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wrentheblurry's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't finish this one before my book club meeting. I got sucked into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and couldn't start this one til too late. More importantly, it just was not very good. The back cover promised sexual obsession, human smuggling and a man that goes insane, but that never happened before chapter 7, when I quit. Meh, not going to renew this one!
lavoiture's review
2.0
*Whew* I feel better after reading some of the other reviews. I, too, won this from Godoreads and I really wanted to like it. I like cooking, I like chefs, I like mysteries...wait a second, it's not a mystery? For some reason I thought it was a mystery. Ok, that's ok, it's not a mystery, so it's about...um...people who are bipolar? Restaurant kitchens? Cancer? The illegal trade of people in London? Prostitutes? Childhood memories? The mills closing in England? I mean, there are so many stories going on here that I can't figure out what it's really supposed to be about, Gordon Lightfoot finding out something about his mother and then immediately following on the same path was a bit much for me. The writing isn't bad, but the story is no good. It's about 150 pages too long, on top of it all. I'm struggling to finish, but as I'm pretty much done, I'm already writing my review. I feel done with it, so why not?
ewg109's review
I started a new shelf in honor of this book, "didn't finish." I just can't go on with this book. Its like Anthony Bourdain and Zadie Smith tried to create a work of fiction together. Its completely awkward and rather uncomfortable.
vanessar's review against another edition
4.0
A great book, lots of well-rounded characters. It's an all-round portrait of 21st century living, touching on loss of a sense of community, immigration and celebrity culture. One phrase has stuck: ''TV chefs aren't about filling a hole in the stomach, they're about filling a hole in the life''.
nappower's review
4.0
i quite enjoyed this - maybe i'm quite enjoying everything that isn't a law textbook these days. ha! monica ali handles the protagonist's unravelling so subtly that you're eventually a talking heads lyrics asking yourself, well, how did i get here? ... in a weird way too, especially given ali's straightforward, everyday style, i never felt sympathy for characters themselves, but perhaps what they represented socially/culturally etc. long read populated by people i wouldn't want to know in real life, but hey, that's what books can do. yay.
groovyread's review against another edition
1.0
Maybe if this book was only a third of the length that it is, it could have been good. A lot should have been cut for it to be an engaging read. It's sad, because the premise was promising and the characters could have been interesting. But it just went on for far too long, with absolutely no direction. There is a reason why I first picked it up in 2013 and only finished it 8 years later...
lizzie_hollins's review against another edition
2.0
I love a book set in a kitchen but I just couldn't warm to the main character at all..
thelaurasaurus's review
1.0
This book did not grip me, in the way that Brick Lane failed to grip me the first time I tried to read it, and, if I'm honest, the time I forced myself to read it, too. I feel like things might have got slightly interesting at some point, but I've got better things to do than wait for that moment.
ericgaryanderson's review
3.0
Ali's writing is fabulous: so smooth, clean, and seemingly effortless. But I'm not sure that she's fully worked out the point of the story she wants to tell in this novel. It's not exactly a shaggy-dog story, but I wasn't left with much of a payoff, or much of a suspicion that the novel has complex layers of meaning that are there even though I might not see them yet. It's an okay read, but not as great as her brilliant first novel BRICK LANE.
charlottechapman's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5