Rating: 4/5
Review: This is an enchanting tale about a woman who is bound by her oath to use her spices to help people in need and to never have desires of her own. Of course, she inevitably falls for a young man, and trouble soon follows. The book is quite different from the movie, however. In the movie, Tilo is young and beautiful, whereas in the book, she his old through the majority of it. The secondary characters are pretty much the same, though, and her relationship with the spices was portrayed well in the movie. The book is full of magic and wonder. The author has a beautiful way of describing each scene, and helping the reader to see through Tilo's eyes. Her descriptions and her words make me want to know more about these spices of which she writes, and to explore further the wonders of Indian culture.
Book Description: Magical, tantalizing, and sensual, The Mistress of Spices is the story of Tilo, a young woman born in another time, in a faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. Once fully initiated in a rite of fire, the now immortal Tilo--in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman--travels through time to Oakland, California, where she opens a shop from which she administers spices as curatives to her customers. An unexpected romance with a handsome stranger eventually forces her to choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life. Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy and sorrow and one special woman's magical powers.
1 comment:
I recently heard of this and it sounds a bit like Chocolat. I wonder how similar they are?
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