“I chose this life because it’s a constant assault of color and taste and light and it’s raw and ugly and fast and it’s mine. And you’ll never understand. Until you live it, you don’t know.”
Those are the breathless thoughts from Tess, the 22-year-old protagonist in Stephanie Danler’s debut novel “Sweetbitter.” In this coming-of-age story, Tess attempts to shed her past and create herself anew in New York, earning her dollars as a back waiter in a trendy upscale restaurant.
We are in full-on summer reading season, and “Sweetbitter” — a story not just about one girl growing up but about the cult of dining in 2016 — is sure to be a talker this year, much in the way that Gabriel Hamilton’s memoir “Blood, Bones & Butter” was the page-turner of 2011, and Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” was when it was published in 2008.
For any of us who have clocked time in the restaurant industry, “Sweetbitter” will remind us what the daily grind was like and the curious cast of characters thrown together in an attempt to feed people.
Some 20-plus years ago, during college, I was the morning cashier at a cafeteria. I remember the regulars, those retirees who lined up for coffee at 6 a.m. Why must they come so early, I wondered at the start of each shift. Didn’t they have a better place to be at that hour? I also remember working with a lot of caring people who also seemed like they had a lot of problems. No money, broken cars, broken relationships. Sometimes, they scared me.
When flipping the pages of “Sweetbitter,” we might nod our heads up and down, or shake our heads no, as we watch Tess and her co-workers work hard and play hard. At times, the “raw and ugly and fast” parts — drugs, excessive drinking, sex — also make the book hard to swallow. We want these people to quit making destructive choices.
I recently spent an entire Sunday consuming “Bittersweet,” not because it brought me back to my limited days working at a restaurant, but because Danler writes a story about life. I don’t know a soul who hasn’t known pain and disappointment, who doesn’t have bruises and scars. Life hurts, whether you are 22 or 42 or 62 or 82.
And, while this novel might consider meaning and direction-in-life questions from the perspective of a young person, it offers myriad moments for any of us, regardless of age, to pause and reflect on the decisions that have brought us to where we are today, and also to ask ourselves which road we are on right now.
Pay attention, says Simone, a senior server who takes Tess under her wing, educating her on the finer points of wine and oysters while dishing out other life advice. But it’s Tess who ultimately has to decide how to deal with everything, the sweet and the bitter.
What else is in store for the food-loving bookworm? New releases on my nightstand include "Double Cup Love: On the Trail of Family, Food, and Broken Hearts in China" by Eddie Huang, who had us laughing with his memoir, "Fresh Off the Boat."
And there are some foodcentric stories that are not new releases, but which I plan to revisit this summer because the tale-telling is beautiful and they inspire and refresh me.
Tops are three travel memoirs by Marlena de Blasi: “A Thousand Days in Venice,” “That Summer in Sicily” and “A Thousand Days in Tuscany.” You’re not flying to Italy this summer? Well, you’ll feel like you’re right beside her, as De Blasi takes you on a journey to discover the beauty of timeless villages and cities, to recall the happiness that comes with befriending people and finding romance, to awaken to the sensuous pleasures of food and drink.
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