Chocolat (Film Tie-in)

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Joanne Harris

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Pages: 320 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0552998931

Pub: Black Swan

Pub date: 2001-01-28

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 148638

Editorial Review:

Vianne Rocher and her six-year-old daughter Anouk arrive in the small village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes--"a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bourdeaux"--during the carnival. Three days later, Vianne opens a luxuriant chocolate shop crammed with the most tempting of confections and offering a mouth-watering variety of hot chocolate drinks. It's Lent, the shop is opposite the church, it's open on Sundays and Francis Reynaud, the austere parish priest, is livid.
One by one the locals succumb to Vianne's concoctions. Harris weaves their secrets and troubles, their loves and desires, into this, her third novel, with the lightest touch. Sad, polite Guillame and his dying dog. Thieving, beaten-up Joséphine Muscat. Schoolchildren who declare it "hypercool" when Vianne says they can help eat the window display--a gingerbread house complete with witch. And Armande, still vigorous in her 80s, who can see Anouk's "imaginary" rabbit Pantoufle, and recognises Vianne for who she really is. However, certain villagers--including Armande's snobby daughter and Joséphine's violent husband--side with Reynaud. So when Vianne announces a Grand Festival of Chocolate commencing Easter Sunday, it's all-out war. War between church and chocolate, between good and evil, between love and dogma.

Reminiscent of Herman Hesse's short story Augustus, Chocolat is an utterly delicious novel, coated in the gentlest of magic, which proves--indisputably and without preaching--that soft centres are best. --Lisa Gee

Reader Reviews:

Chocolat is sweet, but the aftertaste soon fades (1/1 people found this helpful)

I will refrain from a plot summary as it is adequately described above and on the cover.

Chocolat is a decently written modern novel. The author excels at description - do not read this book on an empty stomach. I have seen most of the film, and for once think the film might be better than the book. The minor characters are to me, far more entertaining that the main characters.

My heaviest criticism is that the book has rather sterotypical characters and virtually no character development. Much of the story can be readily and accurately anticipated by anyone familiar with standard plot devices. The characters are too resolute and unbending, so much so that they seem like stiff cardboard cutouts instead of actual, changeable people. I simply don't believe the characterizations.

And I don't know how she managed to open a chocolate shop with such nice things in about 3 days, it would take an entire team of people!

The book is also generally hedonistic, the main character saying she believes in 'what makes you happy'. It pits hedonism against an extreme form of self-control. Let's face it, you need a mix of both, and this book fails to engage in any sort of real debate or examination of what makes a good society tick, leaving it feeling rather unsophisticated.

Chocolat is aimed at a general audience who just want a mildly entertaining fast read. I do not recommend it to anyone who wants anything different. It will make you smile in places, but it won't linger with you for any great amount of time. It does contain entertaining secondary characters and descriptions, but seems to lack in every other department. Thus I'd rate it 2/5.

A good book if you forget the hype (2/2 people found this helpful)

Having been a bit reluctant to read Chocolat because of the incredible write-up its been given I forgot all the hype and enjoyed it. It wasn't the easiest of books to read, but Ms Harris manages to paint a vivid image of the village and its people. From a personal point of view I would have liked to get more closely acquainted with Josephine and Roux, but I can understand why she would have chosen to leave those details out.

It's obvious that we're supposed to take Vianne's side against Reynaud and "the establishment", but at times I struggled to like her character as her attitude wasn't always very appealing. Several bits and pieces of Vianne's and Reynaud's pasts, that were used to explain the present, were not sufficiently detailed for me to give this book 5 stars, I sometimes found myself lost in a dream sequence. The plot in itself was also a bit thin in places and I almost found Armande's fate more interesting than the struggle between Vianne and Reynaud.

On a whole I think that this is a good book, but I don't really understand what all the fuss has been about.

Like Mary Poppins....on chocolate (1/1 people found this helpful)

Strange that this was not set back further in time, but I suppose it's not meant to be taken for its gritty and realistic portrayal of rural France. Instead it is a little fairytale which seems very familiar at times. Saccharine if you are a cynic, sweet if you are looking for a bit of escapism. I personally enjoyed it, some of the descriptions were brilliant, and I was happy to be swept along with it all. But it is not for everyones tastes.

Bitter-sweet (0/0 people found this helpful)

"Chocolat" is entirely enjoyable, and a little less saccharine than the film that was made of it. It is a light, entertaining read, admittedly not full of a great deal of substance (rather like its namesake) but nevertheless delightful.

A wonderful book to read on holiday.

A brilliant read which will totally absorb you (0/0 people found this helpful)

A fantastic book, just couldnt put it down. The characters were so easy to picture, and were totally believable. The description enabled you to be right in the centre of the french village. I would totally recommend this book to anyone and I am looking forward to reading Five Quarters of the Orange.

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