Like Water for Chocolate

[litjunkie]

Has anyone read? I am reading it for my chatroom's bookclub, and I'm in the June chapter. I am really enjoying it, but I'm a little disconcerted with the women's relationships with one another. The novel seems to follow The Madwoman in the Attic's idea of women being pit against one another in literature, i.e. Cinderella vs. stepmother, Snow White vs. stepmother, Tita vs her mother. It also has the motif of men saving the day in that two different female figures of Tita's family are "saved" by men. While the first female figure might traditionally be looked down upon because of her choice of employment, she is portrayed positively because of liberation that she has achieved through being carried off with the "night and shining honor." What do you think of the roles as presented in this novel?

[amuse]

not sure how i missed this - haven't read it, but watched the movie twice for my spanish class, the second time alone in lab because i liked it so much. i liked how tita and gertie are friends, but her and her other sister - forget her name - what a ***** that girl was. and her mother, very very ugly relationship there. i think the male/female thing was kind of funny, but only because gertie was carried off naked by her lover. that aside, what the hell was pedro doing marrying her sister? where were his cajunas? good lord. maybe i should read the book...

[litjunkie]

Definitely read the book. While I didn't agree w/the way the author decided to depict the women's relationships with one another, power struggles, etc., I did find it to be a great read. I'm due to watch the film next week sometime, waiting on a lender from a friend.

[papayahed]

I read the book awhile back, I don't remeber having a problem with the roles of women perhaps I should read it again also. It is a great book.

[simon]

I liked the title and all the food in the novel, as for the relationship between the women and the specific roles they play, do you not think that women have stuggles over control and power in relationships with eachother as much as men? Or is it just that it was a poor depiction of the reality of the way women act with eachother?

[litjunkie]

do you not think that women have stuggles over control and power in relationships with eachother as much as men? Or is it just that it was a poor depiction of the reality of the way women act with eachother?

Women do have relationships that are conflicting as well as positive with one another. It was just disappointing to see this as a theme of another novel. It seems that authors have difficulty in portraying women as unitying in order to overcome the same obstacles rather than working against one another for the sake of power/relationships with men.

[Koa]

*never heard of this* :eek:

[simon]

Well litjunkie isn't that just the way it works out of fiction, there are all kinds of fronts agianst men, personal, united fronts, lesbian attacks, divorces, women running their own business, women who want total control, women who want freedom, women who want equality and just like men they aren't all the same and go about it in differnt ways. Some women think that women should all have jobs and not be stuck in the home, some women prefer the home but want the choice, and some women enjoy the security.

[litjunkie]

I agree Simon. It would be nice however to see those various images of women explored more. It seems like most literature explores a very narrow image of women. I'd like to see more of the diversity that you're agreeing that women possess.

[mzmarymack]

Women do have relationships that are conflicting as well as positive with one another. It was just disappointing to see this as a theme of another novel. It seems that authors have difficulty in portraying women as unitying in order to overcome the same obstacles rather than working against one another for the sake of power/relationships with men.

Hey. I read LWfC a couple of weeks ago for class. I don't particularly enjoy magical realism, and I don't believe in the true love bs either, but to play devil's advocate....

I don't think the book was about women fighting other women for love or a man. It was about a woman breaking away from tradition--tradition that pitted the mother against her own daughter--to be who she [Tita] wanted to be. There's an adage in the culture that goes something like “A person born to be a flower pot will not go beyond the porch.” Tita pretty much shatters her pot and runs into the wild. Woohoo lol

What do you guys think?

[Wilde woman]

My employer recommended this book to me and I read it last year. I really enjoyed it...I liked this particular strain of magical realism. I agree with you that women are pitted against each other in the book, but I'm not sure I agree with your analysis that the women are "saved" by men. I think the book is tragic, not only in its ending, but in the fact that the women have no way out except through men.