by Susan on 12/23/09 at 11:05 am
Sometimes finding a unique, last-minute gift for the consummate foodie in your life can be a challenge, especially if they already have all the kitchen tools and implements they need. With only hours away from the big day, here’s a suggestion that will delight even the most recalcitrant reader.
Gourmet Rhapsody is French author and philosophy professor Muriel Barbery’s first novel. Barbery, whose second work of fiction, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, was one of the surprise hits of 2008, focuses on the determination of a dying food critic to search for the most perfect flavor he ever experienced in this, her very first novel. Just published in English, the story describes the deathbed experiences of food critic Pierre Arthens as he tries to use his memories to revisit his past escapades of gastronomic ecstasies, in an attempt to reconcile the excesses of what he ate with how he lived his life.
The 160-page novel is told in short stories from several points of view, as Barbery weaves highly descriptive tales about different types of food experiences into the frustrations of a dying man as he valiantly tries to recall the elusive flavor that has been teasing his taste buds … and his heart.
This philosophical story about the “Pope of Gastronomy” has many lessons that foodies will appreciate and relate to. And it also provides much “food for thought” as readers realize that the quest Arthens is on is as much about how he lived, as what he put in his mouth. This is a great stocking stuffer that will find a place of honor on anyone’s bookshelf.
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