A Story of Love, Sex, and War that Belongs to Women

A quote on the back of the novel from the Boston Globe, "A story of love, sex, and war..that belongs to women" sums up this novel perfectly.

A Story of Love...
The most obvious form on love throughout the novel is Tita's instant and unnerving love of Pedro. It was an immediate, intense, uncontrollable love and I felt that my heart break along with Tita's when her mother quickly and flatly denied her of that love. It was very easy to relate to Tita's heartache and very difficult to understand how her mother could take away something so special and rare from her own daughter. Much like Tita, it was very difficult for me to understand this long standing tradition and her mother's unwillingness to break it. It is no wonder Tita grew to resent and eventually hate her own mother. I think I would do the same if I were in her position. A true love such as that between Tita and Pedro is unignorable and undeniable and to have try to hide it would be extremely painful.
I almost feel bad for Rosuara and the love she could have possibly grown to feel for Pedro. In this way alone, I feel like she was a slight victim, but in this way only. The fact that she knew of the love between Pedro and Tita and went ahead with marriage says a lot about Rosaura's character and seems to me that she's just plain selfish or so unindependent that she would do whatever her mother instructed her to do.
I also enjoyed thip in the novel. It seems that Tita learned so much more from Nacha, about life, love, family, and respect than she could have ever learned from Mama Eleana.

...Sex...
If only I could experience sex as its described in this novel! Bright lights and tunnels, scented of roses, fireworks and pent up passion, heart attacks and death! The sex scenes were few but intense, with one man seemingly getting all the action. I wonder if Pedro ever thought it strange to sleep with two sisters? I found it interesting the way the author described Pedro and Rosaura's mating sessions - strict and by the book, always using their wedding sheets (is that what they're called?) and never completely seeing each other naked. Whereas with Pedro and Tita there was color and fireworks, tunnels, candles, passion and lust. Is that because it was forbidden? I know certain acts are that much more enticing when they're off limits. Maybe sex with your first-love-brother-in-law is like that as well?

...War...
The most important "war" in this novel for me was between Mama Elena and Tita. It seemed they were always butting heads and disagreeing, everything Tita did not being good enough. I can't imagine a mother like that, how confusing and confound those feelings must be. And therefore that seems to bring about a war within oneself. On one side, a deep, innate, biological love for a mother and on the other side a nurtured, developed, fertilized hate for the same woman. That would definitely bring some inner turmoil for me. Other "war" type topics were the sisterly war between Rosuara and Tita, with Gertrudis being somewhat Sweeden-like and neutral. Poor Tita, having not only to fight her mother but also her sister. The other very obvious example of war in the novel was the Revolutionary war being fought in town. It was strange to me how it seemed that the war was so close and yet so far away, but never seemed to really affect their ranch, save the time when the revolutionaries came but Mama Eleana scared them off.

Overall, I enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, excluding the sometimes very random, vague scenes when something somewhat mythical would happen. (My apologizes for not having a ready example of this). The love, sex, desire, heart break, and family bonds were easily relatable and the author did a good job of pulling certain emotional strings. I also enjoyed the format of the novel, with the recipes throughout each chapter.