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2.56 AVERAGE
2.56 AVERAGE
I had a very difficult time getting through this book. I got about halfway through and decided that I couldn't go on any longer. Monica Ali is a good writer from a technical standpoint, the story just could not hold my attention.
Had high hopes for this one. Monica Ali who wrote the amazing Brick Lane! And a book set (partly at least) in a restaurant, with a chef as the main character. Sadly it was a rather tedious read. It starts out interesting with the death of a man, one of the restaurant staff, in the kitchen cellar. And a mysterious young woman appears, needing help. The kitchen staff is a great mix of migrant workers and all the scenes set in the kitchen or restaurant are great. I guess I just didn’t really care about the main character Gabriel enough and in the end, the dead man seems to have been forgotten. A bit of a disappointment.
It is tough to ride along first-person with a self-centered, selfish, self-obsessed narrator. It is doubly difficult to ride into a mental breakdown with him. That is the journey that Monica Ali takes us on in this book. Gabriel Lightfoot, Executive Chef at an aspiring hotel in London is facing the terminal illness of his father, the start up of his long sought restaurant with two very disparate partners, and the on-premises death of a member of his staff. It is challenging to watch Gabe dismiss people who offer support and/or affection.
The book gives the reader some idea of what it takes to manage a large hotel kitchen. It also takes on the seamy side of illegal immigration in the UK.
The book gives the reader some idea of what it takes to manage a large hotel kitchen. It also takes on the seamy side of illegal immigration in the UK.
Since I had to return this book to the library, I did not finish it and now find I am reluctant to go back, not a gripping tale despite a topic (food) of interest to me.
A great book, lots of well-rounded characters. It's an all-round portrait of 21st century living, touching on loss of a sense of community, immigration and celebrity culture. One phrase has stuck: ''TV chefs aren't about filling a hole in the stomach, they're about filling a hole in the life''.
It was an inbetween of a really difficult to read book and an amazing masterpiece. I don’t know where to start. Especially in the beginning, it was impossible to read it but at the same time impossible to put down. It took ages until I started understanding the story, and when I finally understood where it was going, everything was so well connected that it was impossible to explain the line in a fast, simple way to my friends.
As a wrap-up, it’s a beautifully written book that you’ll love once you managed to get through the first 100 pages, either you love it or you hate it; and all the characters - especially Gabe - are exquisitely round and always changing.
As a wrap-up, it’s a beautifully written book that you’ll love once you managed to get through the first 100 pages, either you love it or you hate it; and all the characters - especially Gabe - are exquisitely round and always changing.
I am sorry I have tried to get into it, but each time I have I don't connect to any character and neither the story or plot helps at all it just feels off and flat and just uninteresting and dull. At least it saves me from using it valuable book shelves space and kindle space an author to not follow in future
Potentially good ideas of exploring national identity through work-life, personal-life, and family-life. In a way, similar to what she did in The Brick Lane. Just doesn't work that well here. Too many distractions, too many ideas; there is the setting of a Hotel Kitchen that we have become all too familiar with thanks to TV and (in)famous Celebrity Chefs, there is human trafficking, there is the nostalgia for the fading away of the "Old Britain", there is manic depression, a kinda of love-story or two, the life of ze eemeegrants and the sociology of the politics of an MP/Businessman, a dying dad, a senile grandmother, an "oh-God-what-has-she-done-to-herself" domesticated sister in small town North England, and the narrator in the middle of a midlife crisis and nervous breakdown in London. And it all begins with a dead body in the cellars.
I wanted to like him, he was a Chef and he was trying so hard to do the right thing. But in the end, I just wanted to give him a whack and say SHUT UP!!
I wanted to like him, he was a Chef and he was trying so hard to do the right thing. But in the end, I just wanted to give him a whack and say SHUT UP!!