The narrator of this dark comedy is a supercilious twit with lots to hide. The slow unfolding of the story scattered throughout an overly pretentious cookbook is very funny, and Lanchester handles it brilliantly. ( )

Tried this one but I couldn't get into it. It was a foodie book and normally I enjoy these but I had trouble staying interested. The story of the narrator's life is told through a series of seasonal menus, not just talking about the final dishes but also about the ingredients that go into each dish and the way it is prepared. I gave the book over 50 pages but the story never "caught me". ( )

"I had in mind a project for a novel which would begin in the usual manner ... except that gradually the characters' identities would begin to slip and to blur, and so would the geographical surroundings. ...Only the style of the book would remain consistent .... gradually ... the work would become more troubling ... until the appalled readers, unable to understand what was happening ... and also unable to stop reading, would watch the wholesale metastasization ... the collapse ... so that when they finally put the book down they are aware only of having been protagonists in a deep and violent dream whose sole purpose is their incurable unease." (pages 226-228)

It is not often that an author postpones his statement of purpose to the closing pages of his work, burying it within the work itself, rather than in a preface, foreword, or note from the author. But that is precisely what John Lanchester has done in this novel.

Habitual preface-skippers will miss out on essential information, as the "preface" is a note from the protagonist, not from the author. And it sets the stage for the tone of the rest of the book.

Tarquin Winot is the anti-heroic protagonist of this book -- he is, in fact, so anti-heroic that he serves as both protagonist and antagonist. Winot is verbose, opinionated, patronizing, self-aggrandizing, and quite too fond of himself. He is also faintly sinister, but the faintness of that impression steadily diminishes throughout the narrative.

(If you can call it that. If James Joyce or TS Eliot were to write a murder-mystery, this book is a good example of what would result. It's a stream-of-consciousness, flashback-ridden nightmare of a story.)

Winot is presented as a gourmet and conoisseur -- but not in a sympathetic way. He is a dark and worrying figure, and the disjointed stories of his earlier life increase the darkness and worry. What begins to emerge is a person whose life has been strangely surrounded by bizarre and inexplicable tragedies. And a person who seems to have both a morbid fascination with death and a suspicious knowledge of the intimate details of the tragedies that touch his life.

This is a hard book to read, and it was only sheer, teeth-gritting determination that got me through the first two chapters. And then I couldn't stop reading, even though I wanted to. I needed to understand what was being hinted at. I needed to know the end, even though it was all-too-baldly foreshadowed. If you can work your way through the page-long periodic sentences with their frequent interruptions and asides, you will, as the author suggests, find yourself waking from "a deep and violent dream," afflicted by "incurable unease." ( )

I'm re-reading this book after a gap of several years. I'm enjoying the intensely verbose narrator, even though he's repugnant in many ways, for his misanthropy, right wing views, conservatism, and of course my (dawning) recollection that the book doesn't have a happy ending.
It takes a little bearing with to allow the book to get under your skin, but it's having an effect as I've spent the evening eating tasty cheese and drinking a rather fine Pinot Gris, in the manner of the (anti) hero of the book. I promise not to murder anyone tomorrow, even if they annoy me... ( )

"I have to admit, I read this book because a friend of mine loved it and couldn't find anyone who would read it. I figured I can read almost anything, so borrowed her copy and started reading.

It was odd, sometimes strangely amusing, and ... I ... was ... not... getting...through... it.

BUT THEN - something weird happened in the book, and I thought, "huh?" and finished the book (don't peek!), said "oh WOW"... and then turned to the front and read the whole book through again.

Yeah. It's that kind of book. I can't tell you what happens, or it will ruin the ending. But what you will find is an extremely self-centered narrator taking you on a sort of food tour. I have two favorite lines in the book. The first one is "I myself have always disliked being called a 'genius.' It is fascinating to notice how quick people have been to intuit and avoid this term." The second quote is the last line of the book (don't peek!).

If you are a fan of unreliable narrators, I highly recommend this book." ( )