Kitchen Confidential and Never Let Me Go
Book #1: Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain.Sandy and Maya both read this back when they were in diapers or something, so I have nothing new to say about it other than what you've already said to each other, probably over dinner at Tony's restaurant in NY (did you go to Les Halles while you were there? I can't remember). I'll just boil it down: Cooking. Drinking, cooking, drugging, cooking, fucking, cooking, eating. Cooking. Pretty sweet.
Book #2: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo IshiguroRight away, it's clear that something is not quite on at Hailsham. It's got all the hallmarks of a normal English boarding school, but instead of preparing its students for university, it's molding them for something much bleaker. The students know they are a part of a research program, but the details are always shadowy. Though nominally a sci-fi tale, this book lacks that certain "HEY WOWIE LOOK AT THIS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!" that defines much of the genre. Narrated by Kathy, a former student of Hailsham, the story is told in a prosaic tone that places it firmly in reality. Ishiguro also set the story sometime in the recent past, which serves to accomplish the same thing. This ain't Gattaca, basically.
This book has also been called a horror story, and it does have a slow-burn creepiness. And the way Ishiguro deftly and almost casually reveals bits of information creates a building sense of dread, so by the time I set it down I had a serious pit in my stomach. But like all great examples of horror and sci-fi, this book transcends genre classification. The actual story - the one above the plot points and setting - is about friendship and will and survival. It's a book that slowly breaks your heart, and when I finished it (the same day I started it), I just stared at the last page for a few minutes - pit in stomach and lump in throat - and then started crying like a little baby.
posted by Carrie Ann @ 1:16 PM
2 Comments:
Ooh, I wanna read that Ishiguro book. Scary books are so rare.
Hell yeah we ate at Les Halles! I don't remember much about the food except that it was good. What I do remember was the bottle of wine we drank (making it my most expensive lunch ever) and the best cappucino of my life. Get thee to a brasserie.
Just a warning - I didn't find Never Let Me Go "scary" in the usual sense. It's more creepy and dark. But you should read it anyway.
Wine AND cappucino at lunch? Wow. That sounds wonderful. Let's all become independently wealthy and eat like this all the time.
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