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A review by justinkhchen
Sourdough by Robin Sloan
4.0
4.5 stars
Delicious, funny, and thought-provoking, Sourdough is a passionately-told tale about food and tech, with a dash of magical realism. Similar to another Robin Sloan's novel I've read, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, this one also takes place among the Bay Area tech startup scene; which happens to be a backdrop I resonate with—adding an additional layer of fun identifying what real-life counterparts the novel were referencing (Slurry, the in-novel meal replacement product, is basically a thinly-veiled Soylent, which I had consumed my fair share during the mid 2010s). The last bits of the novel kind of took a turn that diluted its core message, and the ending felt rather abrupt and unconvincingly naive; nevertheless, I really enjoyd the themes that were brought up at its core: the nerdy obsession with a seemingly banal subject, disrupting nature in the name of progress, and the definition of personal success.
Delicious, funny, and thought-provoking, Sourdough is a passionately-told tale about food and tech, with a dash of magical realism. Similar to another Robin Sloan's novel I've read, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, this one also takes place among the Bay Area tech startup scene; which happens to be a backdrop I resonate with—adding an additional layer of fun identifying what real-life counterparts the novel were referencing (Slurry, the in-novel meal replacement product, is basically a thinly-veiled Soylent, which I had consumed my fair share during the mid 2010s). The last bits of the novel kind of took a turn that diluted its core message, and the ending felt rather abrupt and unconvincingly naive; nevertheless, I really enjoyd the themes that were brought up at its core: the nerdy obsession with a seemingly banal subject, disrupting nature in the name of progress, and the definition of personal success.