Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Opinião em vídeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePEHzxoa-og&t=1690s
I definitely thought this book was interesting. It takes place with three characters: Eddie, his mother Darlene, and Scotty (cocaine). I definitely gave a second thought to where my food comes from and the working conditions that people experience when working for large food companies. I also saw the destructive nature of crack and how horribly awful its hold was on Darlene. My sympathy goes out to Eddie for being brought into this life. My only complaint was that was a little tedious in the middle. I think the pacing was just too slow.
Hannaham gets 5 stars for originality. I doubt you'll read anything like this. I'm not sure Delicious Foods fits into any particular genre, but that's a plus for me. Darlene loses her husband in an act of vicious racism and is left to fend for herself with her little boy. Grief overtakes her, and she descends into addiction. Some chapters are narrated by her friend, crack cocaine. Excellent voice and writing for crack cocaine, Scotty (I would have left him nameless and made him white, but that means I have to write my own book, right?). Darlene gets mixed up with the company Delicious Foods which is a slave labor force of farm hands.
**SPOILER ALERT**
I can't talk about Darlene without giving some things away. Darlene's character doesn't completely work for me. She's all over the place. She's a college student, active in a Black women's sorority with lots of friends, to...a grief stricken wife, to...a crack addict, prostitute and woman who abandons her son, to...at the end of the book she almost seems to have lost her mind, to...turning herself around after years of addiction in 6 months. And I'm not talking just not using crack...but being an obsessive healthy eater and jogging and working out blah blah, all in six months. I'm not sure addiction works that way but what do I know? Something didn't ring true for me, is all. Parts were a little surreal. But that being said, I wasn't sure that Hannaham didn't WANT her to be kind of this all-encompassing character that was bigger than life. Maybe he did it intentionally. I might be reading too much into it.
Her son, Eddie, will break your heart with his devotion to her, despite being abandoned at 12 years old. His courage and will to survive, is something Darlene had in the beginning but somehow lost along with way. Despite the cheery cover, it's dark and heavy. Hannaham plays with voodoo themes throughout the book which I would have liked to have seen connected to the story a little more. But I'm nitpicking. I liked Delicious Foods and Hannaham is on my radar now.
**SPOILER ALERT**
I can't talk about Darlene without giving some things away. Darlene's character doesn't completely work for me. She's all over the place. She's a college student, active in a Black women's sorority with lots of friends, to...a grief stricken wife, to...a crack addict, prostitute and woman who abandons her son, to...at the end of the book she almost seems to have lost her mind, to...turning herself around after years of addiction in 6 months. And I'm not talking just not using crack...but being an obsessive healthy eater and jogging and working out blah blah, all in six months. I'm not sure addiction works that way but what do I know? Something didn't ring true for me, is all. Parts were a little surreal. But that being said, I wasn't sure that Hannaham didn't WANT her to be kind of this all-encompassing character that was bigger than life. Maybe he did it intentionally. I might be reading too much into it.
Her son, Eddie, will break your heart with his devotion to her, despite being abandoned at 12 years old. His courage and will to survive, is something Darlene had in the beginning but somehow lost along with way. Despite the cheery cover, it's dark and heavy. Hannaham plays with voodoo themes throughout the book which I would have liked to have seen connected to the story a little more. But I'm nitpicking. I liked Delicious Foods and Hannaham is on my radar now.
This was a great and unique read! Looks at modern day slavery in the form of agricultural workers who are kept working in primitive conditions and find themselves unable to leave because of astronomical debt the workers incur for room and board as well as drugs that are kept readily available. The story is told by a recently widowed mother/worker, the mother's young song and, my favorite "character" Scotty, a/k/a cocaine. Certainly, a tale of drug addiction, slavery, child neglect, violence and despair does not at first blush sound like an entertaining read, but Hannaham has managed to tell a tale that is highly entertaining and thought provoking. Highly recommend!
I literally thought this book was about a bakery. Maybe a feel good book about a restaurant. I liked the cover so I picked it up on a whim and didn't read the description. Turns out I should have. The book is actually about crack addicts, civil rights abuses, forced indentured servitude, abandonment, and greedy shell corporations. Huh. I really should have read the book jacket.
I guess it was "good," although it was similarly horrifying, especially what happens at the end to the son. I thought it lagged in the middle so I gave it a 4, as I thought the first 1/3 and the last 1/3 of the book were really good. I guess I would recommend it because it was very well written and it was interesting that crack was its own character and not just an attribute of a drug user.
This book is definitely not about a bakery.
I guess it was "good," although it was similarly horrifying, especially what happens at the end to the son. I thought it lagged in the middle so I gave it a 4, as I thought the first 1/3 and the last 1/3 of the book were really good. I guess I would recommend it because it was very well written and it was interesting that crack was its own character and not just an attribute of a drug user.
This book is definitely not about a bakery.
Dark and depressing as hell. The narrator, Scotty/crack, was extremely hard to follow and I frequently find myself skimming those chapters.
Jennifer Egan, an author I hold in very high regard following my experience with her book, "A Visit From The Good Squad," appropriately called James Hannaham's new novel a "tour de force" and a tour de force it is! This novel opens with a startling scene where Eddie, one of the main characters, is clearly making a terrifying getaway. Did I forget to mention that he also appears to have somehow brutally lost his hands? This book will grab you up by the collar and refuse to let you go until the last page. Packed with more punches than a middle school lunch room brawl, Hannaham will take you on an overwhelming roller coaster ride that will have you suffering from the whiplash of not wanting to put the book down for a second and the need to walk away from it's searing intensity just to catch your breath for a moment. Hannaham explores racism and slavery on multiple levels as a resonating disgrace of our American history to the ways in which we are still experiencing it in today's society. And if all of this isn't impressive enough, one of the main alternating narrators of this novel is the sly, crass, disembodied voice of Crack Cocaine, the main character Darlene's best friend, with "whom" she forms an unbreakable bond following the gruesome murder of her beloved husband. I could sing the praises of this novel all day long but it's something you ultimately need to experience for yourself. Quite possibly the best book I've read in years.
A note on the audiobook: The audiobook is also narrated by the author, James Hannaham in a riveting performance that demanded my attention from beginning to end. Hannaham is an incredibly entertaining and charismatic narrator especially when it comes to the chapters narrated by Crack Cocaine. His role as this captivating drug who has its life-sucking grip on the main character, Darlene, is brilliant and believable. Hannaham effectively depicts the drug for what it is to those who use it, a perfectly disguised friend.
A note on the audiobook: The audiobook is also narrated by the author, James Hannaham in a riveting performance that demanded my attention from beginning to end. Hannaham is an incredibly entertaining and charismatic narrator especially when it comes to the chapters narrated by Crack Cocaine. His role as this captivating drug who has its life-sucking grip on the main character, Darlene, is brilliant and believable. Hannaham effectively depicts the drug for what it is to those who use it, a perfectly disguised friend.
Very interesting book. I liked the 3rd narrator of crack cocaine aka scotty. It gave an interesting twist to POV of story. I kept trying to figure out when this took place. Was in the 70s, 80s or 90s? I never did find out.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes