Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A sinister magic in Paris, 21 Jun 2007
First thing's first: you have to read Chocolat before reading this book, as many of the emotional issues will only make the most minimal of sense. And I mean read the book, not watch the Juliette Binoche film, which is great in its own way, but not the book of everyday magic that is Chocolat the novel.
Zozie de l'Alba breezes into Vianne and Anouk's life (now calling themselves Yanne and Annie), seemingly from nowhere and they become fast friends depending on her for moral and emotional support. But she is not what she seems. With a second daughter, Rosette, born after the events of the first book, Vianne has a new life to protect, but is unaware of the threat beneath her own roof.
I have to begin by saying I did really enjoy this book. The occult undertones in Chocolat are more obvious this time, and Harris makes a great villain out of Zozie. I found myself hating her more and more as the book went on and cheering on the character of Anouk as she finds herself.
My one big problem is Vianne. She is frightened and worried and wants to settle down and make a 'normal' life for herself and her children. The book is told from the points of view of Anouk, Zozie and Vianne, but Vianne spends three quarters of the book talking about stability, wanting to be normal, not wanting to be a witch, being afraid of losing Anouk, of losing stability ad nauseum. Her parts are reptitive and not as enjoyable as the unrepentent Zozie or Anouk nearing the verge of womanhood. Saying that, I had to keep reading near the end, I was completely drawn in, which is why the book has four stars.
If you liked Chocolat, don't expect simply more of the same, but a good story nonetheless.
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not so much as the sumptuous magical feat as a parlour magic trick, 27 Jul 2007
Having been a Harris reader now since the fantasmogorical Chocolat, I have come to expect a kind of magic from her writing. Whilst I enjoyed The Lollypop Shoes, it did not have the same effect as Chocolat, Coastliners, Blackberry Wine and the hugely successful Gentlemen and Players.
I was incredibly pleased to learn that Joanne Harris would be returning to the wonderful character, Vianne Rocher, although now hidden by the pseudonymn Yanne. At the end of Chocolat, I though that there was a lot more to be gleaned from Vianne. However, Harris does not use The Lollypop Shoes to elaborate or go much deeper with the character. However I must say that the interesting questions about Vianne's mother and the traditional vs conventional ideas about family makes for quiet comfort on this point. Vianne has run from ghosts who follow on the wind to Paris. Setting up a very small chocolaterie, she lives the life of a borrowed persona until Zozie de l'Alba blows in to liven up events. The story follows the changes and Harris is eagar to show that the glamourous Zozie is not as benign as she seems to Vianne's little family.
The prose is very well written, there is never any issue with this. Although it lacked a little of the usual magic of being able to envelop you completely, it was very good. However the plot is engaging right up until the very end where it falters slightly. Harris is famous for her ability to wind the plot coil so tightly that you are begging for an answer, an outcome, even a phone call, but The Lollypop Shoes left me with a feeling of the slightly disappointed bereft feeling. I thought that the book ended on a slight anti-climax whereas it could have ended with fireworks. I think that this is perhaps what has goaded me to give only three stars. Maybe it's just my opinion but I don't like to be left feeling deflated after a Harris novel. Perhaps I would feel more buoyant if I hadn't read a Harris novel before...
I particularly enjoyed the flamboyant and surprising character of Zozie de l'Alba. I found her transformations and her ideas about life and magic oddly refreshing, if a little sadistic. I also found little Rosette a very engaging little person, who, like Anouk, I would love to see more of in the future.
All in all, I thought it was a well written novel, however it lacked a little of the Harris magic I so adore. But it was enough to keep me happy until the next novel. My hat's off to you, Ms Harris!
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More sweet witchery from Joanne, 5 Sep 2007
You loved the magic of Chocolat and longed to hear about what happened to Vianne and Anouk after they left Lansquenet. Joanne Harris's latest book, The Lollipop Shoes will tell you that and much more.
The secrets and suggestions that ran through Chocolat like an underground river are revealed here within a new storyline set in Paris and in the present day. There is a slight change of name for the two original characters, they have become Yanne and Annie. The reader is led to believe that this is to disguise their identities and break the association with the happenings in Lansquenet, which somehow became headline news.
Annie has a sister now, and it is clear from the start that this is Roux's child, the product of his relationship with Vianne in Chocolat. She has been named Rosette - which might be translated as `Little Red' , and could be described as an `unusual' child. Yanne does not regard her child as disabled or handicapped in any way and encourages her psychic and magical abilities.
The Lollipop Shoes are worn by a new and colourful character Zozie D'Alba who comes into their lives as she runs from one identity to another. The methods of that very 21st century crime, identity theft, are described here and just how easy it is to acquire and use someone else's name for profit, but without glamourising or recommending what she does.
Zozie's influence on Yanne and Annie is intriguing. You see Annie growing up and challenging the way her mother has lived in the past and is living in the present. Zozie is presented as an alter ego for Yanne, and Annie is drawn to her, yet also repelled. Zozie also challenges Yanne to make decisions about her future and not to slip into a new life with her boyfriend Thierry, a life that sounds easy but has hidden threats and dangers.
The Lollipop Shoes is compulsive reading - even if you haven't read its predecessor, there is enough here to make you stay up all night to finish it. You will want to buy and read (or re-read) Chocolat to remind you of the start of the story, and here is the only criticism I can find. There is an uncomfortable time-jump between the two which makes The Lollipop Shoes not quite a sequel.
However, if you have any magic in your soul, Joanne Harris will bewitch you into suspending reality and forgetting this. You will come to understand that there is no distinction of `white magic' and `black magic' , only the way in which someone chooses to use the power they find in themselves and how it is seen by others.
Prepare to be enchanted, entertained and surprised at the revelations, but don't miss this book.
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