La ley del amor.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

by Laura Esquivel. Barcelona: Plaza y Janes, 1995.

Laura Esquivel is a master of gimmickry. In Como agua para chocolate [Like Water for Chocolate] her device was the recipe. By beginning each chapter with instructions for the preparation of a delicious Mexican dish, she artfully constructed the metaphor at the center of her novel: Love is food. Love nourishes the ravenous spirit just as food nourishes the body; at the same time, love satisfies physical hunger just as a good meal enjoyed in delightful company can achieve a spiritual dimension. Since love and food satisfy human appetites, the preparation of marvelous meals becomes an expression of passion, which is exactly what happened in the book.

In La ley del amor the gimmick is music. A compact disc comes with each copy of the book, and in the text Esquivel includes instructions telling when each segment is to be played. The idea is to give readers the opportunity to experience the same musical stimuli as the characters. Illustrated folios provide examples of the images the characters see when their memories are unlocked by the strains of Puccini. In addition the CD contains popular songs that set the mood for the upcoming chapters.

Unfortunately, the gimmick is not nearly as effective in La ley del amor as it was in Como agua para chocolate, partly because CDs are inconvenient, especially if you happen to be reading at, say, the beach or perhaps in the metro or the bathroom, and partly because the story is so tedious and convoluted that nothing--not even Puccini--can save it. The tale begins in the sixteenth century, when Rodrigo Diaz, one of Cortes's captains, rapes a beautiful Indian noblewoman named Citlali on the pyramid where the Aztecs worshiped the goddess of Love. The stones of the pyramid are, of course, magical, and so the act will have far-reaching consequences. When Citlali gives birth to a baby boy, Rodrigo tears the child from her and brutally murders him. The Indian woman takes revenge by killing the son Rodrigo has with his Spanish wife, Isabel.

According to the Law of Love, acts of brutality upset the cosmic order, which can only be restored when the perpetrators are purged of hatred and make amends. Since one lifetime is insufficient to achieve spiritual cleansing, reincarnation permits people who loathe each other to meet again over and over in successive lives until the process of purification is completed. Thus, Rodrigo encounters Citlali, Isabel, and the two...