Saturday, March 14, 2009

Even for Just a Day: A Book Review on Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate

Even for Just a Day:
A Book Review on Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate
By Erine Emmanuelle Cawaling Hetrosa
IV- Sir Isaac Newton
Saturday, March 14, 2009

“You don’t have to think about love; either you feel it or you don’t.”

Once again capturing the hearts of her readers, Laura Esquivel pens down this wonderful tale of a love lost even before one had gotten the chance to hold it. Esquivel, famous for her style of magical realism, whips up a story that combines the ordinary with supernatural happenings. Spiced up with mouth-watering recipes, Like Water for Chocolate is richly depicted in the 20th Century Mexico, with its stunning background, history, and traditions.

Translated in English and published by Doubleday in 1992, Like Water for Chocolate is a novel in monthly installments, each month presenting a new recipe and a new turn around in the life of Tita De La Garza. Tita, the youngest child of Mama Elena, according to the De La Garza family tradition, must not marry and take care of her mother as long as she lives. Due to this family tradition, Pedro Mazquiz, Tita’s true love, could not take her hand in marriage. Instead, with every intention of being near to Tita, Pedro marries Rosaura, Tita’s older sister.

The book opens with Tita’s entrance into this world and her unusual tears. Her tears had soaked up the whole kitchen as if she already knew that it was never her lot in life to marry the love of her life. Almost 16, Pedro wanted to have her hand in marriage. But Mama Elena, standing firm in keeping up with the family tradition, refuses and offers Rosaura instead. Pedro marries Rosaura, seeing it as the only way to be with Tita.

Tita suffers through all this silently as she was not allowed to disobey. But after months in the hands of cruel fate, she turned against her mother who banished her from the De La Garza household. We follow her journey in life as she organized her mother’s wake, got engaged to a doctor, and mourned Rosaura’s death.

Her excellence as a cook was eminent throughout the book. Her recipes exactly mirror her own feelings: heartaches, grief, love, happiness. These feelings are exactly what she felt at the time of the food’s preparation. Whoever eats the food feels the same way that Tita does, incorporating the magical side of magical realism into the story.

Not all love stories, even if they were true, manage to turn out right in the end and settle for the much-awaited happy ending. Tita and Pedro, very much in love as they are, could never be together. Constantly and consistently hindered by her family, most especially her mother, Tita could never express the love she has for Pedro. Throughout the book, we always assume for a happy ending. But no, Pedro and Tita were never meant to be together as Pedro dies the night they first made love.

Tita never had the love she had longed for all her life but if there was one thing that she accomplished in all her cruel years, it was the fact that she broke off an unfair family tradition, for the sake of all those who came after her, including the daughter of Esperanza, the narrator of the story.

The story ends tragically, with both Pedro and Tita consumed in a fire that Tita herself had created, wanting to be with Pedro in death than to be alive all alone.

The story centers on a love that was never meant to be. It is sad to think that no matter how much we love a person, no matter how much we want to be with them, no matter how much we try to turn it into a perfect love story, certain circumstances prevent us from doing so and that another hand, with a much stronger force, could null all the efforts you have been painstakingly shedding. There are things in our life that we could not control even if we try to get a grip of it.

Tita, appropriately described with all words fit for a martyr, stayed in love with Pedro against all odds. Even if obstacles come in her way, she preserved her love for Pedro. She stuck with what she felt in her heart, even if it hurt her, even if all it brought her were tears, even if she ended up with a broken heart. Her character was the one who appealed to the readers the most. She was the one with whom everyone can relate. Almost every one had a love that we never had, a love that we continually try to reach and a love that continually drift farther away from us. By putting ourselves in her place, we begin to understand that we might never have the love that we had dreamed about but we would never forget everything we had experienced from that love. And by that acceptance, there comes a hope that one day, by some twist of fate, we will have some chance with them, even if it means being just for two weeks, or a day, just like Pedro and Tita.

Another point pressed in this book is the tradition imposed by conventional families that are ridiculous and downright unfair. Being forever tied to taking care of your mother is like being forever imprisoned inside a tower with no way out. It is not wrong to take care of your mother, it is not a duty, it is something you do in which you find happiness. Despite this, it must not hinder your right to love, to find someone that would love you in return, and to be happy for the rest of your life.

In Tita’s case, she was the perfect example of standing up for what you believe is right. She countered that family tradition, knowing that she deserves her chance to be happy, making way for a fresh change in everyone’s life.

Tita also had a forgiving heart. She looked at her mother as if she were the only reason for her tears. But when her mother died, she found out that they shared the same cruel fate, they never had the love they had yearned for all their lives. After that, she felt a certain connection to her mother, a connection she never felt she had ever since she had been born.

Like Water for Chocolate, with all its symbolisms, is a page-turner. The title itself implies the passion ignited between Pedro and Tita, a flaming passion set to consume the coldness they feel when they apart.

Laura Esquivel is a genius with her first novel. She conveyed all her messages perfectly, sharing the protagonist’s feelings with her readers, giving them not just a glimpse of an oppressed daughter’s life, but the complete view of it.

The book is almost flawless in its narration, the setting and events rich in description and portrayal. Like Water for Chocolate will tickle your palate and charm its way to your heart. I’m giving this book 4 out 5 stars.

Let Laura Esquivel sweep you into a wonderful story of love that was never meant to be; but still looked for a way just to happen, even for just a day.

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