A Flavour of the Book: “And
then suddenly she did something that really startled me. She changed her face. Not like pulling a face or anything;
but her shoulders slumped, and she turned her eyes away, and her mouth drooped
somehow, and she made her hair into a limp kind of curtain, and suddenly she
was someone else, someone else in Zozie’s clothes, not ugly, not quite,
but someone you wouldn’t turn around to see twice, someone you’d forget as soon
as they’d gone.”
The Authortrek View: This
is Joanne Harris’ sequel to the phenomenal Chocolat. It’s set four years after Chocolat. Vianne and Anouk have moved to
Montmartre, Paris, along with younger daughter Rosette (no prizes for guessing
who the father is!). Life is
peaceful until
Zozie de l'Alba,
the woman with the lollipop shoes, arrives to shake up their world. Like Chocolat,
the novel is set during a festive season, but it’s Halloween and Christmas this
time, rather than Easter. However,
unlike Chocolat, we find Vianne in a subdued mood, tired of being blown
hither and thither by the wind, and she now wants to settle down, to
conform. But the wind will always
catch you when you least expect it…
When the novel starts, Vianne is no longer making her own chocolates,
and is seemingly content to sell the confectionary of others. She has a new man in her life in the
form of her landlord Thierry, who is bemused by Vianne’s technophobia and her
youngest daughter, Rosette, who has yet to talk. Anouk is now attending school, but she’s having some trouble
setting in. And yet a postcard
suggests that one of Vianne’s old loves may soon be on the scene… But will it be Vianne or Anouk who is
carried off by the wind at the end?
There are hints of some of Joanne Harris’s other fictions, such as Holy
Fools, with Vianne’s fear of the ‘Black man’ and the prominent use of
tarot, and there are guest appearances from characters that featured in Five
Quarters of the Orange. The novel also follows
Joanne Harris’s successful strategy of having more than one first person
narrator. The Lollipop Shoes
features another superb plot from Joanne Harris, whose narratives have, if
anything, become even more intricate and elaborate over the years. The Lollipop Shoes deserves to
be made into a movie, with Audrey Tatou playing the beguiling Zozie. However, this is a sequel to the Chocolat
the novel rather than Chocolat the movie. The Lollipop Shoes is a superb follow-up to Chocolat,
and should be a bestseller in its own right.
Carpe Diem – Death 1, p. 12 – is Latin for “seize the
day”
Croix Rouge
– Death 1, p. 13 – is French for the “Red Cross”
Confiserie – Death 1, p. 13 – is the French for
“confectionary”
Dia
de los Muertos – Death 1, p. 16 – is the Mexican festival of the “Day of
the Dead” on November 1st
La
Butte de Montmartre – Death 1, p. 16 – visit the official webpage of the
‘mountain of the martyr’, home of the famous church Le Sacre-Coeur
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
Pan de muerto
– Death 1, p. 17 – is the ‘bread of the dead’, breaded that is formed
into a skull shape or resembling bones
Piñata – Death 1, p. 17 – the piñata is thought to derive
from Aztec ritual clay pots. One version of these were the rain-god (Tlaloc)
clay pots which ritually represented a thunderstorm, which were filled with
water rather than sweets or toys. Striking a pot was supposed to represent
thunder and the resulting outflow of water represented the downpour of rain.
The piñata is now a secular ritual, most often used at birthday parties or to
celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
Mictecacihuatl
– Death 1, p. 17 – Mictecacihuatl 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.
Midi - Death 1, p. 17 – is a province in France in the
Pyrenees
V’ la l’bon vent
- Death 2, p. 19 – is a French Canadiaan song
Galette des rois - Death 2, p. 23 – in France, the last
festivity of the Christmas season is ‘la Fête des Rois', (the ‘Feast of the
Kings’). There is a special cake is baked called La Gallete des Rois, which
contains a small ‘fève' (charm) inside it, and the person who finds the charm
is crowned King or Queen for the day.
Pain d’epices - Death 2, p. 25 – literally ‘bread of
spices’, commonly referred to as ‘French gingerbread’
‘He, Laurent, ca va, mon pote!” – One Jaguar 4, p. 67 –
‘Hi Laurent, how are you, buddy?’
“Tezcatlipoca… the
smoking mirror” – One Jaguar 5, p. 75 – is another Aztec god, who had a
nagual (i.e. familiar) that was a jaguar, which is probably why this part of
the book is called “One Jaguar”
Odinists – One Jaguar 5, p. 75 – the members of this New
Age movement don’t just worship Odin.
According to the Odinist Fellowship, “Odinists value and esteem everything
that sustains, promotes, enhances and enriches life”. They celebrate Nature, and feast rather than fast
I Ching – One Jaguar 5, p. 76 – the famous ‘Book of
Changes’ is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. It is a symbol system that
is designed to identify order in what seem like chance events. Western society
has often regarded it as akin to divination, hence its mention here
The Golden Dawn
– One Jaguar 5, p. 76 – was a magical order of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, which formed a huge influence on twentieth century
western occultism
Crowley – One Jaguar 5, p. 76 – a reference to Aleister Crowley, an
influential member of the Golden Dawn
Liber Null – One Jaguar 5, p. 76 – a book
on chaos magic by Peter J. Carroll
Necronomicon – One Jaguar 5, p. 76 – is a fictitious book that H. P.
Lovecraft referred to in his works
Xochipilli – One Jaguar 8, p. 95 – the Aztec god of love,
games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, and song. His name contains the words
xochitl ("flower") and pilli ("prince"), and so he is often
called "flower prince"
Two Rabbit – p.99 – a reference to Ometochtli, the Aztec
god of drunkenness, and leader of the four hundred rabbit gods of drunkenness
(which was the amusing Aztec way of referring to units of alcohol)
Mendiants – Two Rabbit 1, p. 108 – literally
“beggars”. The Christmas tradition
in Provence is to end dinner with "les 13 desserts de Noël",
representing Jesus and his twelve apostles. Amongst these are four mendiant desserts, symbolizing the
four mendicant monastic orders, with different ingredients to reflect the
respective colour of their robes
Cri-du-chat
– Two Rabbit 3, p. 116 – is actually a rare genetic disorder
Theobroma
cacao – Two Rabbit 3, p. 120 – is Spanish for ‘food of the gods’
Hurakan
– Two Rabbit 3, p. 121 – more
details about this Mayan god
‘Allah Akhbar’ – Two Rabbit 5, p. 131 – ‘God is Great’,
i.e. Suze looks Islamic
‘Merde, il pleut!’ – Change 3, p. 155 – French for
‘Shit! It’s Raining!’
pied-noir
– Change 5, p. 162 –
"black
foot" in French, a term commonly used to denote Algerians of European
descent
‘marche aux puces’
– Change 7, p. 175 – French for flea market, named after an
original market in Paris, where flea-infested second-hand clothes were
presumably once sold
pulque – Change 7, p. 177 – an alcoholic drink made from a
plant called maguey, part of the agave family, and not cactus, as Joanne Harris
suggests in the text. It is best
drunk when freshly prepared and does not travel well. It was drunk by the Aztecs as part of religious ceremonies
scrying
–
Change 7, p. 178 – i.e. divining the future using a crystal ball
‘Hubble bubble, toil and…’ – Change 7, p. 179 –
the voice in Zozie’s head is referring to the three witches in William
Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Lunes de miel
– Change 9, p. 185 – literally
‘moons of honey’, or the more familiar ‘honeymoon’
Cunegonde – Advent 3, p. 215 – was the name of the main female
character in Voltaire’s novel Candide. At the end of the novel, the hero,
Candide, feels obliged to marry the now old and irritable Cunegonde. Thierry probably regards the name as being
quite fusty and old-fashioned
the Magi – Advent 5, p. 230 – the ‘three wise kings’ from the
Bible are believed to have come from Persia (Iran). The word ‘magic’ is derived from ‘magi’. The Magus is also a
tarot card
“Do what thou wilt” – Advent 8, p. 245 – a reference to the
Thelemic Law revived by Aleister Crowley in The Book of Law, from St.
Augustine’s injunction “Love, and do what thou wilt”
Salammbo – Advent 11, p. 262 – named after the title character of
Gustave Flaubert’s 1862 novel
Seven Macaw – Advent 12, p. 264 – or Vucub Caquix, was a Mayan god
who would often claim to be the sun or the moon to his worshippers
The Kindly Ones –
Advent 12, p. 265 – is a euphemism used for the Furies, the Greek
personification of vengeance
Totem – The Kindly Ones 1, p. 273 – regarding a spirit animal
helper as a ‘totem’ is a rather New Age term
Les Laveuses – The Kindly Ones 1, p. 274 – is where Joanne
Harris’s novel Five Quarters
of the Orange is set, of which Framboise (p. 275) was the heroine
Saturnalia – The Kindly Ones 1, p. 278 – a Roman festival
celebrating the dedication of the temple of Saturn in late December
The Oak King and the Holly King – The Kindly Ones 1, p. 278 – in
Celtic mythology these battle two battle at Yule and midsummer to see who will
rule over the next half of the year.
The Oak King wins at Yule, and the Holly King wins at midsummer
Bamboozle – The Kindly Ones 1, p. 280 – which is probably why
Rosette says “Bam!” whenever she does something magical
Mischief Night – The Kindly Ones 2, p. 283 – is observed on
different dates throughout the UK just before Halloween, although it has merged
into Halloween’s trick or treating
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride – The Kindly Ones 6, p. 312 – this is
a nursey rhyme, which goes on to read: “If turnips were watches, I would wear
one by my side. And if "ifs" and "ands", Were pots and
pans, There'd be no work for tinkers!”
Le Stendhal – The Kindly Ones 7, p. 315 – is named after the
famous French writer’s penname.
Dalida’s
tomb – The Kindly Ones 8, p. 317 – Dalida was indeed an actress and singer
‘Petite Fleur’ – The Kindly Ones 11, p. 334 – was written by the
New Orleans jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet
The Tower – p. 343 – is a Tarot card that also featured heavily in
Joanne Harris’s Holy
Fools. It’s usually read as a blow that forces the subject to
re-examine all the pretences that they have been living under, so is quite
appropriate for Vianne
Pied Piper – The Tower 5, p. 371 – was, of course, prone to
kidnapping children
Vieux Paris – The Tower
7, p. 380 – means ‘Old Paris’
Piece montee – The Tower 7, p. 382 – means ‘mounted piece’, a
sculptured confectionary centrepiece, which, although edible, is so decorative
that it is usually not meant to be consumed
Chateau d’Yquem – The Tower 7, p. 382 – is a rather good quality
wine, not something you’d usually give a kid, so this probably gives the game
away for the Queen of Hearts
Santa Muerte – The Tower 7, p. 383 – literally the ‘Saint Death’
of Mexican tradition, who can be depicted as either male or female
Eater of Hearts – The Tower 7, p. 383 – a reference to Ammit, a
female figure from Egyptian mythology who was the personification of divine
retribution for all the wrongs a person had done in their life
en papillote – Yule 7,
p. 414 – cooking ‘in parchment paper’ is ideal for cooking delicate fillets
Coatlicue – Yule 17, p. 447 – the Aztec goddess who gave birth to
the moon and stars, the patron of women who die in childbirth. She is the mother Earth that gives
birth to and consumes everything
Quetzalcoatl – Yule 17, p. 447 – the most famous Aztec god
“blows up bandsmen by remote control” – Yule 17, p. 448 – probably a reference to the 1982 IRA
bombings in London’s Hyde Park and
Regents Park, or the 1989 bomb that wrecked Royal Marine School of Music in Kent
To find out more about the author,
please visit our Joanne
Harris page.
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