Review: The Cook

The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm going to join the chorus of perplexed readers who say this is not really a novel, but we don't know what to call it. It's a novella-length narration of a fictional chef's life, and while you get some peeks into his personality, there is not really much of a story, per se. Just descriptions of his work life as he moves from place to place. You can see he is gaining in knowledge, passion, and reputation, but you don't really get much farther. It's rather like a documentary film crew following a career, but with words.

I mean, I enjoyed it. But this is nowhere near the beauty and depth of the previous novel I so loved by this author, The Heart. This is a great example of descriptive writing but really that should be a component of something larger for readers to make any meaning of the details.

Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title through Edelweiss. It came out March 26, 2019.

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