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2.56 AVERAGE
2.56 AVERAGE
This books a challenge to get into, largely due to the fact that none of the characters is particularly likable. It deals very well with a number of intense issues though: mental illness, human trafficking, abuses of immigrant labour, and the death of industry and demographic change in northern UK towns, to name just a few. In the end, it was well worth a read.
Let me preface this by saying I think Ms. Ali writes beautifully.
With that said, all I can say when I finished this book was "I'm so glad I'm done with that". There are so many reasons not to finish this book. Unfortunately, once I start one, I feel the need to finish it. This book was a drag, and many times I just thought "ugh". The characters are not likeable at all, and there's no reason to enjoy the reasons they aren't likeable.
I have not read "Brick Lane" but plan on it. I do hope it is better than this book was.
With that said, all I can say when I finished this book was "I'm so glad I'm done with that". There are so many reasons not to finish this book. Unfortunately, once I start one, I feel the need to finish it. This book was a drag, and many times I just thought "ugh". The characters are not likeable at all, and there's no reason to enjoy the reasons they aren't likeable.
I have not read "Brick Lane" but plan on it. I do hope it is better than this book was.
I really wanted to like this book, because it had a setting I love and the concept seemed like it could go in a ton of different ways, but the plot and characters just seemed to meander around until the very end when a big shift happened. Not very fulfilling.
This book is filled with beautiful, descriptive turns of a phrase that made me envious of Ali's talent. This is the tale of a British chef, working to prove he can manage his own restaurant to two rich backers and along the way meanders the multi-cultural kitchen/hotel staff, navigates the changes in English culture and social psyches while falling into a detached sexual obsession for a ghost of a girl who might hold the key to illegal labor activities among the hotel's management.
I enjoyed the first 2/3rd of the tale but became impatient for it to end. I skimmed the last fifty pages; never understanding Gabe's obsession for Lena who the reader can barely understand or sympathize with as Gabe couldn't get more than five words and listless sex out of her--why did he throw away everything including a beautiful, sexy fiance? Was Lena some specter of his dead mother, a woman whom Gabe never realized suffered from a bi-polar disorder? Gabe is credited with being able to "read" people's character but what you realize is he's very bad at reading the people close to himself and terrible at understanding himself entirely.
I enjoyed the first 2/3rd of the tale but became impatient for it to end. I skimmed the last fifty pages; never understanding Gabe's obsession for Lena who the reader can barely understand or sympathize with as Gabe couldn't get more than five words and listless sex out of her--why did he throw away everything including a beautiful, sexy fiance? Was Lena some specter of his dead mother, a woman whom Gabe never realized suffered from a bi-polar disorder? Gabe is credited with being able to "read" people's character but what you realize is he's very bad at reading the people close to himself and terrible at understanding himself entirely.
The more I read the more uncomfortable I became.
I picked up this book because this author is featured by Talking Volumes, Minnesota Public Radio's literature spot. It traces the downfall of a chef in modern London. Learning about the multicultural flavor of London was an eye opener. I knew a little bit about it, but I enjoyed stepping into it via someone else's shoes.
The protaganist suffers from bi-polar disorder and every chapter he just kept making more and more a mess of his life. I got to the middle and began to feel uncomfortable when I picked it up. I couldn't stand to see his messes.
It all turns out okay in the end...in a way...I guess I appreciate this writer because
1- She was masterful at writing from the viewpoint of someone with bi-polar disorder...at least from my limited experience it seemed like she did a really nice job.
2- It had a happy/sad ending. None of it worked out, but at the same time there was a clarity to reality, and a simplicity that brought the reader relief.
I picked up this book because this author is featured by Talking Volumes, Minnesota Public Radio's literature spot. It traces the downfall of a chef in modern London. Learning about the multicultural flavor of London was an eye opener. I knew a little bit about it, but I enjoyed stepping into it via someone else's shoes.
The protaganist suffers from bi-polar disorder and every chapter he just kept making more and more a mess of his life. I got to the middle and began to feel uncomfortable when I picked it up. I couldn't stand to see his messes.
It all turns out okay in the end...in a way...I guess I appreciate this writer because
1- She was masterful at writing from the viewpoint of someone with bi-polar disorder...at least from my limited experience it seemed like she did a really nice job.
2- It had a happy/sad ending. None of it worked out, but at the same time there was a clarity to reality, and a simplicity that brought the reader relief.
This was a slog to read. Not my cup of tea I think: I simply couldn't get to grips with the "philosophy" of it.
While it is very well written I felt the book was long on plot and short on story. Further damaging any chance that I would like this book was the sad fact that I didn't care at all about any of the characters. I might look into some of the other things Ali has written, though, because the writing really was quite good.
Oh, what a snooze. The main character is a reprehensible bore, and really, for a book entitled In the Kitchen, shouldn't there be more scenes in the kitchen? Instead of in this guy's apartment where he molests a teenage sex slave's feet? Instead of wandering the streets on London with a member of Parliament, droning on & on about politics? Instead of in this guy's head, witnessing his creepy & plot-pointless dream? I think I was expecting some sort of mystery-tinged Kitchen Confidential, but this book is surely not that. & anyone interested in an exploration of multicultural London would do better to read Zadie Smith.
Let me preface this by saying I think Ms. Ali writes beautifully.
With that said, all I can say when I finished this book was "I'm so glad I'm done with that". There are so many reasons not to finish this book. Unfortunately, once I start one, I feel the need to finish it. This book was a drag, and many times I just thought "ugh". The characters are not likeable at all, and there's no reason to enjoy the reasons they aren't likeable.
I have not read "Brick Lane" but plan on it. I do hope it is better than this book was.
With that said, all I can say when I finished this book was "I'm so glad I'm done with that". There are so many reasons not to finish this book. Unfortunately, once I start one, I feel the need to finish it. This book was a drag, and many times I just thought "ugh". The characters are not likeable at all, and there's no reason to enjoy the reasons they aren't likeable.
I have not read "Brick Lane" but plan on it. I do hope it is better than this book was.
The 500plus pages of "In the Kitchen" leave me pretty confused. What did Monica Ali want with this novel? I picked it up a couple of years ago at Foyle's on Charing Cross Street in London wanting to read a Londonish book that dealt with the fast changes this metropolis had gone through, but read it first now in the times of Corona.
The central figure is Gabriel Lightfoot, the chef of the kitchen of the old Imperial Hotel in central London. A Ukrainian employee dies, a Belorussian woman called Lena moves into Gabriel's flat and becomes his center of affection and he throws away almost everything he's ever worked for in his life including his love for the amazing singer Charlie.
There are elements of a crime novel when some people around the Imperial are suspected of gtrafficking. There is he story of Gabriel and his father Ted and his sister Jenny. There are ideological disputes between Gabe and his father and with the politician Fairweather that are more like op eds for the Guardian or the New York Times. At the same time there is so much talent in Monica Cali's writing, she is very descriptive with a great sense for atmosphere. But I also thought if it was really necessary to write 550 pages and if a lector should not have tried to make this shorter and give it a clear and unmistakable focus.
The central figure is Gabriel Lightfoot, the chef of the kitchen of the old Imperial Hotel in central London. A Ukrainian employee dies, a Belorussian woman called Lena moves into Gabriel's flat and becomes his center of affection and he throws away almost everything he's ever worked for in his life including his love for the amazing singer Charlie.
There are elements of a crime novel when some people around the Imperial are suspected of gtrafficking. There is he story of Gabriel and his father Ted and his sister Jenny. There are ideological disputes between Gabe and his father and with the politician Fairweather that are more like op eds for the Guardian or the New York Times. At the same time there is so much talent in Monica Cali's writing, she is very descriptive with a great sense for atmosphere. But I also thought if it was really necessary to write 550 pages and if a lector should not have tried to make this shorter and give it a clear and unmistakable focus.