Reviews - Aftertaste | The StoryGraph

716 reviews for:

Aftertaste

Daria Lavelle

4.15 AVERAGE

emlilley's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book is beautiful and gripping. The premise could have devolved into confusing nonsense fantasy but stayed tight and remained central to the plot but fully linked to connecting story lines. All the food and restaurant talk was tantalizing and fun, and while there are hard and sad parts of this story, there is also humor and excitement. Really enjoyed it — the audiobook is great.

Content Warnings

kristy_k's review against another edition

2.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I started out really enjoying this, but as it progressed I felt it got a little long and redundant. Still, it was such an interesting concept and I enjoyed the uniqueness of it.

_thugbug_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I truly did enjoy this book for the first 80%. The magical realism, simple storytelling, and eerie tension really grabbed me ....but the ending was just so unsatfiying and honestly did not make a lot of sense to me. It also did not provide that sense of closure that was a common (main) theme in the book.

Lastly, the slang used for the characters that were people of color was used so incorrectly. It was definitely distracting.

cvdpoel's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cooljonezie's review against another edition

4.0

This is a wildly imaginative book that poses the question: What if food were the link between the living and the Afterlife? It follows the story of a person who can taste the "aftertaste" of a dead person's favorite meal. Does it sound weird? Yes it does. But it's also entertaining and creative, and well written with fully fleshed characters. I really enjoyed this book.

I also give kudos to Lavelle for subtly sneaking in titles of other books about food in her narrative. I caught "..a bone in the throat" (Anthony Bourdain) and "the particular sadness of lemon cake" (Aimee Bender). I'm sure there were others I missed. It was a truly engrossing novel, recommended for fans of magical realism or afterlife narratives, and foodies.

hattea's review against another edition

3.75

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lauracarlin's review against another edition

4.0

I wasn’t prepared for how hungry the descriptions of food actually made me. I really liked the restaurant setting and the characters on the line, they felt VERY realistic. The plot was gripping and the ghosts were ✨chefs kiss✨