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The Gourmet
 
The Gourmet (Hardback)
Published in September 2009
ISBN: 978-1-9060-4026-0
Hardback, £9.99
Themes: contemporary
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Translated by Alison Anderson

France's greatest food critic is dying, after a lifetime in single-minded pursuit of sensual delights. But as Pierre Arthens lies on his death bed, he is tormented by an inability to recall the most delicious food to ever pass his lips, which he ate long before becoming a critic. Desperate to taste it one more time, he looks back over the years to see if he can pin down the elusive dish.

Revealing far more than his love of great food, the narration by this larger-than-life individual alternates with the voices of those closest to him and their own experiences of the man. Muriel Barbery's gifts as an evocative storyteller are put to mouth-watering use in this voluptuous and poignant meditation on food and its deeper significance in our lives. A delectable treat to savour.

Here's a review from the Mercury Australia

 
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Review from the Mercury Australia
 
MURIEL Barbery wrote The Gourmet in 2000, but it was not translated from French until now, after the run-away success of a second novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. 

Pierre Arthens, the greatest food critic in the world (in his own estimation), has 48 hours to live, after which, according to his doctor's peculiarly precise diagnosis, his heart will fail him. 

He devotes that time to trying to capture a flavour that is "the first and ultimate truth of my entire life"; a flavour from childhood or adolescence, "a marvellous dish that predates my vocation as a critic, before I had any desire or pretension to expound on my pleasure in eating". 

The story that reveals an unloving and unloved man is not all in Arthens' voice; his wife, children, the concierge and even his cat also have their say. Its deliciousness is in the striptease of revelation about his life and the evocative descriptions of the food up for, but failing, the ultimate flavour test - tomato, oysters, sashimi, a meal in Tangiers, a meal at his grandmother's. 

It is a quick read - only 121 pages - something to whet your appetite, or serve as the sorbet refresher between weightier holiday reading.
 

 
 
 
 
 
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