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Loading... Stanley Park: A Novel (edition 2003)by Timothy Taylor (Author)
Work InformationStanley Park by Timothy Taylor
  
Books Read in 2016 (1,231) No current Talk conversations about this book.  yarb | May 30, 2022 |   Some parts were more interesting than others. It was the unsolved murder that drew me to the book to begin with, but there was so little about it in the book, and past the initial description of it (apparently, this really is a cold case in Vancouver), what was there just didn't hold my interest very much. The food aspect of the book didn't do anything for me (in fact, I wouldn't have eaten a single thing mentioned in the book, but then, I'm not at all adventurous with food), although the restaurant part got more interesting as the story went on. The Professor and his homeless friends were pretty boring, I thought. Overall, despite my mostly negative comments, I'd consider the book "o.k.", but nothing more. (  ) LibraryCin | Apr 21, 2013 |  ) AJBraithwaite | Oct 28, 2011 |  ) rabbitprincess | Feb 26, 2011 | ) ruthseeley | Jun 13, 2010 | no reviews | add a review
A young chef who revels in local bounty, a long-ago murder that remains unsolved, the homeless of Stanley Park, a smooth-talking businessman named Dante -- these are the ingredients of Timothy Taylor's stunning debut novel -- Kitchen Confidential meets The Edible Woman. Trained in France, Jeremy Papier, the young Vancouver chef, is becoming known for his unpretentious dishes that highlight fresh, local ingredients. His restaurant, The Monkey's Paw Bistro, while struggling financially, is attracting the attention of local foodies, and is not going unnoticed by Dante Beale, owner of a successful coffeehouse chain, Dante's Inferno. Meanwhile, Jeremy's father, an eccentric anthropologist, has moved into Stanley Park to better acquaint himself with the homeless and their daily struggles for food, shelter and company. Jeremy's father also has a strange fascination for a years-old unsolved murder case, known as "The Babes in the Wood" and asks Jeremy to help him research it. Dante is dying to get his hands on The Monkey's Paw. When Jeremy's elaborate financial kite begins to fall, he is forced to sell to Dante and become his employee. The restaurant is closed for renovations, Inferno style. Jeremy plans a menu for opening night that he intends to be the greatest culinary statement he's ever made, one that unites the homeless with high foody society in a paparazzi-covered celebration of "local splendour." No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.53)
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Unfortunately, and I guess inevitably given its subject, it's hopelessly rooted in its own time and place, such that if you’re not au fait with Vancouver circa 1995 a hell of a lot of this story is going to be lost on you. The book is jammed with street names and other left-coast references that will do nothing for non-Vancouverites.
The other issue is the abundance of annoying characters. Our hero, Jeremy, is more or less agreeable, but his Stanley Park-dwelling dad is smug and self-mysterious, and pulling Jez in the other direction is coffee mogul wanker Dante Beale, who is of course supposed to be a PITA but jeez we spend a lot of time in his rancid company. There's also a precocious child, and I can’t stand precocious children.
Stanley Park isn't a bad novel though. It does have something to say and it's stuffed with filthy food porn, even (especially) when things get ultra-locavore in a wonderfully written climactic scene. (