In her novel Like Water for Chocolate released in 1989, Esquivel uses magical realism to combine the ordinary and the supernatural, with narrative devices similar to those used by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier as "el real maravilloso" and by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez and Chilean author Isabel Allende. Como agua para chocolate is set during the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth Century and features the importance of the kitchen and food in the life of its female protagonist, Tita. The novel is structured as a year of monthly issues of an old-style women's magazine containing recipes, home remedies, and love stories, and each chapter opens with the redaction of a traditional Mexican recipe followed by instructions for preparation. Each recipe recalls to the narrator a significant event in the protagonist's life. Esquivel has stated that she believes that the kitchen is the most important part of the house and characterizes it as a source of knowledge and understanding that brings pleasure. The title Como agua para chocolate is a phrase used in Mexico to refer to someone whose emotions are about to "boil," because water for chocolate must be just at the boil when the chocolate is added and beaten The idea for the novel came to Esquivel "while she was cooking the recipes of her mother and grandmother." Reportedly, "Esquivel used an episode from her own family to write her book. She had a great-aunt named Tita who was forbidden to wed and spent her life caring for her mother. Soon after her mother died, so did Tita." According to Esquivel critic Elizabeth M. Willingham, despite the fact that the novel was poorly received critically in Mexico, Como agua para chocolate "created a single-author economic boom, unprecedented in Mexican literature or film of any period by any author" and "went into second and third printings in the first year of its release and reached the second place in sales in 1989" and "became Mexico’s 'bestseller' in 1990". The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages." Like Water for Chocolate was developed into a film, which was released in 1994 concurrently with the book's English translation by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. In the United States, Like Water for Chocolate became one of the largest grossing foreign films ever released. The film "dominated" Mexico's film awards and received ten Arieles and, according to Susan Karlin in Variety, the fine-tuned final version of the film garnered "'nearly two dozen' international awards". Esquivel's second novel, La ley del amor, translated as The Law of Love, is described by literary critic Lydia H. Rodríguez as a "narrative deconstructs the present to create a twenty-third century where remarkable invention and familiar elements populate a gymnastically-paced text" whose "conflicts... set the Law of Love in motion" Literary critic Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez cautions, "Although Esquivel merges science fiction trappings with a love story in the novel,... attempts a blueprint for a harmonious future that remains beyond the experience of present societies, a future anchored by a central philosophy that individual wholeness can be achieved only by participation in and on behalf of the community" Esquivel's non-fiction compilation Between Two Fires featured essays on life, love, and food. Esquivel's third novel, Tan veloz como el deseo, translated into English as Swift as Desire, is set in Mexico City the apartment of Lluvia, a middle-aged divorcée caring for her debilitated father, Júbilo, a former telegraph operator born with a gift for understanding what people want to say rather than what they actually say. For the first time in this novel, according to critic Willingham, "Esquivel asks the reader to consider Mexico’s historical dialogue and enduring truths" in a contemporary setting in which the characters seek a meaningful and lasting reconciliation that rises above historical errors and misunderstandings Esquivel's fourth novel Malinche: novela, translated as Malinche: A Novel, adopts "Malinalli" as the name of the title character, also known as "Doña Marina," whose pejorative title "La Malinche" means "the woman of Malinche," the Aztecs' printed on its interior surface that is meant to represent Malinalli's diary. Esquivel's most recent novels are A Lupita le gusta planchar and El diario de Tita. The former has been translated into English as Pierced by the Sun.
Personal life
Laura Beatriz Esquivel Valdés was born the third of four children to Julio César Esquivel, a telegraph operator, and Josefa Valdés, a homemaker. Her father's death in 1999 was the inspiration for Tan veloz como el deseo. Trained as a teacher, Esquivel founded a children's theater workshop and wrote and produced dramas for children She first married actor, producer, and director Alfonso Arau, with whom she collaborated on several films. Esquivel and her present husband make their home in Mexico City. In March 2009 Laura Esquivel ran as preliminary candidate of the Local Council in District XXVII of Mexico City for the PRD. Her candidacy was supported by the current Izquierda Unida, which combined various PRD groups. In 2012, she was elected Federal Representative for the Morena Party. She has also served as head of the Mexico City Cultural Committee and member of the Science & Technology and Environmental Committees for the Morena Party.
