Customer Reviews

Eating Crow: A Novel

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This is definitely worth a read. It's short, under 300 pages, and if you have some time to kill, it's light enough to whip through in a few hours. The story and main character (Marc) get off to a very funny start. However, about mid-way through the book, about the time the Marc gets his job as chief apologizer to the world, the humor is harder to find. On the whole, it's completely worth reading though.
A couple of other minor issues that might bug some readers: if you aren't a foodie, the pages long descriptions of individual meals and foods could put you off. They're easy enough to skim through after the first few and after all, the author is a professional food critic so he's writing what he knows. American readers beware, some of the British slang might throw you. And, if there's any serious flaw it's that I didn't find either of Marc's two female love interests to be very believable or complete characters. They seem to just exist in the story for Marc's benefit, and don't stand very well on their own. The author put more effort into describing some of the chocolates in the story than he did development of the girlfriends.
But it's definitely still a funny book and worth reading. I found it a very entertaining balance to some weightier non-fiction I'm struggling through.

A very entertaining, very quick read. Don't take the tale too seriously, for it's only a tale! Rayner writes in an entertaining style and, if you're a foodie, his descriptions--and his sources--are wonderful. I'm ready to place my order for salt caramel truffles from L'Artisan du Chocolat in London tonight.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a repressed foodie (with small kids, one doesn't get to actually experience a lot of great restaurants), and the meal descriptions were Ruth Reichl restaurant review worthy. It took a turn I didn't expect plotwise, with the UN business. Very clever and sometimes laugh out loud funny. I would definately look at this writer's next book.

Jay Rayner has been a food critic for years, and so it makes a good deal of sense that his novel should cover a lot of that ground. Indeed, Eating Crow starts with his character Marc as a restaurant critic, a particularily (and hysterically) biting one, which has resulted for the first time in not only hurt feelings but a serious and tragic suicide. His reactions to this suicide kick off the 'international apology' tour plot-line of the book, though again and again we return to food (and chocolate) as a touchstone. The book's end, in my opinion about the weakest bit, finds Marc more or less back where he started, sadded but wiser (and wealthier).

The writing is best early on when Rayner is dealing with the restaurant reviews, and Marc's wit is intact and in action. The situations he finds himself in are mostly so absurd that only contemporary politicians could pull them off without wincing, and therefore add substantially to the humor even when by themselves the scenes are not that funny. Some of the characters are something of cardboard cutouts, but again, the basic plot is such a put-on (and send-up of '90s and 2000s socio-political tropes) that this does not hurt the story but highlights the artificiality. The ending, however, is suddenly more serious and can bring the reader down from the extended fun of the overall work.

Nonetheless, at 300 pages it reads quickly and will give several hours of escape and more than a few good laughs.

I enjoyed "Eating Crow" more for its absurdity than anything else. After all who could have come up with the notion that there should be a chief apologist to the UN! What was his job? To appease dictators and tyrants around the globe! Talk about laughing out loud, after all who could have dreamed up such a theme?

Spin forward to 2007 and we find the British Government seriously apologizing for the slave trade of centuries ago. Compensation seems next on the list if Archbishop Rowan Williams to be taken seriously. Perhaps the best record of the slave trade is recorded in the Bible - are we to expect now that the Egyptians apologise to the Jews? Perhaps the Christians will apologise for the Crusades? So it seems I was wrong as this notion of a chief apologist is not that far fetched. Couple this with the fact that the UK is the most spied on nation in the world and Jay Rayner is elevated to join the ranks of Orwell and Huxley in proving that the absurd can so easily become a reality!

Definitely different than other books out there with quite a lot of humor. Mostly believable and the food descriptions are intense! I am not usually in to too much description, but this dose was perfect and complete. I would recommend this title to anyone and everyone.

If this book isn't you say wolf too many times. He gets crazy apologizing and finds himself all wrapped up in making apologies. But will they come to mean nothing?

I enjoyed this book without a doubt. Highly entertaining, lots of wonderful scrumptious food descriptions. However I agree, the book did leave me kind of like is that all?

I look forward to other books by this author and I want to read more about all the chocolate foods!

This was a delicious book and I would highly reccomend it. I have had three copies, one pan fried in olive oil with garlic (reccommended) and two oven roasted with a burgandy sauce (highly recommended).

If I hadn't spent the money to buy the book I would not have finished it.