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A review by rbruehlman
The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson
2.0
Reading this book was so PAINFUL! 350 pages that really could have been 35, but even 35 would probably have been pushing it.
This book tries to tell the history of sushi while also telling a (true) story about students at a sushi school in California. Usually, each chapter would start out with a scene from the sushi school, then dive into some aspect of sushi, and then resurface towards the end of the chapter to wrap up the scene. Unfortunately, the book should have chosen to stick with just telling the history of sushi, with none of the sushi school content.
Firstly, Trevor Corson is just not a good dramatic writer. The dialogue was stilted, flat, and boring, with little literary flourish. "So-and-so said 'Blah.' Such-and-such person responded, 'Blah blah blah' back." Dry as sawdust! The book chooses to focus on a few characters and some personality traits early on--Marcos the immature high school flirt, Zoran the hard-nosed instructor, Kate a struggling young woman with no self-esteem--but never fleshes out any of the characters beyond their initial characterizations. Each chapter is just more examples of their one-dimensional personality traits. Worst of all was Kate; most chapters feature her beating herself up and thinking she will never make it as a sushi chef. I think she was written to be a sympathetic character, but--she really doesn't grow at all much over the course of the book until the very, very end, and because the book gives her absolutely no personality traits beyond having low self-confidence, it is really hard to like her or relate to her journey at all.
With no likable or interesting characters, the school portion of the book is a drag to read. The history of sushi is interesting enough, I guess, but it is not interesting enough to suffer through the awful storytelling. Unfortunately, the book weaves in and out of the sushi school and the history of sushi constantly, giving you just drips and drabs of each. The net-out is both pieces feel like they drag out FOREVER! Ugh. Just painful. Some nonfiction books I don't like because the topic just isn't my cup of tea, but I could see how someone else would enjoy it. Not this book--it's just bad. I would never recommend this book to anyone.
This book tries to tell the history of sushi while also telling a (true) story about students at a sushi school in California. Usually, each chapter would start out with a scene from the sushi school, then dive into some aspect of sushi, and then resurface towards the end of the chapter to wrap up the scene. Unfortunately, the book should have chosen to stick with just telling the history of sushi, with none of the sushi school content.
Firstly, Trevor Corson is just not a good dramatic writer. The dialogue was stilted, flat, and boring, with little literary flourish. "So-and-so said 'Blah.' Such-and-such person responded, 'Blah blah blah' back." Dry as sawdust! The book chooses to focus on a few characters and some personality traits early on--Marcos the immature high school flirt, Zoran the hard-nosed instructor, Kate a struggling young woman with no self-esteem--but never fleshes out any of the characters beyond their initial characterizations. Each chapter is just more examples of their one-dimensional personality traits. Worst of all was Kate; most chapters feature her beating herself up and thinking she will never make it as a sushi chef. I think she was written to be a sympathetic character, but--she really doesn't grow at all much over the course of the book until the very, very end, and because the book gives her absolutely no personality traits beyond having low self-confidence, it is really hard to like her or relate to her journey at all.
With no likable or interesting characters, the school portion of the book is a drag to read. The history of sushi is interesting enough, I guess, but it is not interesting enough to suffer through the awful storytelling. Unfortunately, the book weaves in and out of the sushi school and the history of sushi constantly, giving you just drips and drabs of each. The net-out is both pieces feel like they drag out FOREVER! Ugh. Just painful. Some nonfiction books I don't like because the topic just isn't my cup of tea, but I could see how someone else would enjoy it. Not this book--it's just bad. I would never recommend this book to anyone.