The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic blends several literary genres. The centrality of Jake and Sadie’s relationship situates it within the romance genre. The specific arc of that relationship—as it gets a second chance years after its first, youthful iteration that ended in heartbreak—is a common trope in romance novels. The novel also has elements of fantasy and magical realism. The use of magic and spells, particularly the presence of seven magical families in town, situates it in the fantasy genre. However, the inclusion of non-magical people and real-world allusions aligns the novel with magical realism.

Most uniquely, the novel is similar to another subgenre of books that focus on food magic in a realistic setting. Other texts in the culinary magical realism genre include Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate (1989), Joanne Harris’s Chocolat (1999), Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010), and Roselle Lim’s Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune (2019). Like Water for Chocolate is an important magical realism text, and its structure is similar to that of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic. Like Water For Chocolate features 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, each of which is preceded by a recipe. Like Randall, Esquivel includes both food recipes and instructions for making non-food domestic items. Esquivel’s protagonist, Tita, inadvertently infuses her own emotions into the foods she cooks, and those emotions are then experienced by those who eat it. The chapters begin with ingredients, and the preparation section of the recipe bleeds into its narrative. For example, the second chapter begins:

Place five egg yolks, four whole eggs, and the sugar in a large bowl. Beat until the mixture thickens and then add two more whole eggs; repeat adding the remaining eggs two at a time until blended. To make the cake for Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, Tita and Nacha had to multiply this recipe by ten” (Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. 1989. Translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen, Anchor Books, 1995, p. 25).

Esquivel weaves the recipe and its preparation into the narrative. Similarly, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic includes recipes that are interwoven with the narrative of the chapters that precede them.

Randall connects the recipe interludes closely to the plot of the novel. Most interludes feature a recipe for a dish that was made or referenced in the preceding chapter. At times, Gigi’s first-person introductions to the recipes provide additional detail or information that didn’t appear in the narrative itself. The content of the novel and the importance of magical baked goods and other meals are significant to the café and to Sadie’s identity.

In addition to the interludes and the content, Randall includes culinary magical realism through the use of figurative language. Randall includes food similes throughout the novel to emphasize characters’ emotional state and to suggest that food is in itself magic. Food similes often characterize either Sadie’s emotional state or familial interactions. For example, as the family departs after Gigi’s death, “hugs were passed around like a tray of chocolate truffles, sweet and decadent until too much made you sad for no reason” (246). The use of food as a simile ensures that culinary magical realism pervades even aspects of the text that do not refer directly to food or food magic. The connection between family, emotion, and food suggests a different kind of magic.