Rating: 
Summary: Overall, very imaginative and captivating.
Review: What this book basically comes down to is SYMBOLISM! The recipes are NOT just thrown in- they represent life itself and the steps we must go through; however, life must be more than just "going through the motions"- to truely make these recipes invigorating to the tongue, Tita poured her soul in as well. Likewise, we need to jump into life and infuse our souls, or we are simply existing and not LIVING. It's a message shouted out clearly in this heartfelt tale; there is nothing worse than not being able to love whoever you want. It's an easy read and thoroughly entertaining. Go read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, horrible, horrible, doesn't even provide much heat
Review: Summary in exactly than 50 words: A trashy romance novel with gratuitous and badly integrated recipes. Fantastical elements thrown in for the hell of it. Terrible in Spanish, horrible and cliched in English. Esta novela es para el "circular file." Only read it if your Spanish and or English professor forces you to. Save your money
Rating: 
Summary: the most romantic novel ever written on this planet
Review: simply the best. i first saw the movie before the novel, and definitely the novel was far better than its film equivalent. there were many parts that were changed (but not to the point of changing the essence of the story). it was a very original idea to combine a cookbok and a novel into one and not too many writers would be able to write like esquivel. here in the philippines, the book was required in most schools to be reviewed and submitted as a book report. even in the ateneo, the best jesuit school in the country has also required its students to read it in their high school sophomore year. if i get trapped in the middle of the ocean and spend the rest of my life in an isolated island, i would regret not bringing this book with me. and that's not an exaggeration. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Irritated Listener(Audio Book)
Review: Enjoyed the story, (should have given it a five rating.)However, I found it VERY irritating to have to listen to a reading of many, many recipes. Recipes should have been referenced to the back of the book for those readers who were interested.
Rating:
Summary: creative,different, exciting
Review: I loved this book because the fantasy distracted the reader from the harshness and the realityof the story. It was a beautiful and poignant love story that spoke of a time and place that I will never know.
Rating:
Summary: This is supposed to be a good book?
Review: This book reads as though written by someone with a fifth grade education, at best. I found that the writing did not flow, made no sense at all, and placed all of the emphasis in the wrong places. Where there should have been ANY character development, there were uninteresting, tedious descriptions about food. The placement of "magical" events did not even fit in with the story. In all, this book was a waste of time and paper and if anything, it deserves 1 star because someone would have to try REALLY hard to make something that BAD!!!
Rating:
Summary: Tedious and Redundant!
Review: Let me sum it up for you: the novel is terrible. It is not a well-written novel by any means. The recipes are superfluous. There are recipes in the beginning of each chapter, and although I believe this could have been pulled off, the author does not do a good job of making anything interesting. Instead of melting the recipes into the story, the author forces them in - not only in the beginning of each chapter, but also in the middle of the story. The story itself is tedious beyond belief. After reading this book, I found myself not caring for any of the characters. The characters are downright vapid, imbecilic, nonsensical, and plain ANNOYING. Albeit it was plain that Tita was in love with Pedro, I absolutely could not see why. Pedro was nothing but a lustful man lacking any morals or virtue. He married Tita's sister (Rosaura) to be near to Tita, fathered children with Rosaura, raped Tita, and became extremely jealous to a violent extent when Tita became engaged to a decent young man. Do these characters lack utter sense? They seem unable to think for themselves. The author describes the rape as "love." This book does not give any mind to decency; instead, the author attempts to get away with everything just because Pedro and Tita "love" each other. Many impractical events also occur. Although I'm a great fan of fantasy, the events that occur have absolutely no meaning or relevance to the story. The events were quite plainly and simply dropped down without reason. I do not understand why this book has been praised so much. It's one of the worst novels I have ever read in my life.
Rating: 
Summary: A View on Family and Love, Provocative but Empty
Review: I had to put my two cents in. "Like Water For Chocolate" is an intersting take on a small town Mexican family. The mysterious happenings that occur to Tita (the main character) are the best parts, from her magic food and strange attachment to her sister-in-laws children. However, the book lacks feeling and surprise. The plot is predicatable, as are the characters. Another downfall is the deaths of the characters who need to be eliminated. This happens when it is needed most- an unrealistic convience. A book worth looking into if you're one for predictable Mexican soap-operas.
Rating:
Summary: nothing new, boring plot
Review: It's a pity such a horrible book has received such good critics. I think what happens on it is somewhat ludicrous. The psychology of the characters is completely unbelievable; they do things one could never have expected from them and yet you can guess the plot before having finished the first chapter. It's boring, it tells you too much about cooking and nothing interesting happens on it. Isabel Allende's novel, The house of the spirits, is in a way similar to this book, but it has nothing to do with it because hers is really great, the characters are well-made and the plot is fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: A Delicacy!
Review: Never before has food taken on such a powerful dimension . . . The novel transcends all known boundaries, it abounds in magic, madness and mayhem . . . a love story like none you have ever read before! Esquivel is a gifted artist!
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