2016 • 368 pages • Oneworld Publications
Twenty –two year old Tess is a restless graduate from a
broken family. With the intention of finally starting her life, she moves to
New York City with no real plan but a need to do something. She manages to get
a job at one of the most exclusive restaurants in town as a back-waiter and
Tess is thrown in the comforting commotion of New York life. It’s at her new
job that she becomes fascinated by two people: Simone, a know-it-all server and
Jake, a handsome yet moody bartender. While the restaurant becomes her home and
her colleagues her new family, Sweetbitter
follows Tess through a year of her life as she grows and learns about the
complexities of human relationships.
Author Stephanie Danler certainly has an intricate way
with words and throughout reading this I had to remind myself that this is a
debut novel, and not the work of a writer with many years more experience. If I
could describe Sweetbitter in one
word it would be raw - everything is stripped of glamour and the
claustrophobic, monotonous daily cycle of Tess consumes you. The flair in
Tess’s life is food and wine, things that are both treated as an art form in
the world of the restaurant, and to say that Danler did a good job at creating
a world within a Union Square New York restaurant might sound bizarre, but it’s
true. It’s a microcosm of New York life – everything is always moving and it’s
the chaotic, punishing routine of a back-waiter that awakens Tess’s appetite
for food, for love, and for life.
At times this felt like a novel I could really relate
too thanks to the details Danler provides of Tess’s experience working as a
waiter. Having worked as a waitress myself for many years the similarity
between Tess’s working life and my own were incredibly similar, and even if
you’ve never worked in a restaurant environment before the overall tone of the
novel has a strong sense of nostalgia. The whole story seems to capture and
echo the general commotion of everyday life and I thought it was very clever
how Danler managed to capture that in her writing.
The prose, the style, and the execution of this novel
are all excellent, but I found this to be a rather slow, quite gentle read.
When I was reading, I was interested to continue but this isn’t a novel I devoured
in a few days, and I don’t mean this in a bad way because some books you feel
you want to take your time with. Sweetbitter
for me is one of those novels. It’s dreamy and raw and ultimately a study of a
young woman as she learns about life and about herself. There isn’t a lot going
on in terms of plot and with the exception of Tess I didn’t particularly like
many of the other characters. As I said, this novel isn’t sugar coated and the
characters have their flaws – in many ways it was the reality of the story that
made it so enchanting.
Overall rating 3 stars
My proof copy Sweetbitter was sent to me by The Bookbag and my review was originally published on their website.
Overall rating 3 stars
My proof copy Sweetbitter was sent to me by The Bookbag and my review was originally published on their website.
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