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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
This is fun graphic novel, set in a world that is so food-obsessed that muggers will lay off of victims with coveted restaurant reservations. The vivid art wonderfully complements the story.
Fans of Anthony Bourdain's books or shows should feel right at home here. Get Jiro taps into that precise blend of absolute reverence for food, a deep loathing for pretense, and a cheeky sophomoric streak that make Bourdain popular in the first place. This comes with the requisite amount of camp for the medium, but still captures the essence of the exotic meals and methods. It's a fun premise - a future where modern entertainment has collapsed and food becomes the epicenter of our hedonism, desire, and awe. Wishful thinking for a guy who's carved his name into the world with a chef's knife, I suppose. Worth a read!
Love Anthony Bourdain, and this graphic novel, a story of a sushi chef going rogue has his marks all over it. Well done, with a couple of plot twists, and a protagonist you come to like. I liked it.
I was really saddened by Anthony Bourdain's death. I respected his work a great deal, especially how he was able to open westerners' eyes to the ways of life in other countries and cultures. He used food as a gateway to help people relate to those different from themselves in a really powerful way. I've always been a fan of his and, as someone who has struggled with these demons many times, was beyond words when I heard about his suicide.
Naturally, my coping mechanism involved relentlessly googling his name. In so doing, I found an article about how he had originally wanted to be a comic book artist but had been rejected because his art wasn't good enough, and so he moved on to being an award-winning chef and television host(!). After his success in television he was eventually able to produce a few comics about the subjects he loved. Needless to say, I was intrigued.
But I have to be honest. This comic did not hit home. The characters are one dimensional and the plot doesn't make any sense. But! the world building is exquisite. I completely buy in to this future LA where cooking skills are the prime currency and gastronomy is the only art that has any sway anymore. Thinking about it critically, that makes no sense, but in this comic it feels very natural.
I think a lot of the problems with this comic stem from maybe Bourdain was given too much leeway with not enough editorial support? He had never published a narrative format book before so someone should have been there to say 'maybe let's do this another way'. I mean, it's a really fascinating idea with some really cool characters who could have benefited from a lot more development. I especially love Rose, the hypocritical, local-food movement, vegan chef.
However, I find the battle between Rose and her adversary, the unethical, misogynistic Bob very unrealistic. We're presented with this binary choice between the hippie, vegan, local collective (except the leader secretly eats meat and buys ingredients from non-local sources) and the trans-global, corporate, profit-centered sexual harasser like that's a real choice. The hippie chick kills people and feeds them to pigs, but that is not a reasonable representation of reality. The corporate, rapey assholes on the other side are very much real and exist everywhere, but we're given this straw-woman to be his counterpoint so he doesn't seem so bad in comparison.
I could go on, but basically the main character is a nothing personality with a mysterious past who is forced to choose between two powerful sides, one of which is squarely grounded in real-life corporatist nightmare assholes, the other a gross exaggeration of the hypocrisies of vegan hippies (who are annoying but could never have anywhere near this much power).
I'm sorry Anthony, I love you but this just isn't very good. I hope you understand.
Naturally, my coping mechanism involved relentlessly googling his name. In so doing, I found an article about how he had originally wanted to be a comic book artist but had been rejected because his art wasn't good enough, and so he moved on to being an award-winning chef and television host(!). After his success in television he was eventually able to produce a few comics about the subjects he loved. Needless to say, I was intrigued.
But I have to be honest. This comic did not hit home. The characters are one dimensional and the plot doesn't make any sense. But! the world building is exquisite. I completely buy in to this future LA where cooking skills are the prime currency and gastronomy is the only art that has any sway anymore. Thinking about it critically, that makes no sense, but in this comic it feels very natural.
I think a lot of the problems with this comic stem from maybe Bourdain was given too much leeway with not enough editorial support? He had never published a narrative format book before so someone should have been there to say 'maybe let's do this another way'. I mean, it's a really fascinating idea with some really cool characters who could have benefited from a lot more development. I especially love Rose, the hypocritical, local-food movement, vegan chef.
However, I find the battle between Rose and her adversary, the unethical, misogynistic Bob very unrealistic. We're presented with this binary choice between the hippie, vegan, local collective (except the leader secretly eats meat and buys ingredients from non-local sources) and the trans-global, corporate, profit-centered sexual harasser like that's a real choice. The hippie chick kills people and feeds them to pigs, but that is not a reasonable representation of reality. The corporate, rapey assholes on the other side are very much real and exist everywhere, but we're given this straw-woman to be his counterpoint so he doesn't seem so bad in comparison.
I could go on, but basically the main character is a nothing personality with a mysterious past who is forced to choose between two powerful sides, one of which is squarely grounded in real-life corporatist nightmare assholes, the other a gross exaggeration of the hypocrisies of vegan hippies (who are annoying but could never have anywhere near this much power).
I'm sorry Anthony, I love you but this just isn't very good. I hope you understand.
The restaurant business is really a cut throat one, and according to this book you can take that literally.
This popped up on my Kindle Unlimited options last night, and a I grabbed it, and read it that evening. As an illustrated novel, it does not take long to read.
Fun, but it does drag at times. Being a bit preachy, rather than funny.
There is gratuitous violence and blood (although I can understand Jiro's rsponse to an order for a California Roll!), and some macho Robert Crumb illustrations (women, a bit on the "significant" side of size, and cleavage and panties). Hmmm, the sous chef does look a bit like Anne Burrell!
Gotta love that the hippy/Whole Foods leader is probably more vicious than her fine dining/French cuisine rival.
And love that the gangs use kitchen utensils and gardening tools as weapons.
Fun food read, although not much new in the way of food here. We've all heard the ortolan recipe a few times by now.
Worth an evening, and a worthwhile evening's entertainment.
Fun, but it does drag at times. Being a bit preachy, rather than funny.
There is gratuitous violence and blood (although I can understand Jiro's rsponse to an order for a California Roll!), and some macho Robert Crumb illustrations (women, a bit on the "significant" side of size, and cleavage and panties). Hmmm, the sous chef does look a bit like Anne Burrell!
Gotta love that the hippy/Whole Foods leader is probably more vicious than her fine dining/French cuisine rival.
And love that the gangs use kitchen utensils and gardening tools as weapons.
Fun food read, although not much new in the way of food here. We've all heard the ortolan recipe a few times by now.
Worth an evening, and a worthwhile evening's entertainment.