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Title: Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel ISBN: 0-385-72151-X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Sadly Cliched
Comment: I loved "Like Water for Chocolate" so I was sure I would love "Swift as Desire" just as much. Or almost just as much. And, the opening chapters were quite engrossing and enjoyable. After that, however, the book just seemed to fall apart, or to put it more correctly, it never came together.
"Swift as Desire" is Laura Esquivel's autobiographical tribute to her own father and perhaps this is a part of the problem with the book. Perhaps Esquivel just couldn't distance herself enough from her subject matter to manipulate it from "life" into "literature."
"Swift as Desire" is a romance based on Esquivel's father's work as a telegraph operator in Mexico. Apparently, being a telegraph operator was the perfect job for Jubilo since he was born with the gift of knowing just what others wanted to express. In other words, he could "read" the intention behind their words and, he knew which words to choose to best convey those intentions.
A character such as Jubilo does give Esquivel the opportunity to insert much comedy into her narrative. For me, one of the best examples comes when Jubilo acts as interpreter between his warring Mayan grandmother and Spanish-speaking mother. Jubilo was careful to soften what these ladies said to each other and the effect is often quite amusing.
When Jubilo discovers the telegraph, he knows he has come into his own. The way he saw it, only he would know what people wanted to say to each other so, therefore, he could revise what was being said for maximum impact...and maximum joy, of course. Jubilo, it should be noted, didn't have a malicious bone in his body.
Enter Lucha. Lucha is the proud and beautiful daughter of a wealthy Mexican family. Jubilo and Lucha fall deeply in love and soon marry and, even though Mexican women of that era did not, as a general rule, work outside their home, Lucha takes a job as secretary at the telegraph company where Jubilo works. Jubilo and Lucha find that this job rewards them in two ways. First, they can flirt with each other all day long and, at times, even engage in romantic intimacies, and second, the extra income helps Lucha to live with some of the luxuries she had become accustomed to in the home of her parents.
If all of this seems idyllic, it isn't. Don Pedro, Jubilo's and Lucha's boss is around to spoil things when he begins to desire Lucha for himself.
I have never been a fan of flashbacks, unless they are done extremely well and this is a book told in flashbacks. The narrator is Lluvia (and why should a man as apparently joyful as Jubilo give his daughter such a depressing name?), the daughter of Jubilo and Lucha. By the time Lluvia gets around to telling the story of her parents, Lucha is dead and Jubilo is suffering from both Parkinson's disease and blindness. To ease his sufferings, Lluvia brings him a telegraph, something she hopes will help him communicate with others.
The telegraph is one of the book's strong points as well as one of its weakest. When Jubilo is young, the telegraph is a metaphor for desire and the communication of desire, and, as such, it works well. However, in the later section of the book, Esquivel "explains" so much of what she is attempting to do that it really got tiresome. This is a sweet and rather frothy little tale and it needed a much lighter touch than Esquivel seems willing to give it.
The characters also suffer in this book. In "Like Water for Chocolate," I thought every female character was extremely well-developed and unique. In "Swift as Desire," however, only Jubilo and Lucha are developed and come off as real and believable. Don Pedro is the quintessential villainous caricature and Lluvia is so thinly developed she is almost ghostlike.
Esquivel obviously meant this book to be a tribute to a loving (and loved) father. I feel bad for her that it didn't come out better than it did, for it did have potential. Writing students are warned, time and time again, to be very wary of autobiographical material. Perhaps, it is a warning Esquivel should have taken more to heart.
"Swift as Desire" isn't a bad way to spend an evening, but it certainly doesn't measure up to "Like Water for Chocolate." In fact, it doesn't even come close.
Rating: 4
Summary: A romantic story
Comment: I picked this book up because I thoroughly enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate (and the movie) ~~ and while it doesn't compete with her famous novel, this book is a very sweet story.
A man has a gift to make everyone around him happy ~~ he is able to discern their discontent and find a way to make them feel better. Only one person who he cannot make happy and that is his wife. Lucha is a Mexican girl who has never known want or hunger. Jubilio tries everything in his power to make her happy and succeeded for many years till a tragedy drove them apart.
The story is told from their daughter's point of view ~~ how a man driven to please his woman loses his woman after all ~~ and the secret yearnings of all of our hearts. This is an exquistely-written novel on the heart and love between a man and a woman.
And this is also a reflection on a daughter's love for her father ~~ this is a must-read for every daddy's girl. Sometimes you don't realize how blessed you are till something happens. And sometimes it is too late. This is a poignant story and a reminder that life is ever-fleeting.
Even though it's not written in the same calibar as Like Water for Chocolate, it is still a lovely tome to add to your library or reading list. Sometimes one needs a small novel to remind us of the important things in life.
10-31-03
Rating: 5
Summary: Passion, Love and misunderstandings
Comment: No, this book is not like "Like Water for Chocolate", but then why would you expect it to be. This book was wonderful, I could not put it down. This book has it all.....a little mysticism, some humor, and love and passion. Read between the lines and you will not be disappointed. It tells about how Jubilo is born, how much his grandmother loves him, a little about the culture of Mayan and Spanish. Jubilo falls in love with Lucha, the daughter of a wealthy mexican family. Lucha loves Jubilo also. Their passion goes on for years.....from when Lucha is 13 till they marry. Lucha is feeling such passion for Jubilo that she decides to marry him so they can fullfil their desire. But married life isn't what she expected. They go through many trials and tribulations. Their passion never seems to die. Jubilo works as a telegraph operator......he changes the messages of his customers to help them communicate what they hope to. Lucha is upset that her life isn't fullfilled enough like when she was a little girl living with her parents and had everything she wanted. They have children and somewhere along the storyline......things aren't communicated and life is not as it seems. And the passion seems to die.......or does it??? The story goes back and forth from the present to the past.......telling how Jubilo's daughter is trying to help him to communicate again since he has Parkinson's and is blind. With the help of his friends and her daughter...they do this. What did I get out of this book? The fact that many times we marry young and don't realize what we are getting into. That many times we make assumptions of what the other spouse is thinking, when it isn't that way at all. That if we just accepted life as it were......would we all have the problems we do today? I read Like Water for Chocolate and this book is not like that.......but written in the same manner that Esquivel writes. She writes in a manner for you to think about what you are reading. And her characters are so funny, loving, and entertaining. I can't wait to read her next book.
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Title: The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel ISBN: 0609801279 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 08 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Like Water for Chocolate : A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel ISBN: 038542017X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title:Like Water for Chocolate ASIN: 6305428476 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 14 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $12.29 |
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Title: Between Two Fires : Intimate Writings on Life, Love, Food, and Flavor by Laura Esquivel ISBN: 0609608479 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 13 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende ISBN: 0553273914 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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