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A review by lillimoore
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
5.0
Okay everyone. I think I have a new favorite author. In the past 3 weeks I've read both of J. Ryan Stradal's novels and they each blew me completely out of the water. I wish there was more for me to read and I'm eagerly awaiting whatever he writes next!
Kitchens of the Great Midwest follows the life of young chef Eva Thorvald, the daughter of a loving chef father and a sommelier mother who runs off early in Eva's life, leaving her father Lars to raise her on his own. His brother and sister-in-law move in to help, and due to an unexpected tragedy end up taking over as Eva's parents. Each chapter follows Eva as she grows up and develops a passion and unmatchable skill in not only cooking but also understanding the nuance of ingredients and technique. Though she endures a difficult upbringing, she is never without the love and support of those around her, and she gradually makes her own unique place for herself in the culinary world, creating "The Dinner," America's most coveted dining experience with $5,000-per-person reservations and a waiting list that is 200 years long for some.
This book was everything I love about books. Right now I'm super into Midwestern and Scandinavian settings (which anyone who has been to the Midwest knows go hand-in-hand) and Stradal captures that scenery and the people who inhabit the Midwest completely and totally. The dialogue is so effortless, never feeling contrived at all. This lends itself to what Stradal does best, which is creating such tangible characters that feel as though they could be your coworkers, friends, cousins, aunts, moms, dads, sisters, brothers. I truly have not read books that give so many details that create these kinds of characters except maybe Celeste Ng's novels. And what is the Midwest without its people?
The format of this book is also so unique. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person in Eva's life as she grows older, with only one chapter being from her own perspective. The chapters almost act as vignettes, sometimes with Eva hardly making an appearance, but they all serve to tell her story in its entirety. With such a large cast of characters, it could have been easy to forget who this story was about, but instead it's a portrait of an entire time and place, complete with details on food, music, and relationships. This book does what I loved so much about Turbulence by David Szalay, and weaves together a tapestry of different individuals and their stories, tying it all together in the end to show just how truly interconnected we all are.
The chapters are also each named after a food that has its place in that person's story, and the book is complete with recipes. I listened to the audiobook, but I'm eager to buy a copy of the physical not only to read again but to try some of the recipes (I think I'll skip the lutefisk!) that are so beautifully described in this book. Just like in his newest novel The Lager Queen of Minnesota, the descriptions of food and beverage in this book are outstanding. I love that this author has familiar themes and settings but tells entirely different stories and creates unique, distinguished characters throughout his work.
The ending may not be for everyone. I had to sit with it to accept it, but once I did, I realized it was the most realistic way for things to end. It wasn't an unhappy ending, but it wasn't the moment you expect it to be as a reader, either, and I appreciated that. Not every book needs to end like a fairytale. Sometimes characters go their separate ways and that's that. After spending more and more time thinking about it, it couldn't have ended better. All in all this was another fabulous read from J. Ryan Stradal and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.
Kitchens of the Great Midwest follows the life of young chef Eva Thorvald, the daughter of a loving chef father and a sommelier mother who runs off early in Eva's life, leaving her father Lars to raise her on his own. His brother and sister-in-law move in to help, and due to an unexpected tragedy end up taking over as Eva's parents. Each chapter follows Eva as she grows up and develops a passion and unmatchable skill in not only cooking but also understanding the nuance of ingredients and technique. Though she endures a difficult upbringing, she is never without the love and support of those around her, and she gradually makes her own unique place for herself in the culinary world, creating "The Dinner," America's most coveted dining experience with $5,000-per-person reservations and a waiting list that is 200 years long for some.
This book was everything I love about books. Right now I'm super into Midwestern and Scandinavian settings (which anyone who has been to the Midwest knows go hand-in-hand) and Stradal captures that scenery and the people who inhabit the Midwest completely and totally. The dialogue is so effortless, never feeling contrived at all. This lends itself to what Stradal does best, which is creating such tangible characters that feel as though they could be your coworkers, friends, cousins, aunts, moms, dads, sisters, brothers. I truly have not read books that give so many details that create these kinds of characters except maybe Celeste Ng's novels. And what is the Midwest without its people?
The format of this book is also so unique. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person in Eva's life as she grows older, with only one chapter being from her own perspective. The chapters almost act as vignettes, sometimes with Eva hardly making an appearance, but they all serve to tell her story in its entirety. With such a large cast of characters, it could have been easy to forget who this story was about, but instead it's a portrait of an entire time and place, complete with details on food, music, and relationships. This book does what I loved so much about Turbulence by David Szalay, and weaves together a tapestry of different individuals and their stories, tying it all together in the end to show just how truly interconnected we all are.
The chapters are also each named after a food that has its place in that person's story, and the book is complete with recipes. I listened to the audiobook, but I'm eager to buy a copy of the physical not only to read again but to try some of the recipes (I think I'll skip the lutefisk!) that are so beautifully described in this book. Just like in his newest novel The Lager Queen of Minnesota, the descriptions of food and beverage in this book are outstanding. I love that this author has familiar themes and settings but tells entirely different stories and creates unique, distinguished characters throughout his work.
The ending may not be for everyone. I had to sit with it to accept it, but once I did, I realized it was the most realistic way for things to end. It wasn't an unhappy ending, but it wasn't the moment you expect it to be as a reader, either, and I appreciated that. Not every book needs to end like a fairytale. Sometimes characters go their separate ways and that's that. After spending more and more time thinking about it, it couldn't have ended better. All in all this was another fabulous read from J. Ryan Stradal and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.