today i'm doing a book review on the book chocolat by joanne harris.
chocolat is one of my favorite movies and when i seen this book on book mooch that someone was offering i had to request it. I guess my intentions on reading the book was to make a comparison from the movie to the book.
This book is about Vianne Rocher with her daughter Anouk and her imaginary kangaroo Pantoufle who arrive the french village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes during their festival to celebrate the beginning of lent. Vianne opens a chocolate shop, La Céleste Praline to the appall of the residents of lansquenet and the priest Francis Reynaud. as anouk and vianne settle in lansqunet the residents think she is a strange women as she refuses to go to church and they assume she is a witch (even that she is one but does not call herself one) even the priest warns the residents against going to the chocolate shop. residents stay away for a while but curiosity draws them in once they get to know vianne and anouk some of the residents warm up to her and she even makes a few friends. She befriends an older lady Armande Voizin who's daughter is one of the haters of vianne and wants to run her out of town but armande see vianne as a friend and someone to show her the fun in life. She also meets a girl named Josephine Muscat who husband Paul - Marie is abusive and beats her when she befriends vianne she gets the courage to leave her husband and then works at the chocolate shop. Then a group of river gypsies come to the village the priest warns everyone to stay away and not help or let them do anything but vianne overlooks the rules and does it anyway she even befriends a river gypsies named roux who Armande has him help her with her house with the disapproval of her daughter Caroline Clairmont. One night tradgy strikes Paul - marie muscat sets roux boat on fire and then he has no where to go and the river gypsies leave when the priest finds out despite him hating the gypsies he banishes Paul - Marie out of town. Vianne then has a Easter festival and she has a lovely display but the priest who now was famished after fasting for lent goes in and destroys the display but everything works out in the end.
There was some differences in the book to the movie like when the priest destroys her window display in the movie it was the count who had done all that. overall its a great book i cant wait to read the next book in the series
the book retails for $21.00 and is available in most book stores
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