Synopsis:
Newly-wed Irish Pakistani Addy is a gifted cook and aspiring
chef. She hopes to open her own restaurant one day or work for a
Michelin-starred restaurant, and is married to the man of her dreams, Gabe.
When her marriage comes under strain, Addy, her devoted Nana and her best
friend Jen take a trip to Lahore to reconnect with Addy’s Pakistani family. There,
she learns about how to accept the bad with the good in life, and to let go of
what she can’t change, as well as discovering some truths about her own
extended family.
My review:
This is a readable, simply-written novella that on the
surface follows all the familiar conventions of chick-lit: hopeful young woman,
dastardly handsome man, breakdown of relationship and the subsequent journey of
self-discovery as the heroine searches for the strength to move on. However
what stops it from being just another chick-lit novel for me was its focus on
two things: the alchemy of food to transform our emotions, and the influence of
faith and spirituality. This infusion of mysticism and magic realism is, I
think, unusual in this genre and possibly not for everyone, but it worked for
me.
My favourite thing about this book (and this may or may not
have something to do with the fact that I read it while fasting) are the
sumptuous descriptions of food. Each chapter opens with a recipe for a dish
that is also supposed to be a stimulant for positive emotions like love or
happiness, or a cure for various emotional ailments such as sadness, anger, or
guilt. The recipes have names like “Unpleasant-Cancelling Lentils” or “Love Me
Forever Lamb”, and they also detail the flavours and textures of the dish, its
“artistry” – the powers that make it work, and its purpose. The descriptions
are sensuous and tantalising and for me were the most enjoyable part of the
book, along with gems such as “garlic bread is the infant child of the muscular
Adonis that is chilli chutney.” I quite agree!
The author takes you on a journey to another place and
culture, which I enjoyed reading about, although I felt it was sometimes in
danger of slipping into clichés painting the streets of Lahore as a
rural backwater. For instance, “A man in dirtcoloured clothing stood behind a
single wooden cart, piled impossibly high with fruit and vegetables. Behind
him, a glass-eyed ox stood lazily eating scraps of mangled green and brown
herbiage...” Sigh.
Where I felt a little more let down by the writing was in
the unevenness of the characterisation. While Nana shines through as an
eccentric, devoted tour de force with the added complexity of life experience
and mistakes, everybody else is a little flat. Addy’s mother comes across as
bitter and cold, Addy herself was a bit too self-absorbed and at times
histrionic for my liking, and Jen feels like a spare part for much of the book.
Without giving away spoilers, I felt that the characters’ motivations were not always
convincingly or thoroughly explored enough.
I also had trouble with the “accept everything” mantra. The
book opens with a quote by Nietzsche referring to amor fati; this philosophy clearly underpins the narrative, but I
think Addy could have had more of a struggle to get to that point, as she
appears to be quite passive and lets go of her grievances pretty much
immediately. Part of the problem here is that Belitz appears to resort to
telling instead of showing. For instance, “It was amazing to me how quickly a
new environment, new people, a new country could change my outlook...” Her
entire transformation is summed up in a sentence or two and I would have liked
to have seen her encounters with the environment and the people a little more
fleshed out before this statement.
Overall, this is an enjoyably light read with some
deliciously descriptive food-writing. The romance isn’t for me but it would
make the perfect beach read (if any of us were going on holiday!).
Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for my
honest review.
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