Chocolat: (Chocolat 1)

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Vianne is the main point-of-view character, but Pere Reynaud, the local priest, who has a vendetta against Vianne, gets some chapters from his point of view. I also enjoyed the secondary characters. Anouk Rocher, Vianne's six-year-old daughter. A precocious child with an imaginary animal friend, called Pantoufle, that is also seen by her mother. She often plays near the river with the other children. A truly magical, sensual book. I’m so happy to have finally read it again, after thinking of doing so for so long. And the timing with Easter is perfect. Lastly I wanted to write about magic. Not the popular view, but about the magic of everyday things and the way something quite ordinary can, given the right circumstances, take on extraordinary properties. Vianne’s belief in the supernatural seems dangerous, even sinister, to Reynaud. And yet it is her very human qualities – her understanding and her kindness to others – which make her what she is. She does nothing which could not be achieved by purely ordinary means. Her magic, working as it does through simple pleasures, is accessible to everyone. If she is a witch, as Reynaud believes, then so is anyone else with similar values. We live in a world which is becoming increasingly complicated around us; we are bombarded with mixed messages and impossible targets from the media; like Reynaud we have learned to demonize pleasure and to be afraid of our feelings. Chocolat was my reaction against that; a plea for tolerance of others but also of ourselves, a reminder that to be fallible is both natural and allowed; that self-indulgence isn’t always bad; that testing people to destruction isn’t the way to make them better people.

The closest Harris approaches to recognizing that Christianity might not all be self-importance and self-aggrandisement is a rather patronising statement by Vianne that “fairy tales should make one happy”. This pathetic attempt to mollify Christians however is severely undercut by the fact that Vianne has magic of her own, albeit magic with a rather diffuse origin, making me wonder what is or is not a fairy tale. Similarly, while several sources (including Harris herself), vaguely mention “pagan beliefs” in connection with Vianne, there was none of the intensive spirituality or even ties to basic beliefs associated with paganism, indeed the only vaguely pagan thing in the book was Vianne’s category mistake in assuming the origin and meaning of Easter were the same thing. Indeed, like many atheists, Harris talks quite freely of religious faith without once discussing actual spirituality, indeed it's notable that God (or even his Pagan equivalent), is almost never mentioned. Also, the moral of this book seemed to be: "Indulge yourself! Do what feels right! (Even if you consequently die/get pregnant/shame yourself forever.)" Yeah. I'm not really digging that moral. I can see where both sides were coming from, and it made the whole thing uncomfortable. The priest is in the wrong, he sees Vianne as a threat to his congregation, he acts in a way he believes is right - but often frequently doubts his own path. The film is dedicated to the memory of renowned cameraman Mike Roberts, who died in his sleep of natural causes during filming in England. [3] Music [ edit ]The book begins as mystical confectioner Vianne Rocher breezes into the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-les-Tannes on Shrove Tuesday just before lent with her six year old daughter Anouk. Tired of the itinerant life she inherited from her mother, Vianne plans to settle in the village and setup a chocolatery, despite Lasquennet’s insular atmosphere and the stern disapproval of the village’s priest Francis Reynaud. I also wanted to write about people, and about how the arrival of a single individual can affect the internal politics of a community. My books often focus on small communities and the interaction between their inhabitants. The smaller the group, the more dramatic the consequences when someone introduces change. Lansquenet is not a real place, though it is closely based on a little town I know well and I have tried to make it as authentic as I can. It could be anywhere. The rivalries and jealousies of people are almost the same wherever you go. Mitchell, Elvis (2000-12-15). "FILM REVIEW; Candy Power Comes to Town". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-12-04. The tightly plotted drama of “Different Class” plays out in a way which is exciting and surprising, but the novel also says something meaningful about our shifting sense of values. I read this novel at a much faster pace than I read most books for the sheer pleasure of the idiosyncratic characters and the desire to know how their intriguing story would play out. It’s a highly enjoyable read. (The Lonesome Reader)

gr di cacao ma io ne metto sempre 75 così faccio fuori il pacco (sempre per il principio di cui sopra, dark è dark!) Themes of religion, superstition, prejudice towards gypsies, the idea of Home to those who are always on the run etc Nor is the book set at any particular time. I deliberately wanted to give it an old-fashioned feel, to suggest that this was a place where nothing had changed in many years, whilst retaining some elements of modern life. There are still many rural communities in France – especially in the south – where this remains a true depiction, but Chocolat was never intended to be an accurate representation of “today’s France”. It is a France seen through a very selective, very personal filter which has as much to do with nostalgia as with present-day realism. Goldbart, Max (November 29, 2022). " 'Chocolat': Miramax TV & Mediawan Forging French-Language TV Series Adaptation Of Johnny Depp Movie". Deadline . Retrieved October 6, 2023.Père Reynaud pays Vianne a visit: it is Sunday, and he didn’t see Vianne or her daughter at church. Vianne explains, “We don’t attend, you know.” When the priest learns that Vianne is unmarried, his outrage turns to horror. The book was engaging, magical, both literally in its subject matter and in the beauty of its telling. Harris has indicated that several of the characters were influenced by individuals in her life: [1] Her son forms the basis for the young Anouk, including his imaginary rabbit, Pantoufle. Harris' strong-willed and independent great-grandmother influenced her portrayal of both Vianne and the elderly Armande. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and in 2022 was awarded an OBE by the Queen.