Joanne Harris tells a moving tale of Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk. Vianne sets up a chocolate shop in a small village in France. Unfortunately, the parish priest sees her enterprise as a threat to his conventional control over the simple village folk. But Vianne finds an unlikely ally in Armande, an old lady who shook off the reins of the church many years earlier. The conflict between shop owner and priest grows when gypsies arrive in town. The priest is against them: Vianne is not. And it seems that the priest is hiding an awful secret.
Chocolat is wonderfully written - a real 'feelgood' book. Joanne Harris reveals some extraordinary insights, fresh with gentle humour. Even if you've seen the film, I recommend you read the book.
The inhabitants are a little cartoonish. There is an independant old woman with a gossipy daughter, a gruff but nice farmer and so on. However this does not make them any less interesting to read about.
The story is told from two viewpoints-Vianne's and the local priest's. Since the priest belives in abstinence and self-denial he ends up in becoming Vianne's 'enemy'. As well as information about what these two people see and hear, we are also told how thay feel about what is happening.
My favourite parts of the book were those that detailed Vianne's relationship whith her mother who died seven years ago, and how their previous lifestyle colours her life. Vianne has an irrational fear that Anouk will be taken from her, which mirrors a similar fear that her mother once had. Vianne also longs to settle in a place for a while, but feels unable to do so. The book details how she faces up to her fears and helps some townspeople to solve their problems too.
I was disappointed in the stereotyping of the priest, who comes across as being intolerant and nasty. I also didn't like the ending-Since Vianne's and the priest's are the only viewpoints shown, I expected a sort of reconciliation between the two.
However all said, I enjoyed the book very much, and read it in record time. I don't usually like books written in this particular style. It's a good book to bring on holidays-neither trashy or complicated. The descriptions of the chocolates and chocolate making are scrumptious!
It has a lot of merit because of the strength of the writing and the story line, but it could have used a few extra chapters to fully flesh out some of the items that were alluded to.reviews: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, page 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20