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Finally, the food; so enticing; so delicious. Joanne Harris knows how to awaken the senses with her descriptions, and I could smell, see and almost touch every culinary creation within the book. With Juliet Stevenson delivering the lines with such sumptuousness, the kind that raises real cravings within me, without resorting to that overt food porn voice employed by those Marks and Spencer's commercials that are meant to entice the whole of the UK, I am ever so grateful that I didn't have a scrap of chocolate in the house when reading this book, or unhealthy food of any type, as temptation was invoked with every word. Necronomicon (One Jaguar 5, p.76) is a fictitious book that author H.P. Lovecraft referred to in his works. Firstly, I liked the narration by Juliet Stevenson as it was clear, a great actress, and when voicing the male characters, I actually thought a male actor had been employed. Ms Steveson's performance of this story was superb and I will actively seek out other books she has chosen to narrate. The story is told through three characters: Vianne, Anouk and Zozie. Ms Steveson made it easy for me to determine to whom a particular chapter related in just the first few words; her characterisation of each individual voice so skillfully personified. I just cannot praise, or thank Juliet Stevenson enough for narrating The Lollipop Shoes, in unabridged format at that.
The Lollipop Shoes is a 2007 novel by Joanne Harris—a sequel to her best-selling Chocolat. Darker than Chocolat—more openly mystical—this story is set between Halloween and Christmas. Twenty years later, like Vianne herself, I have travelled the world; had adventures; seen places I once only dreamed of; encountered some of my heroes; explored a multitude of new horizons. I have written many books, translated into many different languages. But Vianne and Anouk were never far. It may not be the last of Vianne, but it marks a heavy punctuation point, if not quite a full stop, in the tale we both share. We have been together for a long time, Vianne and I. We have watched our children grow; we have shared our deepest fears. And now the winds are turning again, bringing new stories with them. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes - ruthless, devious and seductive.Anouk is now 11 and entering adolescence. She is unhappy and confused, disliking the way her mother has changed. She is bullied at school and hates the fact that her mother is contemplating marriage.
The Flayed One (Death 1, p.16) is a reference to the Aztec god Xipe or Totec, who was in the habit of wearing the skin of a flayed man over his own. At his rather bloody festival, the Aztecs killed all the prisoners that they had taken in war, and these would also be subject to flaying.Dia de los Muertos (Death 1, p.16) is the Mexican festival of the “ Day of the Dead” on November 1. A delicious urban fairytale, where killer shoes and Aztec myths battle it out with true love and the seductive power of chocolate' -- DAILY MAIL Mictecacihuatl (Death 1, p.17) was the Queen of the Underworld, who is supposed to keep watch over the bones of the dead. She presides over the festivals of the dead (which have now become the modern Day of the Dead). She is also known as the Lady of the Dead, and it is reputed that she was born, and then sacrificed as an infant. The spells,totems,fables and stories about faeries and witches that Zozie and Yanne mention make the book more exotic and fascinating.It's no secret that I am a huge fan of magic realism-Joanne's book is a fine specimen of that genre.The writing is measured,yet intimate and warm,just like the characters in the book. There is something dangerously appealing about a slinky,chameleon-like villain and I loved Zozie's character the most(even more than Anouk and Yanne.). The bullying and name-calling that goes on in schools also forms a huge part of the story -atleast when the narration is done from the perspective of the eleven year-old Anouk. While Chocolat's use of magic was understated, The Girl With No Shadow was more explicit. It was almost a character of its own. In a way, I preferred the understated magic in Chocolat.
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. Yanne wants to eschew magic and keep her family safe from the winds of change. But on a particular Halloween the winds blow a new person into their lives – Zozie de l’Alba – a vivacious woman with lollipop-red shoes, and a hidden agenda. And there they were, so, sad, so, melancholy, so not right, so ordinary? I wanted them to snap out of the gloom. I wanted to shake them and slap them until they could see what was happening and how wrong everything was. I wanted them to drink a cup of hot chocolate, because that makes everything better, right? I wanted to drink a cup of hot chocolate to make me feel better.Anouk is an unhappy adolescent. She is bullied at school and made to feel an outcast. She dislikes living in Paris and her situation seems hopeless and set to get worse. It is over 20 years since I wrote Chocolat. At the time I was a French teacher in a boys’ grammar school in Yorkshire; mother to a four-year-old child; author of two Gothic novels, neither of which had attracted more than a cult readership. I had no plans to give up teaching. I liked it, I was good at it, and my writing was a hobby that I took very seriously, but knew to be unlikely ever to earn me a living. All the books reflect the combat against a predestined will. Vianne feels the force of the wind, and is driven by it, yet as she struggles to settle. My daughter was four when I wrote Chocolat. She inspired one of the main characters in the story, along with her imaginary rabbit, Pantoufle. I like to think that caused the change; for the first time I felt ready to write like a mother, to try and express some of what motherhood felt to me.
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