, how can you match up English, the thief of the language world, to Spanish, the tongue of sensuality? I actually found myself wanting to punch Mama Elena at times, which shows a creation of a good character, I suppose. There were little surreal twists every so often, which I liked. The ending was weird, but satisfying. But I have to say my eyes skimmed over the recipe parts - reading about how to castrate a turkey is not my biggest wish, thank you very much.
Here is a (rather long) quote that I really liked from the book, that nobody will read, but nevertheless:
"Each of us is born with a box of matches inside of us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lit. "If that happens, the soul flees from the bost and goes to wander among the deepest shades, trying in vain to find food to nourish itself, unaware that only the body it left behind, cold and defenceless, is capable of providing that food.""
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