The Girl with No Shadow: A Novel (P.S.) (original 2008; edition 2009)

The Lollipop Shoes is Joanne Harris' sequel to Chocolat. I don't remember why I read Chocolat in the first place -- I think we might have studied a snippet of it, or the film script: something like that. I remember assuming it wouldn't be my thing and then getting caught up in it, finding that it 'tasted' good. Not that that's surprising, considering that the two books centre around chocolate and there's so much description of taste and food, but that doesn't always mean a book will taste nice. Both of the books have some bright images that genuinely do seem to leap off the page and become pictures in your mind -- like Zozie's shoes in the window, filled with chocolates. With both books, I had to wonder if Joanne had a little of Vianne's magic herself, tempting you into the book, knowing your favourites...

On the whole, I think I prefer Chocolat. It seemed fine on its own, and the relationship between Roux and Vianne reminds me of some lines from one of my favourite songs, Gypsy, by Suzanne Vega. We'll blow away forever soon and go on to different lands, and please do not ever look for me, but with me you will stay, and you will hear yourself in song, blowing by one day...

But it's good to see Vianne again, and good to see Roux, and good to see what became of the baby she was going to have. There are things I didn't like about the book -- the way Vianne gave up her magic, content to live a normal life, for her children, and the way Anouk was so easily led astray... but it does make sense, for the characters and because of the other things going on.

One thing I definitely didn't like, stylistically, was the switching point of view. Sometimes I had to actually go back and check which little sign was on the chapter, to see who it was supposed to be. It does give us an immediate and intrinsic view on each of the three characters, but it felt clumsy, and the voices weren't quite distinct enough.

The plot revolves around the use of magic, which Zozie embraces and Vianne has locked away. I liked this, the magic in Chocolat is intriguing, tempting, and I wanted to know more about it. I thought the names of the spells and so on were a little over-dramatic -- but then, that's like Zozie herself, isn't it? It seemed a little too easy, at the end, for Vianne to unravel everything. And of course, there's the picture-perfect happy ending, the one we always hoped for.

I liked it quite a lot, but not quite as much as Chocolat. I felt like Chocolat was good on its own, tantalising, a little mysterious. There's something addictive about Joanne Harris' writing, though, something that makes me wonder if maybe I should look for some more of her books. ( )

I love Chocolat, and I could never get bored of it, I don't think. But I didn't get on so well with The Lollipop Shoes the first time I read it, and this time even less so. Vianne without her magic, without her spark -- for most of the book anyway -- is a lot more boring, and I hated the tangles of plot Zozie festooned around the place. It was hard to care about Thierry and the part of the plot that involved him, and Roux didn't come in soon enough.

The ending is too little, too late -- and I'd rather the domestic magic of Chocolat than the showdown between witch and witch.

I'm hoping that the third book of this trilogy will be more like Chocolat, but I'm not going to read it until I'm sure I'm in the mood for it... ( )

Well that's confusing. In the US, this book is called The Girl with No Shadow. Apparently they don't have it listed as such on Goodreads!

I liked this book, I did. I thought it tied in well to Harris' recent young adult novel, Runemarks. Much of the same magic is used in No Shadow.

At times I get a little tired of the narrator coyly addressing the reader, you know what that's like, right? You feel like the narrator thinks she can read your mind? I know you do.

Luckily, she only does this with one character, and it suits the character.

So. It's a sequel to Chocolat, and what's quite jarring is that I was never sure when the first book was supposed to take place. Since I've watched the film several times (mainly to see Johnny Depp say, "I'll come over later and take that squeak out of your door.") I've imagined the 1950's as the setting. No Shadow quite obviously takes place in the present, cell phones and all.
( )

This book was ok, not as briliant as Chocolat, but enjoyable nonetheless. I felt the middle dragged terribly and I nearly gave up on it, but for the fact I wanted to discover Zozie's true story.

Vianne Rocher is a pale shadow of herself, something which is relevant to the plot and her daughters Anouk and Rosette shine more brightly. I liked reading the tale from the three points of view: Vianne, Zozie and Anouk - though some chapters it took me a little while to realise who was speaking until I worked out the symbols at the start of each chapter!

If you read Chocolat, you will like this book but it is not the same story. ( )

Hmm, I'm still debating about giving this book 4 or 5 stars. I loved The lollipop shoes. It continues the story of Vianne Rocher and her children from Chocolat. The atmosphere is great. Again, there is a chocolate shop in France, this time in Paris. Vianne, unfortunately, has lost herself, but her daughters Anouk and Rosette are delightful, and so is Zozie in the beginning. Zozie brings all the charm and magic that Vianne did in Chocolat. However, it becomes more and more clear as the book progresses that Zozie is not particularly scrupulous. And in order for Vianne to hold out against her, she needs to find herself again...
Even though it becomes clear after a while that Zozie is not a good Samaritan, she is still intriguing to read about. I liked reading her bits as much as I did Vianne's and Anouk's. When Zozie's intentions come out in the open, the book even becomes exciting. The only reason I'm debating about the stars is that I put it away halfway through the book and didn't start it up again until I had a long train journey ahead of me. I think this was more my mood than it was the book, though... ( )