I just finished The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel, the author of Like Water for Chocolate. Sometimes, I like to read discussions around a book after I finish and was surprised to find how little discourse there was for this book. I know it's an old book (came out almost twenty years ago) but Laura Esquivel is a well regarded author, and The Law of Love has a unique format (some might argue a gimmick) and an interesting premise. I guess I was just surprised to discover that she's a one hit writer in the US, where I live. Like Water for Chocolate has over 385 thousand ratings on goodreads and over 24 thousand on storygraph. The Law of Love barely has four thousand on goodreads and basically only 300 on storygraph. I know that it's normal for some readers to drop off, but for her subsequent novel to only get like 10% of the amount of ratings… that seems like a steep drop.
Like Water for Chocolate was pretty popular in the US during the 90's. I was a kid and even I knew about it. My older sister read it in school, which is how I eventually ended up with the copy to read when I was a older. I assumed that Esquivel had continued success in the US that I was unaware of, but I guess not.
I can see why some writers only have one hits. No one thought EL James had any staying power (though, technically, I guess she had three hits). And, some writers just publish one novel in their life time. But, I'm curious about the surprising one hit writers like Esquivel- talented, well received, sold a ton of copies, their novel got turned into a movie, is still loved and respected enough that people are reading their hit, but for some reason, there's very little interest in their subsequent books.
Who are some of your surprising one hit writers and why do you think the general public lost interest?
I do recognize that Laura Esquivel is a Mexican writer, living and writing in Mexcio. Just because she is known for one book in the US, does not make her a one hit writer globally. If you're outside the US, I would also love to know what prolific American writers are known for just one hit in your country.
by Anxious-Fun8829