Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History -- Without the Fairy-Tale Endings: Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

"Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess who wasn't afraid to cheat, deceive, seduce, or murder anyone who got in her way...

"You think you know her story.

"You've read the Brothers Grimm, you've watched the Disney cartoons, and you cheered as these virtuous women lived happily ever after.  But real princesses didn't always get happy endings.  Sure, plenty were graceful and benevolent leaders, but just as many were ruthless in their quest for power--and all of them had skeletons rattling in their royal closets.  Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was a Nazi spy.  Empress Elisabeth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire slept wearing a mask of raw veal.  Princess Olga of Kiev slaughtered her way to sainthood while Princess Lakshmibai waged war on the battlefield, charging into combat with her toddler son strapped to her back.  Princesses Behaving Badly offers true tales of all these princesses and dozens more, in a fascinating read that's perfect for history buffs, feminists, and anyone seeking a different kind of bedtime story."

I came across this book while scrolling through Pinterest.  I've been pinning book ideas for awhile now and I love the recommendations that pop up -- they're usually really interesting things capable of dragging me out of my comfort zone.  This book did just that, but in a very fun, educational, and oft-entertaining way.  This is a work of non-fiction, but it reads so much like fiction that it's easy to forget that I had to dig out my dusty knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System to locate it on my local library's non-fiction shelves.  Rodriguez McRobbie's writing style is light and extremely readable.  This is excellent for anyone interested in weird (macabre, strange, wacky, eccentric, etc.) history, but is unsure about picking up just any non-fiction book.  There's a sense of humor woven throughout and I really enjoyed this; it didn't, however, diminish the message and I was impressed at how much information the author was able to cram into the little mini stories about each princess.  Overall, it felt very well-researched and extremely well-organized in such a way that kept making me want to read (and learn) more.  I'd encountered some of these princesses in my own studies, but this book really managed to bring them to life (a great feat considering each princess had about 2-4 rather small pages dedicated to her).  What stuck out to me the most was probably the fact that the author made sure to remind us to take some of the information with a grain of salt.  She'd clearly sifted through centuries of records and contemporary accounts to bring as much truth as possible (when it was possible), but she reminds her readers that women of the times in which many of these women lived were viewed very differently than any man would have been had he taken the same courses of action.  These women were labeled sluts, bitches, schemers, and witches when, quite possibly, they were none of these (and, if they were, it was very likely not to the degree that some of the sources claim).  I liked this about this book; I find merit in non-fiction works that remind their audience to not take every written word as gospel and to remember that these historical figures lived in very different times from our own.  Some of my favorite stories included the (crazy) princesses from England and Europe.  All those inbred genetics made for some real gems!

I absolutely recommend this book.  I flew through it!  I began reading it as a "break" from another book (which happens to also be out of my "comfort zone" and is taking me an extremely long time to conquer...), but I ended up really not wanting to put it down.  I thoroughly enjoyed the author's style and voice; the history was rich and exciting without feeling like a lecture.  This was a great non-fiction read and I am looking forward to seeing if the author has any other works out there.

Like Water for Chocolate: Laura Esquivel

"To the table or to bed
"You must come when you are bid

"The number-one bestseller in Mexico in 1990, Like Water for Chocolate is a romantic, poignant tale, touched with bittersweet moments of magic and sensuality.  Evocative of How to Make an American Quilt in structure, Tampopo in its celebration of food, and Heartburn in its irony and wit, it is a lively and funny tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico.

"The narrator's great-aunt Tita is the youngest of three daughters born to Mama Elena, the tyrannical owner of the De la Garza ranch.  While still in her mother's womb, she wept so violently -- as her mother chopped onions -- that she caused Mama Elena to begin early labor; and Tita slipped out in the middle of the kitchen table, amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup.  This early encounter with food soon became a way of life, and Tita grew up to be a master chef.  Each chapter of the novel begins with one of Tita's recipes and her careful instructions for preparation.

"In well-born Mexican families, tradition dictates that the youngest daughter not marry, but remain at home to care for her mother.  Even though Tita has fallen in love, Mama Elena chooses not to make an exception, and instead, arranges for Tita's older sister to marry Tita's young man.

"In order to punish Tita for her willfulness, Mama Elena forces her to bake the wedding cake.  The bitter tears Tita weeps while stirring the batter provoke a remarkable reaction among the guests who eat the cake.  It is then that it first becomes apparent that her culinary talents are unique.

"Laura Esquivel's voice is direct, simple, and compelling.  She has written a fresh and innovative novel, bringing her own inimitable strengths to a classic love story."

I have no explanation for why I started a draft of this review months ago and never posted it.  In fact, I have several reviews that I still need to post and (rather unfortunately) never got around to them...  Now that I only have a few days left of "summer break" before my summer semester starts I've got to find a way to cram them all in and make a valiant effort to do them justice.  Finishing this post seems like as good a place as any to do so!

This book was assigned for my "Topics in Literature:  Food" course.  First, let me say that this was a brilliant course that really opened my eyes to a lot of issues in the way we, as a nation and as individual consumers, view food.  I'm pretty sure I touched on a couple of these in a previous post or two, so I won't rehash them here.  This particular book was one of the few that were intended to expose us to food as a form of self-expression, personal culture, as well as a broader culture.  The premise behind this story was touching--I'm a sucker for unrequited love and anything to do with food--but (and I know I'm going to have some disagreement on this) the way everything was presented was not very appealing to me.  If memory serves, this was a translated text originally written in Spanish, which makes me wonder if some of the beauty of the work was literally lost-in-translation.  My 5 years of Spanish urged me to sit down and try to mentally translate the text back into Spanish to see if it was anymore eloquent, but my efforts proved fruitless in this endeavor:  I didn't care anymore for the writing.  So many parts were too simplistic for a book I know has garnered much popularity and has been touted as a brilliant piece of literature.  Honestly, I think a great deal of my inability to enjoy the story has to do with the fact that some of the situations were just way too "out there" for me.  Chickens creating a whirlwind and Tita's sister stripping naked from a reaction to the emotion Tita had poured into the food were simply too "folktale-esque" for me to really enjoy.  They're not what I expected to encounter in the book and they are not something that, personally, I like to read.

I did, however, like the structure of the story (for the most part).  Breaking everything down by recipe was a clever way to bring readers back to the common undercurrent of food as a constant vessel through which the poor, oppressed Tita is able to communicate her emotions.  I understand the metaphor if coupling the chapters of the story with periods in Tita's life, but their typically-accepted parallels did not quite match up with the stages of Tita's growth--something else that bothered me.  I think leaving the recipes as the sole "labels" for the chapters would have been more than unique enough.

While I liked Tita's character (probably more for my sympathy for her than the fact that she had the potential to be a very strong character), I had a difficult time coming to terms with some of her decisions and actions.  For all her purity, Tita made some poor decisions--some too flawed for me to respect her.  I wonder how much of this story was pulled from reality and how much was contrived because there are some things (like Tita's choice in lover/spouse) that were obviously poor (no matter her emotions) and would have been weak authorial choices and could probably have only been explained away as "reality" (i.e. they were decisions influenced by real ones made by the person on whom this story is based--people are flawed, therefore, their decisions are sometimes flawed).

We were supposed to watch the film version of this story for our course, but I never got around to it.  I know--had I enjoyed the story more--I probably would have gone out of my way to procure a copy and carve out time from my busy schedule to watch it.  While a great deal of the descriptions of the food (the actual dishes, not the descriptions or instructions, because I felt like those sometimes disrupted the flow of the story) were wonderfully vivid and enticing, I had a hard time losing myself in the story because of the level of writing and some of the unbelievably fantastical elements of the tale.  I realize this story has some very passionate fans, but it was not my cup of tea.  I recommend it as a good example of how food can be such an incredibly emotional aspect of our lives and culture, but I have a hard time recommending it on literary merits.  It was a fairly quick read though and I am sure there are those out there who would love such a story.