A review by tobyyy
Sojasoße für Anfänger by Kirstin Chen

2.0

Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations. While I consider it a worthwhile read, because it introduced me to some new ideas about cooking (I had no idea there was such a thing as artisan soy sauce) as well as culture (I have never been out of the States/Canada so some of the descriptions of Singapore were fascinating)... overall, I was bummed. The climax of the book... wait... was there a climax? There also seemed to be several interconnecting stories, except the problem is that they never really connected for me. Maybe I read it too fast, maybe I was not paying close enough attention, maybe it was just the wrong time in my life to pick this book up, but it was disappointing.

I also never really got a handle on the main character. I hesitate to say protagonist because she was kind of an anti-hero, to me. She was making bad decisions throughout the book, and justifying them... she seemed standoffish and rude to a lot of her friends in Singapore... she was downright rude to her best friend and even now that I've finished this book, I am not really sure why they parted as friends-that-would-never-be-close-again. It seems like there was just a lack of emotional connection throughout the book to any of the characters, really. The only one I felt like Ms. Chen actually enjoyed writing about was Ahkong, the main character's grandfather, and how he started his business of making handmade soy sauce.

Overall, a quick read, and one that I wish I could give more than 2 stars to, but sadly... I can't.