Rating: - Supporting each other
A lovely little novel, one which grows on me more every time I reflect upon it. The story is most enjoyable and the main character, the primary first person speaker, Vianne is a wonderfully constructed and complete, complex woman. She provides the backbone for the tensions of sustaining dichotomies, forces of complimentary but contrary attributes which provide the balance necessary for their holders. Yin and Yang at its basic best. Harris does magic like this for a number of counterparts every bit as magically as Vianne's hands upon chocolate in her chocolaterie. Vianne's opposing balance is the town priest, he who staunchly promotes the status quo to Vianne's newcomer with an open mind and differing ways. There are numerous other balances like that, but the two most striking are those between mothers and children and those between an individual's past and his or her present. In addition to this balancing, the secondary characters are quite enjoyable - I particularly like octogenarian Armande - as are the themes of friendship, what exactly constitutes sanity, and the mortality of us each. Added happily to my shelf of good reading.