The Breadmaker's Carnival [Hardcover]

Andrew Lindsay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2000

In the town of Bacherotto, remarkable forces of faith, sex, and hunger are driving the inhabitants into uncontrollable frenzies of bizarre and unexplained behaviors.  The baker Gianni Terremoto begins to knead his rolls and sourdough breads in the form of his lover's breasts. His lusty daughter, Francesca, is about to become enshrined as the new local saint.  His girlfriend Luigi Bacheretti is intent on photographing God.  The local priest is convinced that the Virgin Mary has appeared to him, demanding that his congregation renounce the flesh -- an imperative that comes shortly after two amputees stage a popular ballet recital that celebrates the leg.

These extraordinary events occur in the year when Good Friday and April Fool's Day coincide.  Gainni, born on April Fool's Day Day, decides to bake a hot cross bun surpassing any that has ever been.  The results  -- hilarious, surprising, rejuvenating -- are beyond any that he and the townsfolk could have expected.

A brilliant story of what happens when Easter and Carnival collide and when the community becomes controlled by its libido, The Breadmaker's Carnival defies both the sacred and profane.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a year when Good Friday and April Fool's Day coincide, forces are set loose that profoundly transform the inhabitants of a small Italian village. Lindsay's ambitious jumble of a novel features an eclectic dramatis personae, all of whom live in the village of Bacheretto. Gianni Terremoto is a porcine baker trying to cope with a moody daughter and a frustrated lover; Luigi Bacheretti is a reclusive would-be inventor who raises chickens for obscure scientific purposes; Emile Pestoso unnerves as a tortured priest struggling with issues of faith and repressed sexuality. The supporting cast is no less off-kilter, including one-legged ballerina Pia Zanetti and one-handed mason Stefano Costa. Lindsay leisurely charts the romantic and social entanglements of these odd characters, creating something akin to a surreal soap opera. The collective sexual tension and confusion builds to critical mass, resulting in the titular "breadmaker's carnival," during which Gianni feeds cakes concocted from narcotics, aphrodisiacs and hallucinogens to his neighbors. The result is an orgy of saturnalian ferocity, a startling, extraordinarily disquieting set piece that allows Lindsay to effectively blend his defense of the inherent beauty and nobility of the human body with his concern about the evil latent in even the seemingly purest of souls. Stories revolving around artisan foodstuffs and bizarre rituals are a genre unto themselves by now, but Lindsay refrains from resorting to stereotype. Readers frustrated by the cozyness of novels like Joanne Harris's Chocolat but drawn to the subject matter will find this a more challenging variation. Despite some earthy, energetic and self-assured prose, the novel never truly gels, but it always aspires to powerful, provocative levels of insight. The publisher is crowing that the book has "all the charm of Under the Tuscan Sun"; booksellers who pick up on the comparison may move copies quickly. (Dec. 12) FYI: Lindsay was joint winner of the Australian 1996 Jim Hamilton Award for this novel.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Like a Bosch painting, Andrew Lindsay's first novel is an exploration of frenzy. Set in a small village many decades ago, the novel is populated by characters who are all either hurt or hurting: a haunted priest who performs an infibulation, a one-legged dancer who stars in her own dance recital, an old man attempting to take a portrait of God using a tadpole pool, a baker who cannot make hot cross buns, and his child--who is about to become the village martyred Madonna. All of them are involved in, are witness to, or are triggering the frenzy about to overtake the town of Bacheretto when Good Friday and April Fools' conspire to occur on the same day. The resulting carnival is both a celebration of excess and a revelation/resolution of the town's secrets. Lindsay's language sometimes plays with the reader, punning and sly, and the world he imagines is deeply textured. As the party unfolds in a strange and unruly progression, it presents a denouement few will escape. Neal Wyatt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1st Am. ed. edition (December 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060198427
• ISBN-13: 978-0060198428
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,316,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Admittedly Unfinished, April 30, 2001

By 

Leigh Deacon (Andover, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Breadmaker's Carnival (Hardcover)

Andrew Lindsay shows promise, great promise. He has a wonderful grasp of language and a feel for good, flowing prose. However, I feel there is a lack of proper attention to the building of "story" on an overall level that diminishes this novel.

I admit that I did not finish reading it. What is telling is that I just couldn't go on, I just couldn't keep up interest, and I finish what I begin 99% of the time. In fact, the only other book I can recall that I couldn't finish was Barker's Imagica. The problem with Breadmaker's Carnival is that despite its promising and imaginative plot device, the early chapters are devoid of the kind of action that propels a story. Sex, sex, sex. Too much concentration on sexual elements become a bore rather than titillating for the mature reader. ....

It well may be that the denouement of this novel is stunning, but that won't do the reader much good if they can't read enough to get to it. Check it out at your local library for a trial run before buying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It touched all human necessities,, July 12, 2004

By 

Wei Tang (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Breadmaker's Carnival (Hardcover)

they are food, sex, expressing oneself and religion. Lindsay did it in such a way only someone has theatre training can do. The best book I read in recent years.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ- THE BREAKMAKER'S CARNIVAL, June 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Breadmaker's Carnival (Hardcover)

The Breadmaker's Carnival is one of the most original works by an Australian writer that I have read. An imaginary Italian village of bizarre and humorous characters and events. I just loved this book and could not put it down. Can't wait for this writer's next work of fiction which I believe is nearing completion while he spends the next 6 months in Rome. Love Andrew Lindsay's style of writing and bizarre and wonderfully refreshing humour. -