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Summary: Another piece of genius from Diva.
Review: I could not put this down and that is difficult with a toddler around the house. This book starts and with a punch!The story is well-written with prose that brings to life the Indian culture. I look forward to reading more of her books and hope that she starts churning more out soon. The time was well spent on this and I made sure to savor each "spice" and its effects.
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Summary: A Spice-lovers Mythical Feast
Review: What a joy to read this book. Tilo, the "Mistress of Spices", comes to America - Oakland, California - where she opens her own spice shop after completing an arduous apprenticeship on a remote, mysterious island. But Tilo is no ordinary woman. She's headstrong, rebellious AND a natural born mystic with incredible psychic powers. Ms. Divakaruni creates a world of sheer poetic magic where everything is bursting with life and nothing is as it seems. Even the spices are alive, their tiny voices both soothing and dominating Tilo. They demand her absolute loyalty which naturally drives Tilo crazy. Can you imagine having to explain yourself to a sack of sesame seeds? Then when a hansome stranger shows up Tilo has to choose: the seeds or the guy? I don't know. Those seeds look pretty tasty. I loved it. The story's warm, funny, and at times, heartbreaking.
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Summary: An Interesting Book for the Classroom...
Review: I taught this book as part of a Women's Studies course, and found that my students really enjoyed it because it was so different from anything else they had ever read. C.B. Divakaruni tends to be a favorite author with students anyway, because of her well-painted characters, imaginative details, and interesting plot development. This book is also very mystical in nature, and contains an unusual mix of ordinary daily activity, with prominent elements of folklore and magic. A wonderful book for anyone craving a taste of the unusual.
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Summary: A wonderful blend of folklore and fiction...
Review: A highly evocative piece of prose, "The Mistress of Spices" was the first book I've read of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and I'm going to find more. The blend of spice-centric folklore, deep emotional sacrifice, and the clashing worlds of things city and things cultural create a sense of counterpoint in this novel. You follow the Mistress herself, a woman to whom the spices sing, and in whose hands their tastes and uses are magickal. This is a woman who shed her youth to an immortal aged form to aid the world around her. As the Mistress grows more and more involved in the lives of those around her, she might just risk everything, including not only her immortality but maybe her life as well, on the chance of love, passion, and the urge to care and help those around her. It is often said, 'with great power comes great responsibility' and this cultural exploration of that notion is just phenomenal. If you like the works of Alice Hoffman (of "Practical Magic" fame), or "Like Water for Chocolate," for example, I would reccommend this book highly.
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Summary: Definitely writeen in a Spicy way!
Review: The Mistress of Spices is definitely an interesting read. It's written in a poetic unusual way out of the ordinary from most novels. The author uses past tense, present tense and written also in thought form where you hear the character's thoughts only part of the time. This book involves creating a different approach to reading as it takes twists and turns and you have to follow it carefully. The characters are plain and simple and easy to relate to. A story about dedicating yourself to one thing, one purpose despite all temptations. Gives a good insight of an Indian person's thought process.
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Summary: I can taste the love and mystery in this prose!
Review: This is an absolutely engaging modern day fairy tale with a funny twist in the end, I was captivated by every spice, by every story, by every interaction that Tilo (our spice "Mistress") had. The book begins in a far-away eastern country (India?) in a far-away time and finds us with the protagonist - a wild woman of the ages, a seer in her own culture who runs away with pirates and then bored, finds (with the help of sea serpents) a hidden island on which young women with extra-sensory powers are 'trained' by the Old Mother in the ways of the spices. They become Mistresses of Spices and are flung far and wide to practice their arts. Our Mistress find herself in a dingy spice shop in east LA, and transformed into the body of a wrinkled old woman. And there and then her adventure really begins. As she encounters the various people (and families) who come to her for help (unbeknownst to them) she begins to push the limits of her 'permitted' boundaries (both physical and emotional) and then a man enters her life and she is confronted with a life-changing decision. This was a wonderful tale and the illusions of the powers of spices, the power of Tilo, and finally, the ubiquitous power...of love. What fun!
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Summary: Nothing But Potential
Review: I was highly disappointed by MOS. This book lured me with promises of secrets revealed and magical connections born out of the immigrant's experience in Oakland,CA. However, what I found was little more than a confused story, with far too much flowery prose, a lost plot, too many characters, and an unconvincing,frequently annoying main character. While the potential of using spices to invoke the senses was enticing, this book fell short in an environment of hokey mysticism and cliche wisdom. We are never given a true history of the characters. Instead of a well-rounded few, we are given a bunch who remain snippets with nothing to create a sense of concern when crisis hits. The love affair between main characters is tired and convienent; why couldn't the author convince us that Raven could have fallen in love with an old woman, instead of depending on the young woman within Tilo to justify this attraction? The colorful world of spices and the vibrant streets of Oakland could have come alive in a real way, but instead they are lost with trite and unrealistic interactions that makes this book seem like the written version of a show about a multicultural magic shop on public television. It is sad that so much was lost, but perhaps Divakaruni did not make the leap to a novel and instead was still writing with a short story perspective, where the characters are less developed and the prose is more blantanly poetic. I wished there was more of the subtle in this novel, and I can't remember the last time someone I knew spoke their everyday dialogue in metaphors.
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Although I think I prefered 'Sister of my Heart', both are a wonderful peek in Indian life and culture. I have long had a passion for Indian authors, so any Indian book I read reminds me of freshly baked Naan and Salman Rushdie. I adore both, and generally love Indian Literature, especially the most exotic varieties. In that sense, 'Mistress of Spices' does not disappoint. I found a interest in spices slowly seeping into my body, and although the spice powers presented in this book are fictious, I have began to incorporate more into my cooking. At it's best, this book was an exotic, simple and swift read, full of love and and spices, and it worst it was a tad contrived. I think that 'Mistress of Spices' is well worth the time and effort, and I look forward to reading 'Arranged Marriages'.
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Summary: Mistress of Confusion
Review: This book jumped out at me after doing some searching. I really went for the fantasy-fairy tale summary, but after finishing it, the book falls short of its potential. Each of the chapters is named after a different spice and reveals the powers of the spice. This seems to be patterned after Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate, with the difference being that the spice is not always central to the events of the chapter. This is a bit disappointing because less is learned about the magical spices than one might think. The plot itself leaves quite a bit to be desired as well. It immediately throws out numerous characters and it is difficult to tell which are important until the end of the book. With the exception of the two main characters, nothing about the book is a fairy tale: it is set around the hardships of life in the United States. This includes spouse abuse, drugs, gangs, interacial dating, etc. While this is not necessarily bad, the book tries to maintain the reality under the guise of a pretense of magical realism that falls very short. A different approach to the story could have better captured the issues and the fantasy without too much confusion. The writing style is also problematic. The first few chapters are extremely confusing and unclear, and pieces of it are never explained. It hints that the Mistress was captured by pirates but never touches on that aspect of the story--almost trying to remove the fantasy instead of encouraging it. Finally, the grammar is attrocious in places where it is not used as dialect. The run-on sentences and lack of commas generally run aspects of the story together, reducing their importance, and making the reader review the paragraph at least another time to fully grasp its meaning. This is the kind of book that would not be an easy sell to friends but does turn into a beautiful, pure love that only appears in stories.
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Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: I'm in the process of reading this book and am very impressed. Divakaruni uses simple but highly effective language without inflicting it on the reader. The story is lyrical and extremely well scoped. I can't wait to get to the end. I think though that women will enjoy this book more than men for the following reasons ~ Firstly the main character is female which is not very common among south asian writers. ~ Secondly, this is essentially a love-story - whether it is love for one's community, friends or that special someone. Good gift for a wife or female significant other!
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