Chocolat: A Novel (A Vianne Rocher Novel)
Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris' New York Times bestselling novel Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate.
In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.
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Community Reviews
Chocolat is, on the surface, about tempatation but is more about need.[return][return]Vianne arrives in a french village, opening up her decadant Chocolatierie just as Lent is beginning, much to the annoyance of the local parish priest, who is attempting to preach about sacrifice and penance.[return][return]However Vianne has a knack of knowing what people need even if they dont necessarily want it - so ensuring that the grandmother is in the sho when her grandson (who she hasnt see in ages due to be estranged from the boy's mother) arrives to do drawing; playing a little matchmaking between to village elders; making an abusive husband mend his ways to ensure that his wife returns (with a little help from the priest). Meanwhile she is attempting to escape her past, something made more difficult by the arrival of the travellers on the edge of town...[return][return]The book has a "lost in time" or old world feel, so that I thought it had been set in the 1950s. However, the sequel "The lollipop shoes" is set very much in the present day (with many of the same characters), so placing it very much in a time and space. I think I preferred Chocolat in not having a specified timeframe, thereby adding to the mysticism..
