Fans of Laura Esquivel will savor ‘Malinche’

“Malinche”

by Laura Esquivel (Atria, 208 pages, $22.95)

Smart writers learn early in their careers to find a niche, an area of expertise and writing style they can put their signature on and grow into.

Then, it’s up to readers to decide if they will embrace it, or not like it so much and simply respect the author’s ways.

Such is the case with Laura Esquivel.

She set the tone for a highly respected career in the early 1990s with her first book, “Like Water for Chocolate,” a supernatural tale detailing a young girl’s expression of passion through cooking. The book has sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide, was made into a movie and earned an ABBY award from the American Booksellers Association.

Above all, “Chocolate” displayed Esquivel’s knowledge and familiarity with her native Mexico and established her comfort level with magical realism. Her new book, “Malinche,” doesn’t stray from either of those expressions.

The cover for “Malinche” describes the historical novel as a tale about the “tragic and passionate love affair” between Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his translator.

The story is a lyrical interpretation of the timeline that follows the destruction of Montezuma’s 16th-century Mexican empire by Cortes. Mallinalli, also called Malinche in the book, was sold into slavery as a child and later became Cortes’ interpreter.

But the term love affair should be accepted lightly.

Yes, Cortes and Mallinalli share an intimate relationship that leads to the birth of a child and lends itself to vibrantly written scenes by Esquivel. Their first encounter, a mere exchange between their eyes with no words, is depicted with vivid passion.

But to call their relationship – which frequently included Cortes being just as forceful with Mallinalli as he was in war – one of love is extreme. Still, the relationship between Cortes and Mallinalli, a woman who has often been deemed a traitor in Mexican history, is a good launching pad for a novel.

Esquivel does do a nice job of showing a sympathetic side to Mallinalli that may reveal she was simply an innocent trapped in Cortes’ power-hungry world.

The problem, however, comes when Esquivel tries to pack too much information into just a few pages. The novel gets clouded with her heavy use of magical realism and her need to explain every innermost thought of her characters. This leads to superfluous paragraphs that take characters into back story and memories, resulting in a sometimes disjointed narrative.

But all these things may seem like gravy to Esquivel’s loyal fans, because overall she sticks to her pattern of richly imagined detail. Readers who like her style will devour every word. Those who do not may get lost.

With “Malinche,” Esquivel remains true to her magical realism ways. So, loyalists will be delighted; others should move on.