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herecomesthesun12's review
1.0
This was on my TBR for so long, and so disappointing. So. Many. Footnotes. Including 1.5 pages of footnotes and sub-footnotes on the history of Pringles. (??) I had to force myself to finish. Mayyybe 1.5 stars.
mandi_m's review
1.0
Monday book club read this one and were initially excited as it sounded great. Unfortunately it does not live up to the gorgeous cover and blurb and the excessive footnotes made it very frustrating. There were some great moments, but it did not work as a whole and not finding out much of the truth of what the book was trying to tell was infuriating.
We gave it 2/2/4/6/5/2/3/5/3
We gave it 2/2/4/6/5/2/3/5/3
saltydough's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Paterniti is obviously a great writer, and I enjoyed seeing him flex his descriptive muscles in this book. I also appreciated the bits and bobs of Spanish history and culture that he dropped in there. The Goya painting allegory was particularly effective. The only complaint I have was that he spent far too much time romanticizing Ambrosio and Guzman, and far too little time walking that perspective back. I would've liked to see more disillusionment on his part, and I think the conclusion he comes to isn't really satisfying. It's clear that he was still under Ambrosio's weird masculine spell.
annebogel's review
3.0
I found this book fascinating and maddening. The last third seemed at once appropriate, and really disappointing. I've gotta admit, I'm surprised how many "best of the year" lists I've seen this book on already.
mynameiskate's review
3.0
This book was pretty interesting (albeit it is yet another "stunt-journalist cum man-child needs to have an adventure" book). Paterniti is a good storyteller. His writing is evocative .. I could always picture (and taste!) the scenes and settings he described.
It is ultimately an interesting story .. but I did find the book a little unsatisfying in the end. Though I think that is because of what happens with the cheese producer, rather than any failing of Paterniti.
If you like cheese, like France or like stunt journalism books (like I do), you will find this a quick breezy read.
Many thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing an ebook review copy.
It is ultimately an interesting story .. but I did find the book a little unsatisfying in the end. Though I think that is because of what happens with the cheese producer, rather than any failing of Paterniti.
If you like cheese, like France or like stunt journalism books (like I do), you will find this a quick breezy read.
Many thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing an ebook review copy.
booksandbosox's review
2.0
This book really annoyed me. You see, the story of the cheese itself is incredibly interesting and, actually, I think, the most unfinished bit of this book. I still don't feel like I really know the story of the cheese. I found this book annoying because Paterniti spent a lot of time on digressions - and, yes, I completely get that he was mirroring the Castilian ways of storytelling but, quite frankly, I don't care. I found the digressions uninteresting and spent the time reading them wondering when we'd get back to the story of the cheese. Additionally, I didn't care about reading Paterniti's story about his own - and there is a lot of that. In fact, there are whole sections where he discusses how difficult he found writing this book to be, how much he struggled editing it and how long it took him to complete. I found myself thinking during these sections, "This is the edited version?" It still doesn't read like a completed book to me. I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't.
I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. Thanks to the publisher for a finished copy.
I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. Thanks to the publisher for a finished copy.
deinin's review
2.0
The tale of love, betrayal, etc would have made a good longform article, but as a book, it's self-indulgent to the point of being insufferable at times.
knightowl's review
I liked the premise, but it was pretty slow, and (I felt) more vulgar/crass than it needed to be.
dundermifflin's review
2.0
A reviewer of The Telling Room in NYT Book Review related the opinion of Paterniti's wife that the first half of the book dragged because it focused too much on the author. I couldn't get past that, perhaps because I completed his other book, Driving Mr. Albert, which suffered from the same problem.