Best Book

I recently just finished reading one (of many) of my favorite books for the 15th million time, titled Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquirel. The organization of this fictional piece is one unlike any other. Each of the 12 chapters represents a month of the year, from January to December, and for each month there is a new recipe to be made; although there may be years in between each of these months. The story line follows Tita, the youngest girl of here family who is destined to serve her mother she dies, which prevents her from marrying the love of her life. We follow Tita month after month as she deals with the torture of serving her mother and suffers the heartbreak of watching her lost love, Pedro, marry her sister Rosaura. As Rosaura and Pedro marry and have children, Tita nearly loses her mind and her emotional sanity, but always find relief in the kitchen making authentic Mexican food for her family.

This book is a great one for anyone who is Hispanic or is simply interested in the culture. The author fuses together a heartfelt novel from one strong culture to another. This book inspires this ethnicity and the power of women, love and of course, food. Although I have never tried the recipes in the book, they all seem very do-able and would be great to try. I myself speak no Spanish, nor do I know much about my half Hispanic roots but this novel brought me so much closer to that. There is little to non bilingual writing which makes it an easy read for those others like me, but the images Esquirel shares with her readers is one that vividly portrays post modern war driven times in Mexico. I highly recommend this book!