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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Delicious Foods is a sad, brutal book, but do not let that keep you from reading it. Hannaham's writing is incredible. The tragic subject matter is handled with care. The crack point of view chapters are more than gimmick. It gives insight into the characters and their addictions. This is a powerful book that will sweep you up in its pointed narrative.
I couldn't get through it. It wasn't bad but I didn't enjoy reading it. I felt like I was forcing myself to read the book so I finally gave up more than halfway through.
This book was AMAZING. Honestly it was a great story and was very well written. At first I started reading the book and was like WTF is this I’m reading? But I was curious to figure it out so I read on. Then I became so engrossed in the story and the different character perspectives. Honestly as soon as I finished I recommended it to everyone I know. I am looking for more from this author, I love his writing style! Give it a try and stick with it through the pacing/time shift in the story telling...it all comes together and becomes more clear—trust me!
Horrifying on so many levels. SO GOOD. In the first chapter of this book, we learn part of the ending of the story, and the rest of the book builds up to how the characters arrived at that gruesome, devastating event. Since we immediately know where one of our characters ends up (hint: the result is fewer appendages than he started with) I thought it moved a bit slowly at the beginning for my taste, especially since I was so eager to know what happened, which is why I gave it 4 stars. Exceptionally creative, each page drawing us deeper into the harrowing experiences of Darlene, one of our narrators, and her son, Eddie. This book deals with grieving the loss of a family member, the horrors of modern-day racism, and addiction. It's a really incredible book and will rattle you to your core.
From its wild-eyed open with a young Eddie driving a stolen Subaru, blood soaked towels where his hands should be, to Hannaham’s choice to have crack cocaine narrate much of the book, this book subverts expectation. We’re in the midst of a “how-dunnit” as we go back years to meet Eddie’s mother turning tricks and looking for her next hit and then years earlier to her in college on a path to build a life with the man who will become her husband.
You can imbue the story with a host of themes — as allegory or expose but it’s still at its heart a fantastically compelling read.
You can imbue the story with a host of themes — as allegory or expose but it’s still at its heart a fantastically compelling read.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Why are independent bookshops such an integral part of a thriving community? Because a good independent bookshop promotes books like these.
I was traveling in Oregon last October when I stumbled into the little western flavored town of Jacksonville, not far from the California border. It was a small town, but infinitely charming, with only one main street, California Street, which could have stood in as a location in any number of old Clint Eastwood or John Wayne westerns.
At 157 California Street sits Rebel Heart Books. It's small, just a single room, so it doesn't contain as many books as may be found in your average bookshop. The difference is that each book it does contain belongs there, has been specially chosen to take up one of the valued spots on the shelf or the table.
I came away with several books that day, and I still haven't gotten around to reading them all. But one of the reasons why Rebel Heart Books is my absolute favorite bookshop anywhere is because of how knowledgable the woman at the counter was about all the books. As she was ringing me up, the lady (whose name I have so unfortunately forgotten) made comments on each of them, talking about how excited they (the shop) were to feature this book or that author. She clearly knew something about every book there, had very probably had a hand in selecting them all herself.
That's something that you just don't get at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or even a larger bookshop. Sure, many of them have their "Staff Picks" but in Rebel Heart Books, EVERY book was a staff pick. If they weren't, they wouldn't have been there.
All of which is my very long way of saying that I have that wonderful little bookshop on California Street in Jacksonville, Oregon, to thank for "Delicious Foods", a book that was was everything I hoped it would be and more.
Now onto the actual book.
Thanks largely to Jordan Peele, the political horror story has lately seen a revival. See Peele's "Get Out" for a great example of political horror done right, any of "The Purge" movies for an example of it done poorly.
But oh does James Hannaham's "Delicious Foods" do it right.
It does for literary horror what "Get Out" did for cinematic horror. It's a wonder, honestly, that it hasn't been adapted for the big screen yet.
Like "Get Out", "Delicious Foods" is a horror story with comedic elements. Definitely not a comedy with horror elements. It won't just stay with you long after you've put it down, it will haunt you.
There is so much going on here, so much to get into, but at the same time I don't really want to get into any of it because it is best to go into this blind.
I'll simply say that our story starts with a getaway. Our protagonist, Eddie, is driving as fast as he can away from "The Farm," the place he's just escaped from. His arms end in two bloody stumps because, for reasons we don't yet understand, both his hands have recently been severed. He steers by sticking his forearms "in two of the wheel's holes."
He has no idea where he's going, he just knows he has to get away.
From the very first page, I was deeply engaged in the story. That doesn't often happen. It will usually take me several pages, sometimes chapters, to really slip into the mood the author is setting. Not here.
Hannaham is such a talented writer, it's a wonder he's not better known. Here he writes convincingly as Eddie (both as a child and as a young man), as Eddie's mother, and as the drug said mother is hooked on. Yes, one of the three points of view in this story is told from the perspective of CRACK COCAINE. How crazy is that? It's trippily Pynchon-esque, positively Lynchian, but it's so much more than just a gimmick.
"Delicious Foods" is the kind of book that demands to be discussed. I can't remember the last time I read a book and so wished that I was part of a book club that was reading it. The themes here are nowhere near modest:
The legacy of slavery, white supremacy, racial injustice, human trafficking, drug abuse, industrialism, unfettered capitalism, exploitation.
This book tackles all of these issues in 367 pages and tackles them beautifully. In lesser hands, "Delicious Foods" would have been a mess, the perfect example of a novel that tries to overachieve. But "Delicious Foods" DOES achieve, exactly what it sets out to.
This is what great literature is. It shocks you and makes you think about the world you live in and all the wrongs that still need to be righted.
Thanks to Rebel Heart Books and great independent bookshops everywhere for promoting books like these.
I was traveling in Oregon last October when I stumbled into the little western flavored town of Jacksonville, not far from the California border. It was a small town, but infinitely charming, with only one main street, California Street, which could have stood in as a location in any number of old Clint Eastwood or John Wayne westerns.
At 157 California Street sits Rebel Heart Books. It's small, just a single room, so it doesn't contain as many books as may be found in your average bookshop. The difference is that each book it does contain belongs there, has been specially chosen to take up one of the valued spots on the shelf or the table.
I came away with several books that day, and I still haven't gotten around to reading them all. But one of the reasons why Rebel Heart Books is my absolute favorite bookshop anywhere is because of how knowledgable the woman at the counter was about all the books. As she was ringing me up, the lady (whose name I have so unfortunately forgotten) made comments on each of them, talking about how excited they (the shop) were to feature this book or that author. She clearly knew something about every book there, had very probably had a hand in selecting them all herself.
That's something that you just don't get at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or even a larger bookshop. Sure, many of them have their "Staff Picks" but in Rebel Heart Books, EVERY book was a staff pick. If they weren't, they wouldn't have been there.
All of which is my very long way of saying that I have that wonderful little bookshop on California Street in Jacksonville, Oregon, to thank for "Delicious Foods", a book that was was everything I hoped it would be and more.
Now onto the actual book.
Thanks largely to Jordan Peele, the political horror story has lately seen a revival. See Peele's "Get Out" for a great example of political horror done right, any of "The Purge" movies for an example of it done poorly.
But oh does James Hannaham's "Delicious Foods" do it right.
It does for literary horror what "Get Out" did for cinematic horror. It's a wonder, honestly, that it hasn't been adapted for the big screen yet.
Like "Get Out", "Delicious Foods" is a horror story with comedic elements. Definitely not a comedy with horror elements. It won't just stay with you long after you've put it down, it will haunt you.
There is so much going on here, so much to get into, but at the same time I don't really want to get into any of it because it is best to go into this blind.
I'll simply say that our story starts with a getaway. Our protagonist, Eddie, is driving as fast as he can away from "The Farm," the place he's just escaped from. His arms end in two bloody stumps because, for reasons we don't yet understand, both his hands have recently been severed. He steers by sticking his forearms "in two of the wheel's holes."
He has no idea where he's going, he just knows he has to get away.
From the very first page, I was deeply engaged in the story. That doesn't often happen. It will usually take me several pages, sometimes chapters, to really slip into the mood the author is setting. Not here.
Hannaham is such a talented writer, it's a wonder he's not better known. Here he writes convincingly as Eddie (both as a child and as a young man), as Eddie's mother, and as the drug said mother is hooked on. Yes, one of the three points of view in this story is told from the perspective of CRACK COCAINE. How crazy is that? It's trippily Pynchon-esque, positively Lynchian, but it's so much more than just a gimmick.
"Delicious Foods" is the kind of book that demands to be discussed. I can't remember the last time I read a book and so wished that I was part of a book club that was reading it. The themes here are nowhere near modest:
The legacy of slavery, white supremacy, racial injustice, human trafficking, drug abuse, industrialism, unfettered capitalism, exploitation.
This book tackles all of these issues in 367 pages and tackles them beautifully. In lesser hands, "Delicious Foods" would have been a mess, the perfect example of a novel that tries to overachieve. But "Delicious Foods" DOES achieve, exactly what it sets out to.
This is what great literature is. It shocks you and makes you think about the world you live in and all the wrongs that still need to be righted.
Thanks to Rebel Heart Books and great independent bookshops everywhere for promoting books like these.
This book was heart-wrenching and a bit difficult to read at times; that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The prologue actually starts near the end of the story, where we find something out about Eddie, and is actually what hooked me from the beginning - because I had to find out how it happened. Then we toggle back and forth, learning backstory about Eddie's mom Darlene and about her current situation. I actually considered for a moment just turning a few pages past the culminating event. The author employed two very effective literary devices: a big portion of the book was narrated by Crack Cocaine, or Scotty; and when Darlene was under the influence of crack, the narration had a much different feel to it than when she wasn't. The book deals with racism, poverty, and drug-use. The titular Delicious Foods is a farm where Darlene ends up, thinking it will be the means to improve her life.
DNF. I really wanted to like this book, but it was a total snooze fest.
3.5
I'd probably have given this four stars, but I didn't think the ending was as strong as the rest. Nonetheless, "Delicious Foods" is still a poignant, yet sometimes darkly humorous, look at modern-day slavery. The audio version is read by the author himself, and unlike a lot of authors, he is wonderful at reading his own work.
I'd probably have given this four stars, but I didn't think the ending was as strong as the rest. Nonetheless, "Delicious Foods" is still a poignant, yet sometimes darkly humorous, look at modern-day slavery. The audio version is read by the author himself, and unlike a lot of authors, he is wonderful at reading his own work.