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Chocolat (Film Tie-in)

By: Joanne Harris
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Black Swan
ISBN: 0552998931
ISBN-13: 9780552998932
Released: 28 Jan 2001
RRP: £6.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Chocolat is sweet, but the aftertaste soon fades - By: shi_enya, 06 Mar 2004
I will refrain from a plot summary as it is adequately described above & 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, & 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 & virtuallly no character development. Much of the story can be readily & accurately anticipated by anyone familiar with standard plot devices. The characters are too resolute & 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 generallly 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, & 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 & descriptions, but seems to lack in every other department. Thus I'd rate it 2/5.

A good book if you forget the hype - By: Christine L, 08 Nov 2002
Having been a bit reluctant to read Chocolat because of the incredible write-up its been given I forgot alll the hype & enjoyed it. It wasn't the easiest of books to read, but Ms Harris manages to paint a vivid image of the village & its people. From a personal point of view I would have liked to get more closely acquainted with Josephine & 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 & "the establishment", but at times I struggled to like her character as her attitude wasn't always very appealing. Several bits & pieces of Vianne's & 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 & I almost found Armande's fate more interesting than the struggle between Vianne & Reynaud.

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

Like Mary Poppins....on chocolate - By: , 24 Aug 2001
Strange that this was not set back further in time, but I suppose it's not meant to be taken for its gritty & 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 personallly enjoyed it, some of the descriptions were brilliant, & I was happy to be swept along with it alll. But it is not for everyones tastes.
Bitter-sweet - By: H. Callaghan, 05 Jun 2001
"Chocolat" is entirely enjoyable, & 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 - By: suegrogan@talk21.com, 15 May 2001
A fantastic book, just couldnt put it down. The characters were so easy to picture, & were totallly believable. The description enabled you to be right in the centre of the french village. I would totallly recommend this book to anyone & I am looking forward to reading Five Quarters of the Orange.