Individual titles (Inostranka Publishers)
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September 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-01053-6
368 pages
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August 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00981-3
160 pages
The novel concerns the greatest critic of the culinary world, the "Pope of Gastronomy." Early in the story, one is told that he will die tomorrow. It is his history, and that of his family, acquaintances, even his pets. Ms. Barbery tells the story in 29 separate vignettes, alternating between the culinary critic (whose name we finally learn towards the end) and all the other characters. A literary technique that works well, despite the multitude of view points, which she sharply reduced in "The Elegance of the Hedgehog." Her style is rich and dense, like a wonderful chocolate éclair. Writing to be savored. The novel "works" on several different dimensions. There are the human relation aspects, a man who is at the epitome of his field, estranged from most of his family - his most caring relationship is with the servant who is now head of the household, and his pets. His wife, Anna, is resigned to his philandering. In the vignettes told by his daughter, Laura, and his granddaughter, Lotte, one gain's insight into his dysfunctional character. There is a wonderful chapter on how he first entered the ranks of a food critic, impressing a to-be mentor with the right answer, thus, "the king is dead, long live the king." One of the central characters in "The Elegance...", Renee, the concierge, plays a cameo role in this novel, a tantalizing foreshadowing...
And the novel is very much about the French concern on what is placed into the stomach, and the pleasure derived in the process. There are some wonderful meals described: in Morocco, along the beach; a chance invitation to a home meal in Normandy; the importance of bread; the sorbets of his grandmother whose correct description launched his career; the pleasure of fish; and would any book on gastronomy be complete without venturing into Japanese cuisine, with the art of serving raw food? The "surprise" at the end involves a turn towards the crasser aspects of commercial food.... Alas.
Alas, also, my French is not good enough to understand why Ms. Barbery entitled her book "Une Gourmandise" as opposed to "Un Gourmand." Clearly an English translation of the book should be provided. She is a superlative writer, with deep insights into the human condition. Perhaps others will address why the title is in the feminine
Ms. Barbery still has much to tell us, and I eagerly await.
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July 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00808-3
352 pages
Any talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.
Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: "At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind." Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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July 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00969-1
448 pages
The magical new novel from number one bestseller Cecelia Ahern. Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she's ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes and all that a girl could ever wish for. She's always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow. But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gatehouse is a world away from Tamara's childhood. With her mother shut away with grief, and her aunt busy tending to her, Tamara is lonely and bored and longs to return to Dublin. When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its' core.
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July 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00900-4
272 pages
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July 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00983-7
432 pages
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July 2010
ISBN 978-5-389-00867-0
320 pages
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