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.

THE TALE OF GENJI: A BOOK REVIEW

THE TALE OF GENJI: A BOOK REVIEW

Saturday, March 14, 2009
by Kamille Loise Asis Ramos
IV- Sir Isaac Newton

I. Introduction

At the turn of the millennium, a lady-in-waiting to the Japanese empress kept a journal in the form of a fairy tale and wrote about her romantic hero, Prince Genji, and life at the Heian court. It would later be proclaimed by many as the finest work of Japanese literature. Lady Murasaki Shikibu's colossal and episodic novel, "The Tale of Genji," is an implausible source for an opera. It is sometimes designated the world's first novel; perhaps it could be called the world's first bonk buster, dealing as it does with the irresistibly attractive Prince Genji and his many love affairs. The name 'Genji' is something of a smokescreen, though.

Murasaki Shikibu wrote the undisputed masterpiece of Japanese literature Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji). This monumental prose work, scattered with 795 short poems, takes place at the imperial court. Although much of the author's life remains a mystery, some facts can be gleaned from remarks by her contemporaries, her memoirs (c. 1010), and her poetry collection (1014?). The author's actual name is unknown. "Murasaki Shikibu" is a sobriquet made from "Murasaki," the name of the favorite wife of the eponymous hero of Genji, and "Shikibu," an office once held by her father Fujiwara Tametoki and her brother Nobunori. Although Murasaki Shikibu came from the powerful northern branch of the Fujiwara clan, her lineage had fallen to the level of provincial governor. As a writer she followed the path of her paternal relatives, many of whom were distinguished poets.

The novel earned Murasaki Shikibu notoriety even in the early 11th century, some six hundred years before the printing press made it available to the masses. Court society, which served as the subject of the novel, sought out chapters. Some thousand years later, Murasaki Shikibu and her novel continue to delight an enthusiastic audience. Stamps, scrolls, comic books, museums, shower gel, movies, parades, puppet plays, CD-ROMS: Murasaki Shikibu and her creation Genji have achieved National Treasure status in Japan and admiration all over the world.

II. Summary of the Content

This is a story of an imagined prince who had just about everything- brains, looks, charm, artistic talent and the love of well- born ladies. He was Genji, "the shining one", so dear to his father, the emperor, that the latter reduced his rank to that of a commoner, to spare him the malice at court. The Emperor knows that without influential maternal relatives, Genji's position as a crown prince (or a son picked to become future Emperor) would be tentative, especially after his own death. As dictated by his position, all his acts are watched by many and so he had to make a complete clandestine in doing his hobbies when it comes to courting ladies. He had connived with the other people he trusted inside the court for him to be saved from all his mistakes but it is the too much of him, continuing his vagary.

It incorporates the theme which unifies much of the actions done. But this appreciation is tempered by an understanding of the impermanence of all things, especially life. The theme of surface phenomenon as illusory repeats itself throughout Buddhist doctrine. It is the prevailing attitude that gives the novel a tone of underlying sorrow, which can be overcome through all he experiences, day by day plans, we ourselves create.

III. Analysis of the Text

The writer wrote the novel with all of her candor, though imaginary, she was able to vindicate the theme and the real intent of the novel. Written with all the applicable wit she possesses, the novel is with her best judgments that she included different characteristics of a man, all put into one morale.

IV. Evaluation of the Text

After reading the book, I can say that Murasaki, indeed, made a great novel. I felt whole heartedly those things she wanted the readers to understand and to take note. Those parts which made me overwhelmed created a cloud of answers to the questions which came entering first in my mind, even before reading the text. In the end of the twists, I can say that the book is one of a kind, and I recommend you to take time in reading this. It is really wonderful.

SCRATCH PAPER OR "THE NOTEBOOK"

SCRATCH PAPER

OR

"THE NOTEBOOK"
"Good morrow, what tidings hath thou brought?"
-JOHN LORENZ M. OBNIALA

"ADIUE..."
-BRAZEN HALL MOON

"NICHOLAS, YOU HAVE GAVE ME A SHOCK. IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR SPARK"

(IN COMPLIANCE OF THE SUBJECT ENGLISH IV)

I do not if you have a diary or you are just fond of writing, I notice that you (Nicholas Spark) are a great writer. I liked your book titled the “The Notebook.” I like reading stories within a story. The story is told on two levels - one is the present day when Allie and Noah have grown old and live in a home; the other is the story Noah reads from the notebook in which he tells how he and Allie met, fell in love, lost each other, and then found each other again. The end of their love story is tragically altered by Allie’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but even that has no power over their love.

Love conquers all. Although this idea is sometimes overworked, in this particular work, it is the most prevalent theme of all. Where will you find two lovers love each other even though they are apart? No matter how many setbacks Allie and Noah faced, their love always brought them together again.

“Noah is also left with the belief that miracles, no matter how inexplicable or unbelievable, are real and can occur without regard to the natural order of things.” Here Noah prepares us for the final miracle he will experience in his relationship with Allie. He wants to tell us that his love for Allie will not fade even though space and time came between them.

Follow your heart. Allie had spent fourteen years in fear of hurting her family and friends if she deviated from the standard way of living for her social class. It was only when she realized that she and Noah were meant to be together that she made the right decision and followed her heart.

You cannot live your life in fear of hurting others. Allie nearly learned this hard way when she almost gave in to her fear of hurting her family and friends by choosing Noah. Only with the reading of his final letter to her written twelve years before was she able to see that it was her life to live, and no one should be able to force her in a direction she didn’t want to go.

If you are wondering who the main characters in the story are, I will tell you now. As I read this book, I become more curious on to the story. Here are some of the lists of characters:

The narrator of the book and the main character, Noah Taylor Calhoun is a good and kind man who fell in love with Allie fourteen years before the novel opens. He has never forgotten her and is overwhelmed with how much he still loves her when she returns to tell him she is engaged.

A young woman who comes from a privileged family, Allison Nelson spends a wonderful summer with Noah when they are young, but is forced to leave when her parents disapprove. She meets Lon and becomes engaged to him, but something in her makes her return to Noah to be sure she is not making a mistake.

Lon Hamilton is Allie’s fiancé, who fights for her in the end, but is too late. He has allowed his career to disrupt any hope he may have had to win her for himself.

Morris Goldman is a Jewish man who hires Noah for eight years in his scrap yard and leaves him part of his assets as an inheritance, which then allows Noah to restore his house.

Gus is the black man who lives down the road from the house Noah has restored. He becomes Noah’s only family until Allie returns.

Anne Nelson is Allie’s mother and had so disapproved of her being with Noah that she had never delivered his letters to her daughter. She comes to warn them that Lon is on his way to confront them both, and she finally gives Allie the letters. When she leaves, she whispers to Allie that she should follow her heart.


KEY FACTS ABOUT “THE NOTEBOOK”

Author:

Nicholas Sparks

Date Published:

1996

Meaning of the Title:

It refers to the diary that Allie writes in about the events in her life, which ultimately tells the story Noah reads everyday to his wife to keep the memories of their love alive.

Setting:

New Bern, North Carolina, 1932, 1946, and the present day at Creekside Extended Care Facility

Protagonists:

Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson

Antagonists:

Allie’s parents who don’t think Noah is good enough for their daughter and Lon, who neglects the woman he loves by prioritizing his career ahead of her.

Mood:

The mood is at times troubling and even quite sad, but for the most part is continuously hopeful and uplifting.

Point of View:

The point of view is first person in the first and last chapters and third person in the remainder of the novel.

Tense:

The story is told in the past tense.


I am not fond of reading books that are too long that’s why I thought of an idea. I browsed through the internet and I found there the book I need. I only found a summary of that book and base on that summary I made my book review. If I will a chance to buy that book, I will buy 10 copies of and give it to my friends so that they could also read that.

A BOOK REVIEW ON MURASAKI SHIKIBU’S THE TALE OF GENJI

A BOOK REVIEW ON MURASAKI SHIKIBU’S THE TALE OF GENJI

Saturday, March 14, 2009
by Rachel Mae Joan Naluis Sansolis
IV- Sir Isaac Newton

I. Introduction

The Tale of Genji is a time- honored handiwork of Japanese literature accounted for to a Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the pinnacle of the Heian Period. This was translated by Arthur Waley in 1926.

Here, we can find the long and short of it embedded with a potboiler of a young man who dives into unsure plans and experiences different sacrificial trials. This is a tale of love, passion, and determination from the master storyteller. Genji wanders through the landscape of life, death, and love while maintaining a teflon-like dignity. The 2000 yen story does not have a true, unifying conflict; it is composed of mini-sagas that overlap each other and complicate each other the further the story progresses.

Murasaki Shikibu’s "The Tale of Genji," the world's first psychological novel, is one of the longest and most distinguished masterpieces of Japanese literature. Murasaki is considered one of the greatest writers of Japanese literature. Statues in her honor have been built throughout Japan. Her works are a staple part of the education curriculum in there. The note was issued in commemoration to her and her greatest epic work, The Tale of Genji. The exact dates of the life of Lady Murasaki are not known, including her name. Shikibu, a title, may refer to her father, who served in the Ministry of Ceremonial, or of Rites. The name Murasaki, literally "Violet," could refer to one of the heroines of The Tale of Genji or to the first element of her maiden name, Fujiwara, one of the greatest names in Japanese history. Murasaki was born into a lesser but distinguished and cultured branch of this family in the last quarter of the 10th century. Her father, Fujiwara Tamatoki, an official and poet, was at one time a provincial governor and his grandfather was a poet.

With her beautifully crafted works, Murasaki Shikibu has mapped out a literary pilgrimage. By encouraging freedom, soul, wisdom, faith, humility, hope , redemption, courage, love, obsession, and temptation, her writing transport us to the sacred place that the books create between readers and text. It is a journey that proves that great literature has the power to influence lives.

The tale spreads across four generations, splashed with poetry and romance and heightened awareness to the fleeting quality of life. Murasaki Shikibu's tale of love, sex, and politics explores a complex web of human and spiritual relationships. This focus on characters and their emotional experience, as compared to plot, makes the novel easily accessible to the modern reader. It explains, in part, why many scholars consider Genji to be the world's first great novel.

This novel has had a pervasive influence on later Japanese and world-wide art. It has inspired Noh Theater, waka poetry, scroll paintings, pop music and dances. It has had an especially profound influence on Japanese literature. Court fiction for hundreds of years after openly modeled itself after Genji. Present-day writers, including Kawabata Yasunari in his 1968 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, still cite The Tale of Genji as a great influence.

II. Summary of the Content

The tale of Genji is a story of the search of the final love. After Genji had reached physical and emotional maturity, he spent most of his time showing his affections by writing poems to women that had little interest in him. Most of the women knew that nothing would ever result in an affair with him and resisted as much as possible. Such behavior was scandalous for a person of his position, so he needed to carry out his affairs in complete secrecy. Genji went through great troubles to hide his illicit affairs and to please his peers at the court. Each affair he had is significantly different from all others. Genji cannot help but feel guilty after admitting this love, though, and maintains the relationship long after his feelings die down. In one of the last affairs, Genji is on the receiving side of lust. An elderly lady, who Genji calls an outrageous flirt, starts fawning on him and Genji has to think of creative ways to dodge the situation without losing face. Within his experiences, he can mainly establish the thought of a certain life lesson which was introduced to him through his non- concerted acts, “Life is about making mistakes." Perhaps, in every lady he went on having an affair with, he has taught himself to love over and over again.

This enthralling chestnut she made incorporates themes that readers will recognize and treasure such as of the script of affection, friendship, filial loyalty, family and the perceptions of love which is somehow coherent with the notion of Genji’s propensity to those ladies he attempted to seduce.

III. Analysis of Text

The Tale of Genji does not meet many of the classical requirements of an epic. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature defines epic as, "Long narrative poem in an elevated style that celebrates heroic achievement and treats themes of historical, national, religious or legendary significance." It goes on to report, "The main aspects of epic convention are the centrality of a hero—sometimes semi divine—of military, national, or religious importance; an extensive, perhaps even cosmic, geographical setting; heroic battle; extended and often exotic journeying; and the involvement of supernatural beings, such as gods, angels, or demons, in the action."

The Tale of Genji is written in prose, not verse. The hero and the setting are completely mortal, more realistic than cosmic. It is a time of peace and tranquility. It was prepared with the chastity of thoughts by the writer and it showed a lot of influential concepts.

Upon reading the book, it had made me realize things which are inevitable to life. Those which we cannot get rid of because we are just humans and we just follow the path treaded to us by God. In The Tale of Genji, there are apparent interactions of members to the opposite sex. While not the entirety of the book or the ultimate focus of Murasaki's writing, a strong theme of Genji is the notion of love, lust and all his predilections on to passionate his deeds toward his likes of women.

The writer’s passion is quite different from other’s thinking styles. Perhaps, others might be wondering why the book is written in a way that it could get to the deepest thought of including lust and complete obsession of how a man would do anything just to win the heart of the woman. It is a queer thing that from the mind of a woman is a cloud of a marvelous fiction, written to teach and to inspire. This has made the entire possible turnpikes to tell us that it is not a mistake to commit a mistake. It is but natural to have one and with the next time of encounter, it is the chance given to you, so you could work for the unpleased deed you showed before.

IV. Evaluation

Love is absolutely a thing. It is an amazing one which takes part in every person’s life. What it can do is unknown and unpredictable, yet people restrains what it makes us all feel. It seems to be a piece of bitter gourd which when you eat, at the end of your tongue, leaves a taste that you cannot easily get rid of. It will take time before you can forget the taste, just like love. It is when you are ready to leave your past and be open for the next relationships you are about to encounter. It is not always the end of everything at the very end of your relationships. Just like Genji, he made himself eager to accept his failures with his previous attempts and he urges to make the mot of what he can do to please the one whom she vows his love to. A wonderful thing it is, indeed, for love has its own reasons and it has all its ways.

I believe this book has taught many. All the life teaching passages are instrumented to add savor to the interest of the readers. I felt beatitude by the lessons this book has initiated to me- all of which is about the themes stated earlier. I knew that his quest intends to help individuals to be led into the right decisions and preparations in order to be cleared with their confused dealings.

Above all, I am stating that the book is as entertaining, interesting and memorable as it fanfares a story of uncommon instances that might happen probably to teenagers like us. It can really touch hearts and make them realize that love is a game, where when you lose; you have to encounter different sacrifices. It isn’t quite hard enough to put in mind. With all these, I bet this book is truly readable.