Like Water for Chocolate

Read Harder 2017: Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author.

Note: I grew up in Texas, and always considered Mexico to be Central America, so I'm going to go with that.

As a folk tale, I liked this story. This was, I think, my first brush with magical realism, which helped to make it work as a folk tale - such exaggerations in the story, with Tita being able to make people fall in love or be sick from sadness based on how she felt while she was cooking. It was interesting the way the recipes were woven into the story.

But as a romance, I felt Tita got the short end of the stick. I told Matt, “the main character was in love with this boy, but her mom wouldn't let her marry him (because Tita's job is to stay unmarried and take care of her mother until the day she dies), so he married her sister so he could be close to her anyway.” “That's sad,” he said. She spent the whole book pining over her sister's husband, Pedro, who wasn't even a very nice or good man, and who had some sketchy issues with consent. And then finally when there was a love interest worthy of Tita, she threw it all away so she could keep meeting Pedro in secret behind her sister's back!

Gertrudis was pretty awesome though. She does what she wants! She leads an army! She marries who she loves!