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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Why did I borrow and read a novel about restaurant and foods during Ramadhan is beyond my understanding.
Some books are sad; others depressing. It’s quite rare to come across a book that it is simply optimistic and happy, but The Restaurant of Love Regained is just that. It’s not over the top love-love happy-happy but it makes you realise that in amongst that bad days and the sad days, there are a lot of good ones.
Our protagonist, Rinko, doesn’t have a lot to smile about at the opening of this short but sweet novel. Her boyfriend, who she was planning to open an Indian restaurant with, has up and left her without a word. Her apartment has also been cleaned out and she has no choice but to return to her mother’s house to regroup. Carrying a mortar from her grandmother, she makes a lone, weary bus trip to her small home town. She finds her relationship with her mother somewhat fractious, but with the help of an old friend, opens a tiny restaurant, The Snail. The Snail serves only one meal a day, but it’s a meal that is chosen with the utmost care for the diners. Rinko helps to heal a woman’s grief, unite two young lovers and cure a sick pet. Unfortunately Rinko’s luck hasn’t changed ultimately for the better and she has bad news to bear. Can The Snail and Rinko’s diners help her to heal too?
That brief synopsis may sound cheesy, but the book is beautifully written and translated. The characters are well drawn from Rinko to Hermes the pig and there is obvious love in the joy that Rinko gets from planning the best food for her diners. Food plays a leading role in the book, and some of the descriptions of Rinko’s creations will leave your mouth watering. Food is seen as a bridge to link emotions – to resolve grief, uncertainty and to restore love. The food isn’t all Japanese either – there’s some delicious desserts and meat dishes made. For the more adventurous, a fugu (pufferfish) party is described.
I loved the linking of food – from creating to eating and its link to emotion and conflict resolution. I hadn’t really thought of food that way before – Rinko is the perfect character to explain those thoughts to the reader. This book will have you both smiling and crying at times – definitely a book that deserves a wider audience.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Our protagonist, Rinko, doesn’t have a lot to smile about at the opening of this short but sweet novel. Her boyfriend, who she was planning to open an Indian restaurant with, has up and left her without a word. Her apartment has also been cleaned out and she has no choice but to return to her mother’s house to regroup. Carrying a mortar from her grandmother, she makes a lone, weary bus trip to her small home town. She finds her relationship with her mother somewhat fractious, but with the help of an old friend, opens a tiny restaurant, The Snail. The Snail serves only one meal a day, but it’s a meal that is chosen with the utmost care for the diners. Rinko helps to heal a woman’s grief, unite two young lovers and cure a sick pet. Unfortunately Rinko’s luck hasn’t changed ultimately for the better and she has bad news to bear. Can The Snail and Rinko’s diners help her to heal too?
That brief synopsis may sound cheesy, but the book is beautifully written and translated. The characters are well drawn from Rinko to Hermes the pig and there is obvious love in the joy that Rinko gets from planning the best food for her diners. Food plays a leading role in the book, and some of the descriptions of Rinko’s creations will leave your mouth watering. Food is seen as a bridge to link emotions – to resolve grief, uncertainty and to restore love. The food isn’t all Japanese either – there’s some delicious desserts and meat dishes made. For the more adventurous, a fugu (pufferfish) party is described.
I loved the linking of food – from creating to eating and its link to emotion and conflict resolution. I hadn’t really thought of food that way before – Rinko is the perfect character to explain those thoughts to the reader. This book will have you both smiling and crying at times – definitely a book that deserves a wider audience.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first 120 pages were fantastic. The last 80 pages are downright bizarre. Don't read the end if you've eaten recently, that's all I'll say.
Difficile de donner une note à ce livre, ma critique paraîtra la semaine prochaine avec explications à la clef !
25/09 : quand je regardais les critiques de ce livre, il était présenté comme un feel-good book à la japonaise centré autour de la nourriture. Ca m'a fait penser à Agnès Desarthe et ma foi, pourquoi pas ? Et effectivement, la lecture était agréable et fluide, jusqu'à l'arrivée du coq. Bon, un coq dégommé dans un livre qui parle de cuisine, il fallait s'y attendre, j'ai passé. La lecture était à nouveau agréable, avec un/des client/s pour lesquels étaient préparés un/des repas ad hoc.
Mais ce qui m'a choquée (et quand même, il m'en faut beaucoup pour en arriver là), c'est le sort réservé à la pauvre Hermès. Je ne m'y attendais absolument pas ! Et faire passer son abattage, avec larmes et cris (d'Hermès, pas des humains) comme quelque chose de bien qui lui a permis de durer... dans l'estomac de chacun ? Là, je fais l'impasse totale. C'est un spoiler, certes, mais autant savoir à quoi vous attendre !!
25/09 : quand je regardais les critiques de ce livre, il était présenté comme un feel-good book à la japonaise centré autour de la nourriture. Ca m'a fait penser à Agnès Desarthe et ma foi, pourquoi pas ? Et effectivement, la lecture était agréable et fluide, jusqu'à l'arrivée du coq. Bon, un coq dégommé dans un livre qui parle de cuisine, il fallait s'y attendre, j'ai passé. La lecture était à nouveau agréable, avec un/des client/s pour lesquels étaient préparés un/des repas ad hoc.
Mais ce qui m'a choquée (et quand même, il m'en faut beaucoup pour en arriver là), c'est le sort réservé à la pauvre Hermès. Je ne m'y attendais absolument pas ! Et faire passer son abattage, avec larmes et cris (d'Hermès, pas des humains) comme quelque chose de bien qui lui a permis de durer... dans l'estomac de chacun ? Là, je fais l'impasse totale. C'est un spoiler, certes, mais autant savoir à quoi vous attendre !!
Easy read. Shirt and sweet. Some lovely descriptions of food. A story of a girl who loses her love and her voice and returns to her estranged mother to eventually regain all.
Restaurant of Love Regained is apart of my culinary fiction set bought online so therefore I gave it a shot.
Research shows this is a Japanese book translated in English with a movie in Japanese again English translated called Rinco's Kitchen. Just out of curiosity I will check out some clips not the full movie!
I have never experienced a book without chapters before and this had great metaphors describing some vegetarian cuisines UNTIL it become all brutal and mean!
If you love Japanese food or are Japanese definitely read this book, easy read.
Research shows this is a Japanese book translated in English with a movie in Japanese again English translated called Rinco's Kitchen. Just out of curiosity I will check out some clips not the full movie!
I have never experienced a book without chapters before and this had great metaphors describing some vegetarian cuisines UNTIL it become all brutal and mean!
If you love Japanese food or are Japanese definitely read this book, easy read.
Quelle déception ! Mais quelle déception. Je voulais tellement apprécier ce livre, je m'attendais vraiment à le faire mais bon sang, chaque fois que je commençais à aimer, je tombais sur un paragraphe dont le sujet me paraissait tellement grotesque que je déconnectais aussitôt. Un vraie montagne russe ce livre mais il y a eu bien plus de bas que de hauts.
D'abord l'auteur n'explique pratiquement rien, soulève des points mais ne va pas jusqu'au bout : le petit ami ? On ne sera jamais ce qui est arrivé, ni même son nom!, l'histoire de sa naissance ? Tu peux toujours attendre.
Et puis, franchement l'histoire avec le pistolet à eau ? Alors celle là elle m'a vraiment estomaquée ! Je crois qu'à partir de là je n'ai plus réussi à revenir dans le roman.
Bref j'ai mis tout de même deux étoiles car j'ai aimé les passages sur la cuisine ( à part quand on arrive à la partie des noces que j'ai trouvé trop cruelle) et que mine de rien j'ai terminé le livre. Mais vraiment je ne recommande pas.
D'abord l'auteur n'explique pratiquement rien, soulève des points mais ne va pas jusqu'au bout : le petit ami ? On ne sera jamais ce qui est arrivé, ni même son nom!, l'histoire de sa naissance ? Tu peux toujours attendre.
Et puis, franchement l'histoire avec le pistolet à eau ? Alors celle là elle m'a vraiment estomaquée ! Je crois qu'à partir de là je n'ai plus réussi à revenir dans le roman.
Bref j'ai mis tout de même deux étoiles car j'ai aimé les passages sur la cuisine ( à part quand on arrive à la partie des noces que j'ai trouvé trop cruelle) et que mine de rien j'ai terminé le livre. Mais vraiment je ne recommande pas.
Je conseille à tous les végétariens de s'abstenir... le délire avec le cochon à la fin m'a vraiment choqué. Mais bon.
One of the side effects of participating in Weekend Cooking is that as soon as I see a book that may be just a little bit food related I instantly look at it to think if it may be a potential Weekend Cooking post. As soon as I saw the title of this particular book, I KNEW it would be! And it is such a delightful read whether you are reading it specifically for that purpose or not!
The Restaurant of Love Regained opens when Rinko comes home to find that her Indian boyfriend has not only dumped her but that he has completely cleaned out the whole apartment. Gone are the furnishings, electronics, pots and pans and the other possessions that accumulate so easily. The only thing left behind was a special container given to Rinko by her grandmother. She feels she has no choice but to return home to the small village where her mother still lives. Rinko’s relationship with her mother was, and still is, very difficult so for Rinko this is a step of desperation. Rinko has always had issues with her mother’s lifestyle, particularly her role as mistress to the local gangster boss, so she tries to stay as distant as possible which is not easy given how small the house and village is.
To find out more head to
http://www.theintrepidreader.com/2012/09/restaurant-of-love-regained-by-ito-ogawa.html
The Restaurant of Love Regained opens when Rinko comes home to find that her Indian boyfriend has not only dumped her but that he has completely cleaned out the whole apartment. Gone are the furnishings, electronics, pots and pans and the other possessions that accumulate so easily. The only thing left behind was a special container given to Rinko by her grandmother. She feels she has no choice but to return home to the small village where her mother still lives. Rinko’s relationship with her mother was, and still is, very difficult so for Rinko this is a step of desperation. Rinko has always had issues with her mother’s lifestyle, particularly her role as mistress to the local gangster boss, so she tries to stay as distant as possible which is not easy given how small the house and village is.
To find out more head to
http://www.theintrepidreader.com/2012/09/restaurant-of-love-regained-by-ito-ogawa.html