Book: In the kitchen
Feb. 18th, 2011 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Monica Ali
Details: (c) Monica Ali 2009; Pub Doubleday 2009; ISBN 978-0-38561-457-3
Verdict: In the kitchen is a fascinating character study of an unpleasant person.
Reasons for reading it: I enjoyed Ali's first novel, Brick Lane, although I had some qualms about it. And I was attracted by a book about a chef, cos my sister is one.
How it came into my hands: Library.
In the kitchen is a well-above average attempt at the unlikeable protagonist trick. Gabriel is incredibly self-absorbed, and finds pretty much everyone irritating. He thinks he knows what a good person would do, and therefore thinks of himself as a good person, without having to actually go as far as doing the right thing. In particular, a large part of the plot is about his encounter with a trafficked teenager; because she offers him sex, he assumes that she actually wants to sleep with him, even though she explicitly says that she is expecting to be paid, and he knows that she's been raped and beaten until she no longer has the will to refuse. Later, he convinces himself that their "relationship" is true love and flies into jealous rages if he comes home early and finds she's gone out rather than just waiting around to have sex with him whenever it suits him. Worst of all, he is shocked and hurt and feels terribly unfairly treated when his fiancée breaks up with him over this behaviour! In spite of this, I really did care what happened to Gabriel, and I found his eventual crisis and redemption satisfying.
I think part of the reason itK works well is even though it is told from the narrator's point of view, the reader is never expected to buy into his inability to value anyone other than himself. The minor characters shine through, and that kept me reading even when I was absolutely exasperated with him. The setting is also very rich; you get a strong impression of life in the hotel, and life in the post-industrial small town Gabriel hails from. There are loads of background details which feel very solid. The glimpses of the experiences of the various immigrants and refugees who take on the menial jobs in the kitchen are very good, with all the subtlety yet strong emotional impact that's missing from Brick Lane.
The problem with itK is that it doesn't really work well as a thriller. The death of the porter which sets the scene is never really developed, and Gabriel keeps intending to investigate both that and other dodgy dealings he suspects are going on in the hotel, but never really gets round to doing anything. When he finally discovers the truth almost by accident, it feels very rushed and a little too pat to be satisfying. I also felt let down by the ending which implies at least a chance of him getting back together with his fiancée; ok, so he has had his Damascus moment, and perhaps the reader knows that he's redeemed, but Charlie has no way of knowing he's had a true change of heart. This ending makes her seem like Gabriel's reward for resolving to be slightly less of a prick, instead of a person in her own right.
Details: (c) Monica Ali 2009; Pub Doubleday 2009; ISBN 978-0-38561-457-3
Verdict: In the kitchen is a fascinating character study of an unpleasant person.
Reasons for reading it: I enjoyed Ali's first novel, Brick Lane, although I had some qualms about it. And I was attracted by a book about a chef, cos my sister is one.
How it came into my hands: Library.
In the kitchen is a well-above average attempt at the unlikeable protagonist trick. Gabriel is incredibly self-absorbed, and finds pretty much everyone irritating. He thinks he knows what a good person would do, and therefore thinks of himself as a good person, without having to actually go as far as doing the right thing. In particular, a large part of the plot is about his encounter with a trafficked teenager; because she offers him sex, he assumes that she actually wants to sleep with him, even though she explicitly says that she is expecting to be paid, and he knows that she's been raped and beaten until she no longer has the will to refuse. Later, he convinces himself that their "relationship" is true love and flies into jealous rages if he comes home early and finds she's gone out rather than just waiting around to have sex with him whenever it suits him. Worst of all, he is shocked and hurt and feels terribly unfairly treated when his fiancée breaks up with him over this behaviour! In spite of this, I really did care what happened to Gabriel, and I found his eventual crisis and redemption satisfying.
I think part of the reason itK works well is even though it is told from the narrator's point of view, the reader is never expected to buy into his inability to value anyone other than himself. The minor characters shine through, and that kept me reading even when I was absolutely exasperated with him. The setting is also very rich; you get a strong impression of life in the hotel, and life in the post-industrial small town Gabriel hails from. There are loads of background details which feel very solid. The glimpses of the experiences of the various immigrants and refugees who take on the menial jobs in the kitchen are very good, with all the subtlety yet strong emotional impact that's missing from Brick Lane.
The problem with itK is that it doesn't really work well as a thriller. The death of the porter which sets the scene is never really developed, and Gabriel keeps intending to investigate both that and other dodgy dealings he suspects are going on in the hotel, but never really gets round to doing anything. When he finally discovers the truth almost by accident, it feels very rushed and a little too pat to be satisfying. I also felt let down by the ending which implies at least a chance of him getting back together with his fiancée; ok, so he has had his Damascus moment, and perhaps the reader knows that he's redeemed, but Charlie has no way of knowing he's had a true change of heart. This ending makes her seem like Gabriel's reward for resolving to be slightly less of a prick, instead of a person in her own right.
