Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Jul 2015 · Hachette UK
4.0star
3 reviewsreport
Ebook
320
Pages
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About this ebook
'A tremendous novel that combines powerfully moving moments with hilarious satire' Daily Mail
'Eva Thorvald is the new Olive Kitteridge' Elisabeth Egan
'Kitchens of the Great Midwest is terrific' Jane Smiley, Guardian
Have you met Eva Thorvald?
To her father, a chef, she's a pint-sized recipe tester and the love of his life. To the chilli chowdown contestants of Cook County, Illinois, she's a fire-eating demon. To the fashionable foodie goddess of supper clubs, she's a wanton threat. She's an enigma, a secret ingredient that no one can figure out. Someday, Eva will surprise everyone.
One by one, they tell their story; together, they tell Eva's. Joyful, quirky and heartwarming, this is a novel about the family you lose, the friends you make and the chance connections that make a life.
On the day before her eleventh birthday, she's cultivating chilli peppers in her wardrobe like a pro. Abandoned by her mother, gangly and poor, Eva arms herself with the weapons of her unknown heritage: a kick-ass palate and a passion bordering on obsession.
Over the years, her tastes grow, and so do her ambitions. One day Eva will be the greatest chef in the world. But along the way, the people she meets will shape her - and she, them - in ways unforgettable, riotous and profound. So she - for one - knows exactly who she is by the time her mother returns.
Special paperback edition with questions for reading groups, interview, guide to the Midwest, recipes and more!
'Eva Thorvald is the new Olive Kitteridge' Elisabeth Egan
'Kitchens of the Great Midwest is terrific' Jane Smiley, Guardian
Have you met Eva Thorvald?
To her father, a chef, she's a pint-sized recipe tester and the love of his life. To the chilli chowdown contestants of Cook County, Illinois, she's a fire-eating demon. To the fashionable foodie goddess of supper clubs, she's a wanton threat. She's an enigma, a secret ingredient that no one can figure out. Someday, Eva will surprise everyone.
One by one, they tell their story; together, they tell Eva's. Joyful, quirky and heartwarming, this is a novel about the family you lose, the friends you make and the chance connections that make a life.
On the day before her eleventh birthday, she's cultivating chilli peppers in her wardrobe like a pro. Abandoned by her mother, gangly and poor, Eva arms herself with the weapons of her unknown heritage: a kick-ass palate and a passion bordering on obsession.
Over the years, her tastes grow, and so do her ambitions. One day Eva will be the greatest chef in the world. But along the way, the people she meets will shape her - and she, them - in ways unforgettable, riotous and profound. So she - for one - knows exactly who she is by the time her mother returns.
Special paperback edition with questions for reading groups, interview, guide to the Midwest, recipes and more!
Ratings and reviews
4.0
3 reviews
Colin Wilson
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November 12, 2016
I liked the book as a whole, but was a little disappointed with the ending, it was perhaps a bit too sudden an ending - even if there was an epilogue that said what, if anything, had happened with Cindy 5 years later, but leaving the reader to fill in some of the gaps themselves...
About the author
J. Ryan Stradal's writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Rattling Wall, McSweeney's: The Goods, and Hobart, among other places, and he edits the fiction section of The Nervous Breakdown. Born and raised in Minnesota, he now lives in Los Angeles, where he co-hosts a literary-culinary events series called Hot Dish and has worked as a TV producer, notably for Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch. He does not own a gun and a motorcycle, which makes him unique among the men in his extended family.
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