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Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel by J.…
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Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel (edition 2015)

by J. Ryan Stradal (Author)

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1,27111715,008 (3.91)66
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??A sweet and savory treat.? ??People

??An impressive feat of narrative jujitsu . . . that keeps readers turning the pages too fast to realize just how ingenious they are.???The New York Times Book Review, Editor??s Pick
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a novel about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country??s most coveted dinner reservation. 
 
When Lars Thorvald??s wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine??and a dashing sommelier??he??s left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. He??s determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter??starting with puréed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Eva??s journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast that??s a testament to her spirit and resilience.
 
Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal??s startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life??its missed opportunities and its joyful surpr… (more)

Member:bermudaonion
Title:Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel
Authors:J. Ryan Stradal (Author)
Info:Pamela Dorman Books (2015), 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****1/2
Tags:None

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Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

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» See also 66 mentions

English (112)  German (2)  Swedish (1)  French (1)  All languages (116)
Showing 1-5 of 112 (next | show all)
This was one of the best books I have read in a really long time. I don't know if that's because it's a good book, because I wanted to be a chef, and/or because I'm from the midwest but I wish I could still be reading it. ( )
  ankhamun | Nov 2, 2023 |
What a beautiful story, told via segmented tales of the main characters’ lives. The author gives the reader a way to imagine parts of the story due to the means by which the stories are set up. ( )
  schoenbc70 | Sep 2, 2023 |
The five-star rating kind of snuck up on me. I didn't give it because this is a huge, epic story, but because it is a small, epic story. The life of Eva Thorvald is told from before her birth into her adulthood, not in a linear fashion but by telling the stories of people around her. Not the people you'd expect, but the people we all have in our lives: people who know us for a while, then move out of our spheres, then somehow find their way back in. People with interesting stories of their own. That is the genius of this narrative: it reminds us that we are not alone in the world, that we are not the only people with a story. In fact, Eva's story isn't even all that remarkable, except that countless people with a special talent never find a way to express and capitalize on that talent, due to circumstances or bad breaks or timing, or myriad other reasons. So maybe the fact that Eva is born with a talent and uses it and meets people who recognize it and are in a position to help her develop it, is kind of remarkable. The story comes full circle, and even though it only took me a few days to churn through this, I didn't recognize the closing of the circle right away. But that doesn't matter, because the totality of the story is so great, the tiny flaws just kind of fall away. Excellent read, I'll be giving it away sometime for sure! ( )
  karenchase | Jun 14, 2023 |
This is the story of Eva Thorvald who becomes a famous, almost mythical chef. The first few chapters are told with Eva as the central character, bringing her up to teen/early adulthood. After that, we learn the rest of her life through the intersection of her life with other, (mainly) unrelated characters. In this respect, there are some similarities between this book and Olive Kitteridge--the book consists of a series of short stories, each almost discrete and complete in itself, with a particular main character, in which Eva passes through, sometimes as one of the main characters, sometimes almost entirely in the background. It is in this way that the trajectory of Eva's career as a world-famous chef is told. Though the stories overall tell the story of Eva's life, she's not always the main character in the story of her life.

While I really liked Olive Kitteridge and its method of narrating Olive's life, in this case, I really wanted to know more about Eva, and to get more into the nitty gritty of her mind and her career. Instead, after her childhood and early teens we only get exterior glimpses of her. So for me, the book wasn't really successful. It wasn't an unpleasant read though.

First line: "Lars Thorvald loved two women."

2 1/2 stars ( )
  arubabookwoman | May 29, 2023 |
When Lars Thorvald's wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine--and a dashing sommelier--he's left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. He's determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter--starting with puréed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Eva's journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast that's a testament to her spirit and resilience.

Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal's startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life--its missed opportunities and its joyful surprises. It marks the entry of a brilliant new talent. ( )
  jepeters333 | May 29, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 112 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
J. Ryan Stradalprimary authorall editionscalculated
Ryan, AmyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stuhlbarg, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
To Karen
Who always did the best with what she had
First words
Lars Thorvald loved two women.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Literature. HTML:

??A sweet and savory treat.? ??People

??An impressive feat of narrative jujitsu . . . that keeps readers turning the pages too fast to realize just how ingenious they are.???The New York Times Book Review, Editor??s Pick

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a novel about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country??s most coveted dinner reservation. 
 
When Lars Thorvald??s wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine??and a dashing sommelier??he??s left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. He??s determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter??starting with puréed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Eva??s journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast that??s a testament to her spirit and resilience.
 
Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal??s startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life??its missed opportunities and its joyful surpr

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