Like Water for Chocolate

By: Laura Esquivel / Narrated By: Yareli Arizmendi

Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins

Steamy, satisfying, simply scrumptious. Oh, and fabulous narration!

I was three minutes out from the end of Like Water for Chocolate when my sister pointed out that, What the hey? I got the Abridged version?!?

I was shocked, horrified. I'd blasphemed before God! Because we all know that the road to Hell is paved with sorry abridged versions of great books. What on earth was I thinking to buy one?

Well, it turns out, after I reread reviews over on Audible, EVERYone said to buy the abridged version of this audiobook as this one was narrated by a Latina. Kate Reading, who I like as narrator of B. Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, reads the unabridged version, and I simply canNOT imagine her rather schoolmarm-ish tones reading something as steamy as Like Water for Chocolate!

The story takes place on the De La Garza ranch during the Mexican Revolution, and it reads like a good ol' telenovela. The lovely Tita and the frustrated Pedro are star-crossed lovers. Tita cannot marry him as her mother says she must never marry, must live only to take care of her, Mama Elena, until death. Pedro, hopelessly, helplessly, desperately in love, marries the offered older sister Rosaura just so that he might live near Tita, see her every day.

This just leads to more frustration as Mama Elena watches Tita like a hawk. Their love goes unsatisfied.

Until, however, the day Tita, a remarkable cook, prepares a meal which she poured her heart and soul, and lust, into.

AHA! The results are astounding. EVERYone is moved by the dish, and when Tita and Pedro's eyes meet, they know: They've just experienced the steamy pleasures of a bed together, have known each other intimately, all through the magic of Tita's cooking.

I couldn't quite remember what the movie was like, but my sister knowingly said that it was about sex and nudity and food. I responded that it was TOTALLY true to the book then! Tita and Pedro and her sisters and the women that work with the family all feel the stirrings of desires deeply hidden, and through some wonderful writing, we the listeners experience steam. And sizzling heat. And fire. And sex. One reviewer said the book centers on food, but don't believe it. Yeh yeh yeh: The book is filled with recipes, kinda sorta, the ingredients and steps involved, and it's filled with sooo much food that you'll hear your stomach growl over the swirling music that sometimes accompanies the narration, but nope.

It's about sex.

That's not a baaaaad thing. But seriously. Tita's cooking sets the loins of her sister Gertrudes to smoldering, a fire that only being swept up naked by a soldier on horseback, and then going on to work in a brothel, can dampen. Oh, and it's about showering. THAT turns up the heat also. So, really, if you're offended by the sensual, for the love of gosh, go on to another book; this one is not for you.

The writing is rich, and it's lush, and Laura Esquivel obviously chose each and every word with care, letting us into a world where we can feel the chill of Mama Elena's heart, we can smell the droppings of a little dead pigeon, we can taste the apple vinegar in that sausage that's being put together.

And no Kate Reading! Yareli Arizmendi narrates this, and she lingers over the sultry words and actions, and she flies through the clip clip clipped tones as Mama Elena beats Tita with a wooden spoon. When sister Rosaura seethes her impotent anger, Arizmendi comes through with sizzled hissing, and when Gertrudes offers Tita sisterly advice, it's like warm and yeasty bread rising softly in a bowl. Arizmendi conjures all of that up. Truly a delight to listen to!

So here I am, with an audiobook that is 1 1/2 hours shorter than the unabridged version. I dooo wonder: What the heck else was in that hour and a half? Surely more heat, more nudity, more food and recipes? Maybe more mystical and magical?

I dunno. All I know is that with Arizmendi I feel like I dodged a bullet and dashed to a goldmine.

And you, Kate Reading? Well, when I have 45 hours to kill, I'll hear you being young Shallan in The Way of Kings,

Until then, I guess I'll just take a cool shower and eat something...