The Mistress of Spices

It took me a while to get into this book. I nearly gave up at one point, as I couldn’t see where the story was going— Tilo, the main character, was disengaged from her surroundings, and the fantasy element was also disengaging. I knocked off a star for this part; but it was necessary to understand what Tilo has to give up when she re-engages with humanity.

Then she started to get interested in the people around her, and there’s a proper plot after that, and engaging characters, people with real stories that she cares about, so the reader cares about them too.

The story also highlights the pain of the diaspora, and the pain of Indigenous people and displaced Indigenous people, and the violence and oppression visited upon immigrants show more and Indigenous Peoples by white supremacy. It’s brought to the reader’s attention but not in a didactic way; it’s there as part of the background of the story.

I also very much liked the way that Tilo is her own woman and doesn’t just collapse gratefully into love, but struggles with it.

So I would definitely recommend this book, and if you get bored by the first part, hang in there, it’s worth it. show less

I think I liked this book. I did like the magic realism, the concept of spices having the power to influence, heal, and actually be as important as some of the characters in this book. I enjoyed the almost poetic writing style. But I had to interrupt my reading a few times for other novels due to deadlines and commitments, so lost the story thread. But when I did pick it up again, the last third of the book seemed to drag. It was difficult for me to sympathize with the protagonist, a young Indian woman named Tilo who must become an old woman and minister to those who enter her spice shop in an edgy urban Oakland (CA) neighborhood. She must never leave the shop, and never become emotionally attached to her customers. Of course she does show more both, plus she falls in love with a handsome young man who conveniently sees beyond her old facade. I think I would have really enjoyed this book if I could have connected with Tilo. Would I recommend this book? Probably not. show less

Simply amazing! I loved this book.

Magic has rules; magic has consequences. Tilo is a Mistress of Spices, living in Oakland California she runs the Spice Bazaar. As her life unfolds we learn how she can help to heal the community around her. A community of immigrants trying to make a life amongst prejudice. The customs of the old country meeting the challenges of the new.

The writing is as smooth as silk I was never jarred away from the story. Tilo's voice is strong and consistent. The stories of the people in the community seem logical and right. Actions have consequences that flow naturally. Exquisite.

I liked the premise and the cast of characters, but thought it was overwrought and the relationship with Raven (and his entire depiction) quite forced. Also, I was constantly friustrated with one of the main underlying themes that making oneself happy is a bad thing, and that arbitrary authoritarian rules should be followed or that we should willongly accept punishment for transgressing them. If I could give half stars, the rating would have been a 2.5.

Hot prick of ginger, you were the last taste on my tongue when I stepped into the heart of Shampati's fire. Flametongues licked like a dream at my melting skin, flamefingers pushed down my eyelids.
And when I woke in America on a bed of ash, an age later or was it only a breath, the store already hardening its protective shell around me, the spices on their shelves meticulous and waiting, you were the first taste, ginger, gritty and golden in my throat.

Tilo, trained in the magic of spices on an island far away, never leaves her shop in Oakland, California, which is an oasis of Indian tastes, smells and magic in the wasteland of America. The Indian community flock to her shop, to buy cooking ingredients and assuage homesickness, but also show more for the help that she dispenses in the form of powerful healing spices. For some reason I had been expecting a story based in reality, so it was a surprise just how full of magic it was.

Thank you for organising the ray, Beebarf. I think it's a great choice of book for a ray, being a wonderful book by an author I hadn't heard of. I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did! show less

Here's another book that has been sitting around for a long time because I just couldn't get into the beginning. Tilo is the main character - we meet her when she is already a Mistress of Spices, someone who can use spices to help people with their troubles, whether physical or emotional. Then we go back into her past, when she was a willful and proud young woman who always knew better than those around her. She eventually finds herself on an island, where she will receive training to become a Mistress, and then be sent out into the world in a wizened old body, to live and work in a spice store that she has been instructed never to leave. Her task is to help those who seek it, but not to go beyond that, and never to try to bend the will show more of the spices to her own.

You can probably see where this is going, and you'd be right. Tilo's spice shop is in Oakland, worlds away from her experiences in many ways. She finds herself in the midst of a number of crises of conscience. She sees people who need her help, but won't come to her. She meets a mysterious young man who stirs emotions in her she didn't know she had. The young man seems to see through Tilo in a way that no one else has (literally - he doesn't believe the old woman's body is her real self), and he comes with troubles and a journey of discovery of his own. All of these things force Tilo to make decisions about what she wants in life: to follow her orders or her heart, the old ways or uncharted territory, power or love. In many ways, this is a story about culture clash told by means of magical realism. It was a pretty fast read once I got past the first 50 pages or so.

Recommended for: romance readers, people who liked Like Water for Chocolate, anyone not bothered by sentence fragments, and people who can read the words "earthly paradise" without giggling or rolling their eyes.

Quote: "For as you know, when I woke in this land, the store was already around me, its hard, protective shell. The spices too surrounded me, a shell of smells and voices. And that other shell, my aged body pressing wrinkles into me. Shell within shell within shell, and inmost of all my heart beating like a bird." show less

between 2.5 and 3. this has a nice modern-day fairy tale kind of thing going for it that works well. i felt shades of chocolat (but this was written first) and like water for chocolate, but this also has its own feel and character to it in spite of any similarities. i wasn't excited about the romance in this book; it just didn't interest me even a little, although all of the other relationships and stories did.