Comments

Oh cool, I have been waiting for someone to recommend this book to me so I can quit giving it sidelong glances in the bookstore and actually read it! Oakland Public Library, here I come!

Okay, now Joe and I have read the book. We already discussed our opinions with Evan, but here's a synopsis of my thoughts.

I did very much enjoy this book. I thought the story was fun, and I kept wanting to know what happened next. I'm interested to see the movie, now.

That being said, I did have a couple bones to pick. In the book, Vianne, the woman who opens the chocolate shop, tells most of the story and is clearly our hero. But the narrative is shared with Reynaud, the conservative priest. While he is a rather despicable character, his voice in the narrative does force the reader to sympathize with him, just a little — in my opinion, enough to make him not a villain, but rather an anti-hero. Thus, I was very disappointed when at the book's climax he vanished (literally and figuratively) from the story. It seemed careless and, dare I say, unsportsmanlike to get rid of such an important character as cavalierly as Harris did.

The other bone was that Vianne and Reynaud's voice, in their narrations, is nearly identical. What am I to think of that, when otherwise it's clear their characters are so different?

Never the less, it was a good read, and I thought that Harris did have a good subtext (albeit less than subtle): the occasional self-indulgence is far less damaging to the soul than unyielding self-discipline.