Esquivel: Como Agua Para Chocolate

This novel (and movie) was a real eye-opener into the realms of magical realism that is so common and famous in the Hispanic world. It puts a new light on the ideas of romance, lust, sadness, and depression. The story seems to involve the reader (much like The Continuity of Parks) because Tita's feelings often afflict the other characters, which in turn affects the reader's feelings.

The common theme of food and its important contribution to the plot is thoughtful and sensuously provoking. When Tita makes the quail in rose petal sauce, despite Mama Elena's disapproval of the gift from Pedro, the reader experiences the feelings Tita has because of the recipe for the dish. To me, the recipes were instructions of how one should feel during a certain occasion. The quail was the representation of the love Tita had for Pedro: the dish was so overwhelming to all who ate it that they also were filled with these burning desires. Even Tita's mother experienced the memories of love, somewhere inside her cold heart.

Sadness and depression consumed Tita for much of the novel. We felt this when she cried into the fondant for Rosaura's wedding cake and also when she lived with Doctor John and did not eat much. Esquivel introduces the idea of reading with your senses which in turn creates this magical realism that is hard to find anywhere else. It is the difference between eating store bought tomato sauce and noodles out of a box to homemade noodles made with fresh eggs and flour, real sauce with crushed tomatoes from the garden, and shaved parmesan reggiano. Not only does the latter taste much better, but the taste is left on your tongue long after you've already swallowed. Some might call it the difference between cheesecake made with tofu as opposed to cheesecake made with real sugar and butter.

Yes, the novel is dramatic in every way: every part of the story is comparable to a soap opera, but the difference is how it was told and how it is remembered. The fact that Gertrudis wanted to shower and caused a fire instead, ran away into the desert, and made love to a man while riding on the back of a horse is a very extreme way to express the lustfulness of a young girl. It was, however, most effective in getting the point across.

For the record, my boyfriend is a chef and HATES dramas, but loved the movie because of the way it tells the story of food.

Allende: Zorro

I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel, perhaps because it was of historical context or because the characters were real and genuinely heroic. Wagner, the artist, really captured the essence of putting characters in a heroic light, yet conveyed true feelings in a more casual illustration. He gave Diego and Bernardo their own unique facial expressions for each scene.

Allende gave the novel comical elements as well. "Mierda" and "Dios" especially were used often and the way Diega de la Vega acted like a "zorro" was excellent, by constantly using trickery against Sergeant Gonzales.

Although the scene of raping and killing Diego's mother proved difficult to swallow, the scene was necessary in order for Zorro to fully become the hero he was, for something so horrid would have to happen for him to want such revenge.

The novel was a definite success in my view and I thank Allende for giving us readers such a thrilling legend!

There were actually two images in the novel that I though to be most epic. The first was the traditional Spanish garb he had changed into in order to reenter his old home, accompanied by the large image of himself dressed in black garb behind it, almost life size. The other was the large portrait of him atop Tornado, rearing back on his hind legs in the full moon. The image is so overwhelming. One would never see that nowadays!