Chocolat : a novel (1999 original; edició 2000)

Vianne Rocher et sa fille Anouk, six ans, s'installent à Lansquenet, un petit village du Sud-Ouest. Vianne veut ouvrir une chocolaterie. Mais leur présence n'est pas du gôut de tout le monde, à commencer par le curé, trentenaire plutôt rétrograde, qui voit dans la gourmandise l'œuvre du Diable.
Une chronique villageoise teintée d'un soupçon de sorcellerie. Bien écrit, à lire avec quelques chocolats à portée de main.
(Nelly)

I don't know what to say about this book. I just didn't like it at all. I was bored for most of the time. I don't even know why this book was written in the first place. Maybe I just didn't understand something. ( )

I really enjoyed reading Joanne Harris' book Chocolat. Set in a small French town in the present day, it tells the story of Vianne Rocher and her young daughter Anouk, fresh arrivals to the town, and ones viewed with suspicion. It is even rumoured that - *gasp* - she is a witch.

Witch or not, Vianne makes her living making and selling the world's best chocolate, tempting, aromatic, irresistable. So good is the chocolate that Pere Reynaud, the parish priest of the church across the street, loathes her on sight. She has chosen to open her chocolaterie on the first day of Lent, and already his parishoners are breaking their Lenten vows to taste the wonderful chocolates. Pere Reynaud is angry about absolutely everything, is not a good man, and hates the new residents, absolutely loathes them. He is not a particularly Christian man.

When gypsies on their houseboats arrive in Lansquenet, everything changes. Now there is an outlet for Reynaud's rage, new friends for Vianne and Anouk to welcome, and the ticking time bomb you hear is the sound of the disaster that blows up when the villagers take sides for and against the residents of the colourful houseboats on the river.

Sensual, magical, written with passion, Chocolat was a lovely treat. ( )

I did read the version with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp on the cover, but I really hate doing that. I prefer to see what the author/publisher felt the cover should look like before there were famous faces to sell it with.

I found this book quite charming, much like the movie! I did see the film, a long time ago, and I didn't remember much of it, though it came back while I was reading the book. I did like that Armande in the novel got to make it fully clear that she was choosing to kill herself.I did find that many of the characters in the novel were sympathetic, despite their actions. I felt for Reynaud despite his position as "the villain"; he was damaged in his own way by past events and the gossipy nature of small towns. I don't know that it's a masterpiece, but I really enjoyed reading this book. ( )

A weighted contrast between pagan sensuality and Catholic self-denial, the single mother chocolatier vs the young troubled cure of a tiny French village. She wants to make people happy, he wants them on his narrow path to salvation and immediately sees her as a personal enemy.
We spend a bit too long with this pair who are a bit too obviously contrasted, but as both individuals with doubts and hopes. ( )