Customer Reviews

Chez Moi

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Delightful little book I stumbled upon recently. Translated from French, this is the story of a woman who has lost everything and re-creates her world one piece at a time. I was constantly hungry as I read, and would love to have her restaurant in my neighborhood. Philosophy mixed in with food, friendship and life.

Agnes Desarthe's Chez Moi is a classic novel in the style of Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies and Chocolat that revels in the sensual and emotional power of truly great food. Its narrator, Myriam, is a talented cook with a forged resume and a past tainted with disaster. At 43, Myriam feels that her life (including a failed attempt at motherhood) has been a failure, and her dearth of organizational abilities always leaves her in a bind. Her latest attempt is to open a restaurant with a staff of one: she doesn't want to hire waiters, cooks, or dishwashers, and she has no idea how a restaurant is run.

Despite a life tainted with tragedies, Myriam whips up extraordinary culinary concoctions that delight her audience. She shields herself from emotion with food, willing herself to forget about painful past betrayals and near-misses. But her small restaurant, which she's christened Chez Moi ("My house"), is her home, for she can't afford to rent an apartment and instead sleeps on the donated banquette and bathes in the large stainless steel sink.

The descriptions of food are heady and sensual, from delicate sauces to silken desserts. Ever practical, Myriam reuses things rather than throwing them out, and comes up with one menu for adults, another to cater to children.

Despite her lack of advertising (Chez Moi doesn't even have a sign proclaiming it's a restaurant), her creations attract a regular crowd of schoolgirls, young children, and workers. The neighboring florist Vincent, with breath that could kill an elephant, expresses romantic interest in her. When the talented waiter Ben appears, he helps Myriam by creating a website and bringing customers (and a catering business). Myriam is fascinated by Ben's physical awkwardness (he seems to have some mild physical impairment) and his asexuality (finally, a strong asexual character whose personality isn't defined by his asexuality!), his broad range of knowledge, and his talent in the kitchen. Ben puts Myriam in touch with a romantic figure from her past, and this has earth-shattering consequences for the timid, haunted Myriam.

There are mentions of Myriam's Jewishness, although fleeting, and of her family: successful little brother Charles, an eccentric aunt, and her disapproving parents, and the role that all of these characters have played in her development. Myriam's past failures threaten to engulf her, until her new network of co-workers and friends gives her the ability to move on.

Beautifully told, this portrait of a haunted woman and her talent in the kitchen will be sure to delight fans of Joanne Harris and Laura Esquivel.

I read it in one day and found it delightful. Chez Moi is a psychological novel, it dives into the mind of Myrian, who is also the narrator. She's mad and a liar, as she warns the reader right from the beginning. Personally, I think that's what makes the character amusing.
Now to the part of why I found it delightful whereas some people were bored to death. The narrator mixes present and past, the latter being revealed in small bites here and there. Adding on to that, if you've never read a psychological novel before, it may get a little confusing. I agree with the review that compares it to "Like water for chocolate". It is sensual but not vulgar, despite Myrian's "unforgivable" sins from the past. Some reviewers complained the story had no action. Well, if you're looking for Harry Potter-like adventure, no it doesn't. The story is both extremely agitated and light-hearted. The tension is in Myrian's mind, her attempts to reconcile with her past and live on.As the narrator is a cook, food is often the means to compare feelings, solve problems, forget the past. I found it rich in imagery, to the point I could almost see and smell the dishes she was serving. It' s a bit stretching to compare Myrian to Flaubert's Madame Bovary, although it surely reminded me of her - you know how the French love to explore the mind of an adulterous woman! Myrian is kind of a 21st century Madame Bovary without the tragic ending. It is interesting to note that, in France, the book's title is "eat me", which is far more sensual than Chez Moi (at my place). I hope this helps future readers.

Magical, new, interesting, charming. The speaker draws you in and the translation is excellent. There is not a whole lot of action but the exploration of her soul is deep and travels roads not often traveled.

This book is amazing. From a simple life story, with ups and downs, you tend to analyze your own self, in relation to love, family, business, friendship.
Not a novel, with blood scenes, or treachery, but a simple recipe (and I am talking here about cooking as well) which makes you smile and keeps you alert until the end. A woman decides to open a restaurant: she knows about cooking but nothing about business, and I will not give up the end.

Chez Moi is the story of Myriam, forty-three, who opens a restaurant in Paris. She has no idea how to run a restaurant, but has a love for cooking. As she struggles to run the restaurant, we also see her struggling to come to terms with her past, which we find out about in little pieces throughout the novel. As she continues to infuse her dishes with her love, Myriam begins to heal herself and find a second chance at life and love as she reconnects with her family after a six year absence or exile.

I think the novel is a wonderful character study of Myriam as she struggles to find herself once again and to realize herself as a mother, a friend, and a lover. Desarthe has such an interesting way with description; her descriptions are often lush and rich but at times can be quick and sparse. She does an excellent job of connecting the flow and the length of the sentences to the mood. When Myriam is frantic or upset, Desarthe's sentences are often short and come in quick, punches, emphasizing a sharp emotion. When Myriam is reflective and dreaming or hopeful, the sentences flow gently like breeze across the page.

The part of Myriam's character that I find most intriguing and compelling is her "traveling library" a selection of thirty-three books that she has shelved and displayed in her restaurant. She calls them her "traveling library" because they were the books that she selected to bring with her six years before when her husband (now ex) ordered her to exile herself. It's an eclectic collection ranging from The Sorrows of Young Werther to The Wild Palms to Kingdoms of Elfin and Alice In Wonderland. As the novel progresses, Myriam often pulls out a text and reads a small passage, and as readers we learn as much about Myriam from her reading habits as we do her reflections on her past and her interaction with those who come into her restaurant here in her present.

I wasn't impressed with her type of writing. It was hard to keep track where she was in the past or present. Never finished the book.

Slow read. Perhaps as the french like to eat, so they like to read. Langourously. Maybe because I'm not French I founnd this book a bit too slow. Too much of the everyday in every page. The concept intrigued me. A woman who has never had her own business who decides on a whim to open a restaurant. Although she is a good cook she doesn't have the heart of a businesswoman and so she soon hires a waiter, Ben, who helps her with the business side of things.
We learn early on that Myriam has run away from her previous life which involved a husband and son. I didn't like the relationship she shared with her son Hugo. She professes to not loving her son the way a mother should. That she did for the first 3 days of his life and then her husband slapped her and just like that the love disappeared. I couldn't comprehend that at all, as though a slap on the face could remove love from the soul. The ending was nice though.

The author is clearly talented. She turns a phrase in such a way that we can see, feel, and smell what's going on around us. I especially liked the kitchen sink bath. When there is light, there is light, when there is dark, we sense the dark, etc. However, overall, I found this to be a bit too much of a psychological novel... her near madness was disconcerting and in the end I skimmed the book but it never grabbed me enough for me to actually read beyond the 20th page. Jaring, unpleasant, made me grateful for my life of peace and more or less order. Loved the cover. (Sad for me that the cover was what I liked best) - until I thought about her ability to make flat words real.However, I think it takes a certain type of person to enjoy this book, hence, in spite of her giftedness I rate it one point.

I found this a slog to read. It started beautifully with some stalls along the way but then I just hit a brick wall with it. I did finish it so that is where the 1 star comes from - it was compelling enough to get me to finish the book. I couldn't maintain any feeling for Myriam as I found her bewildering especially with some of her decisions and illusions. Some of the writing was disorienting at times. In the end I was just unsettled and perplexed. Not a feel good book at all. Actually I'm sure some of the symptoms I've mentioned above could definitely be used to diagnose Myriam's challenging behaviours.