Like Water For Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate was a very interesting book. There were a lot of characters too keep track of but they all had very unique personalities so it was easy to remember who was who.  I didn’t like Tita’s mother, Pedro, and Rosaura. I liked Tita, Gertrudis, Nacha, Chencha, and John.

The book was full of passion, love, and of course food. In everyday life I see all of these things in relationships. I love my friends and family like Tita loved her friends and family in the book. Even when her mom treats her bad she still loves her. Nacha and Chencha are her friends and she loves them. I see the passion people have for each other just like Tita and Pedro had in the book. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. This is so true in this book and in real life.

I liked in the story that Mama Elena was a very strong women. A lot of times women especially in Mexican stories aren’t very strong. Even though Mama Elena was a bad person she was a very strong willed lady. Tita and Nacha, however, were shown as kind of weak. This kind of goes back to the stereotyping that women in Mexico are weak. John, Tita’s fiancée, was from North America and he was seen as a weak, not very passionate or emotional man.  Even though Pedro was a jerk, Tita ended up with Pedro in the end instead of John. This is because the book was showing that Pedro was passionate like Tita, and John was not. I didn’t like this about the book.  I really wanted Tita to end up with John, but I do see why she ends up with Pedro instead.

Mama Elena in the story represented authority. During the time of the book the Mexican Revolution was going on. The story as a whole kind of represents what was happening in the revolution during this time. Mama Elena was in charge of the house (the old government) and Tita was rebelling (the revolutionaries). I thought this critique was very interesting.

I really enjoyed reading this book. To me it was a very quick read. I liked half of the characters and the cultural critique. I thought the ideas in the book were interesting. I would tell anyone and everyone to read this story. It ended up being one of my favorite books!

             

Reader Response: Zorro

                                                                 Zorro

            Zorro was a very enjoyable story.  It was interesting to read deeper into the meaning, and the story was very entertaining to me. There were a couple scenes that made me cringe a little, but other than that I really liked the story. I liked how the pictures really told the story.

            The story relates to me personally because I like to fight for justice.  Not in the way Zorro does of course. I don’t kill people and nothing that happened to him has happened to me. However, if something happens that I don’t think is right I will voice my opinion and fight it. Zorro fights evil just like police officers in the real world fight crime.  Zorro is like the modern day police man. This agrees with my view on the world because I know when bad people are out there, there will be heroes to save people.

            Zorro fights the many injustices in the world.  In our modern day world there are a lot of injustices and there are heroes willing to fight for them. This relates personally to me because I feel safe in the world. An injustice in the world that Zorro went through was he lost many people he loved. I’ve lost people I’ve loved too so I know how it feels. However, Zorro’s loved ones were murdered. My loved one got old or sick and died. So, I can relate to Zorro on some level.

            I liked the way graphic novel was designed. I wasn’t confused when reading it. Normally, I do get a little confused going from picture to picture especially when the pictures are a little out of order. When the pictures were a little out of order in this book I was able follow the story line just fine. The different gutters helped me understand the story too, because if the gutter was bigger I read it a little slower. If the gutter was thinner I read the action scenes faster. The gutter set the pace for each scene.

            The picture that influenced me the most was the rape scene.  It wasn’t graphic at all, but at the same time the message came across loud and clear. It showed how the mother tried to save her son the best she could. While the other mother saved Zorro in a different way, but once again the only way she could.

            I would recommend this book to anyone who likes comics or just regular novels. Anyone really could read this book. It was short and it was an easy read. The pictures and the comic feel made it even more enjoyable to read.