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bidou 's review for:
Aftertaste
by Daria Lavelle
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pros: The food descriptions are out of this world, piles and piles of adjectives and similes and flavors heaped on top of each other it feels almost every other page. The details of running a restaurant are interesting and fun. And the story builds to a genuinely surprising and touching conclusion.
Cons: It took a while to get through this book. It didn't fly for me until the last 100 pages. Prior to that it felt like very long setup, when I had expected this to be a culinary version of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. So a mismatch of expectation and reality I suppose. But I also couldn't really connect to the characters. Who was Kostya beyond a grief-stricken loser? What were his interests before he began cooking his aftertastes? Related to that, I also was very skeptical of how quickly Kostya was able to turn his aftertastes into a career as a chef - even if he could taste these things, I couldn't believe that a six month stint at a three Michelin star restaurant would provide sufficient technique. Chefs train for years in a specific cuisine and somehow he became able to nail anything? I couldn't get that out of my head.
Ultimately: a well-written, truly unpredictable narrative, probably just not for me.
Cons: It took a while to get through this book. It didn't fly for me until the last 100 pages. Prior to that it felt like very long setup, when I had expected this to be a culinary version of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. So a mismatch of expectation and reality I suppose. But I also couldn't really connect to the characters. Who was Kostya beyond a grief-stricken loser? What were his interests before he began cooking his aftertastes? Related to that, I also was very skeptical of how quickly Kostya was able to turn his aftertastes into a career as a chef - even if he could taste these things, I couldn't believe that a six month stint at a three Michelin star restaurant would provide sufficient technique. Chefs train for years in a specific cuisine and somehow he became able to nail anything? I couldn't get that out of my head.
Ultimately: a well-written, truly unpredictable narrative, probably just not for me.