Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Title: Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Author: J. Ryan Stradal

Main Character: 

Eva Thorvald

Location: 

Minnesota

Dakotas

Nebraska

Iowa?

From the cover: 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country’s most coveted dinner reservation, is the summer’s most hotly anticipated debut.
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.

Rachel's Review:

So, Kitchens of the Great Midwest. It was surprising, I enjoyed this story. As the summary from above indicates each chapter is a different time in Eva's life which proves the spice for her dishes. So from the top, firstly let's look at:

The Characters:

Sorry ladies and gents I'm not going to list specific characters. What can be said on them is this, far from the flat-ish characters of Romulus Buckle Stradal does a great job of creating real characters that you might meet wandering down the street. That isn't to be said that you always empathize wholeheartedly with the people around Eva but you do wish well for them, which to me is a major selling point in this tale

Eva on the other hand at times seems like an enigma. She is very much in the forefront at the beginning of the tale, yet as the novel progresses although she's an integral part or the force that moves the plot along, she is a secondary character to the people around her. Stradal keeps a first person perspective throughout, but never using Eva to tell the story.

The Role of Cooking and Cuisine in Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Lately I've been reading a slew of books where food culture and cooking plays a major role. Food some people "eat to live and others live to eat." Stradal's characters fall into both camps. Yet whether or not food is a person's focal point Eva seems to pull a worthwhile lesson that she pours into her cuisine from them while their paths do cross.

Closing thoughts:

Kitchens of the Great Midwest is worth a read! I enjoyed it, the people were engaging, and you can definitely tell a lot about a person from the state of their kitchen. Eva's odyssey through the midwest is a life you'll definitely enjoy reading of.

Links:

Just for fun, here are a couple links to interviews and such with the author if you want his spin on Kitchens:

If you enjoyed Kitchens:

Some lighter fare you might enjoy: Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

The Shapes of Dog's Eyes

Title: The Shapes of Dogs' Eyes

Author: Harry Gallon

Location: London

Plot Summary:

Convinced that London s young-professionals are being controlled by their dogs, a homeless bartender embarks on a drunken campaign to rescue his peers from domesticity. Sofa-hopping across a Hackney overrun with hungover musicians, craft brewers and their canine masters, he slips further into fantasy the more obsessed he becomes with setting himself, and everyone else, free. But after falling in love with a young actress, the thing he s fighting against may have become what he wants most of all.

The Shapes of Dogs Eyes explores the philosophies of love, homelessness, and a restless sense of uncertainty in a modern London as brittle and unmoored, as familiar and as chimerical, as the characters that move through it.

Thoughts:

So, The Shapes of Dogs' Eyes wasn't necessarily a bad story, but I can't say I enjoyed it. The summary of the books makes more sense than the book itself made in its entirety. Although the premise is intriguing and the themes that are promised are ones well worth reading, the execution was hard for me to follow. My assumption is that the disjointed rapidly shifting train of thought narrative was an attempt at either post-modernism or perhaps the author's attempt at pulling readers into the bartender's scattered mind. Maybe it's a great book, it definitely reflects a "brittle and unmoored" London, but it was just too far from lucid for me to follow.

Links:

Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders (The Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zepplin Book 1)

Title: Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders

Author: Richard Ellis Preston Jr.

Name of Series: The Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zepplin

Series Began: 2013

Number in series: 1

Main Characters:

Romulus Buckle- Captain of the Pneumatic Zepplin and adopted son of Balthazar Crankshaft
Sabrina Serafim- Chief Navigator
Max- Chief Engineer

Location:

Romulus Buckle and the City of the Founders is set in a post-apocalyptic America where the sun is all but blotted out by the haze of clouds and snow falls deep on the remains of Hollywood.

Plot Synopsis: 

From the jacket: 

In a post-apocalyptic world of endless snow, eighteen-year-old Captain Romulus Buckle and the stalwart crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must embark on a perilous mission to rescue their kidnapped leader, Balthazar Crankshaft, from the impenetrable City of the Founders. Steaming over a territory once known as Southern California–before it was devastated in the alien war–Buckle navigates his massive airship through skies infested with enemy war zeppelins and ravenous alien beasties in this swashbuckling and high-octane steampunk adventure. Life is desperate in the Snow World–and death is quick–Buckle and his ship’s company must brave poisoned wastelands of noxious mustard and do battle with forgewalkers, steampipers and armored locomotives as they plunge from the skies into the underground prison warrens of the fortress-city.

Captain Romulus Buckle must lead the Pneumatic Zeppelin and its crew of never-do-wells on a desperate mission where he must risk everything to save Balthazar and attempt to prevent a catastrophic war which could wipe out all that is left of civilization and the entire human race.

Closing thoughts:

So, this to me was a fun read. If you enjoy using the world around you as a springboard into the unknown, Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders  works! Those who enjoy Steampunk will get a kick out of Romulus and his crew as they fly into the unknown to save their clan leader. Descriptions of technology are decent, characters are fair if slightly flat at times. This is an easy read, and the author does a decent job of relaying the world around the characters and their thoughts without it being Melville or Tom Clancy level on detail. Storyline: to some degree the overall arc is not altogether unpredictable, yet it's still a fun ride with many twists and turns. 

What I really was surprised about was how much action was packed into this novel as well as the breakneck speed at which the characters hurtle through their obstacles. I kept waiting for some sort of extended lull for the characters and readers to take a breath; alas! The only breather you will probably get is when you set this book down before moving onto the next one.

Readers' Advisory PS:

If you enjoy steampunk and want a read-alike for Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders, definitely check out Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. Similar tone, alternate history instead of distant future, little more bawdy, plays with known historical literary characters, equally fun. Definitely worth a look if this novel piqued your interest.

Breakdown by Jonathan Kellerman

Title:                                 Breakdown

Author:                             Jonathan Kellerman

Name of Series:               Alex Delaware
Began:                             1985

Number in series:            31

Characters:                         Alex Delaware

·         Forensic psychologist

·         Child psychologist

Robin

·         Spouse? Girlfriend?

Blanche

·         French Bulldog

Milo

·         Contact at PD 

Zelda Chase

Ovid Chase

Location:                              Los Angeles

Plot Synopsis:                    Welcome to Fat Quartos. For my fist review we are looking at Breakdown by Johnathan Kellerman. This was my first Alex Delaware novel and little did I know when I picked this book up from NetGalley that this is was not only not the first in the series, but it was the 31st! Looking back this tells me two things, one the author has had time to polish his technique, secondly, he's adapted to the times in order to keep his readership. This series may have started in '85 but definitely not trapped there.

                                                At one point a character says "May you live in interesting times" and I have to say, this tale stays with the times. It was very easy for a new reader to pick up and although you knew there had been other tales this one was so encapsulated that it was easily enjoyed by itself. Set in LA, Breakdown is full of references to the majors and the minors, and those who flew too close to the sun as well. Kellerman does a great job of pulling the reader into a picture of LA. Kellerman has gotten details down. He lays things on heavy enough on that the reader gets a feel for the setting of the story, yet not so much that the reader is bogged down in minutiae.

                                                We find Dr. Delaware seemingly dealing with some loose ends a late colleague has left. A Hollywood starlet who's career never took off is being held for evaluation. Far from lucid and nowhere near the beauty she once was, the streets have not been kind to her. However Delaware wonders at this point, what has become of her son?

                                                With no sign of the son and greater dilemmas as the tarnished starlet returns to the streets the questions and the bodies begin to pile up and only Delaware with his good friend Milo can discover the truth.

                                                Closing thoughts: Breakdown was a good light read. I will definitely be looking for more Alex Delaware novels in the future!