Pomme is a contemporary young woman who is a passionate cook with a restless hunger. She looks to the lives of writers for inspiration in love, and in the culinary arts. Part fiction, part cookbook, Reckless Appetites explores literary romance, revenge, and love.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A frothy, aromatic concoction of literary references to food, this first novel, although light on narrative, offers the delights of a dinner with a literate friend who is an able, quirky cook. Pomme Bouquin, the daughter of a famous chef in London, pines for a man named Jeremy. Having "learned from cooking and literature that the finest seduction engages all the senses," Pomme peruses the works of Colette, D. H. Lawrence, Lord Byron and Flaubert, among others, to plan the meal that will win her Jeremy's heart. During the course(s) of their romance, Pomme plumbs literature for culinary comfort in periods of despair and rage (when she plans a menu of revenge). Readers are also treated to the slyly competitive correspondence between Pomme's father and a French chef seeking help with an important meal, and to articles written by Pomme for a food magazine (e.g., "Company of Writers, Coffee, and the Literary Life"). Recipes from writers--English, French and a few Americans--abound in a narrative that, like some broths, is both flavorsome and thin. In her toothsome, sometimes tongue-in-cheek tale, Deval, who is director of publicity at Villard, sieves the literary canon to assign flavor and bite to the emotions of love.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this curious synthesis of fiction, love, and food, Deval displays a commanding knowledge of literature in her first novel. Ostensibly, the story is about Pomme, a contemporary young woman and enthusiastic cook living in Paris and writing for the magazine Culture and Cuisine. As the story begins, she is concocting seductive feasts for her lover, Jeremy. Later, scorned by him, Pomme plots her revenge by devising a menu of unusual food laced with poison. The book also contains famous writers' commentaries on food and theories on subjects like the emergence and literary importance of coffeehouses and why the food in Britain is so bad. Confusingly, the narrator changes to Pomme's American lover, then to Jeremy, about midway through the book. The plot is thin, and historical recipes abound. While the concept is intriguing, the writing is cerebral and dry. This book will have a hard time finding the right audience.
- Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D. C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D. C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
unique,
By edith lawrence "reader obsessed" (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Reckless Appetites: A Culinary Romance (Paperback)
the story is cute but not great...the book is very, very good
The references to food, the recipes, the dialogue...very good. I wish she would write another like it... makes me want to read lots of stuff she quoted plus try the recipes. I didn't hink anyone else was so passionate as I am on this subject (literature and food and love and writing and reading)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
original and compelling,
By A Customer
This review is from: Reckless Appetites: A Culinary Romance (Hardcover)
I have been waiting for years now for another novel from this author!I really enjoyed her subtle and slightly obscured story telling. I have read this several times and even tried some of the recipes.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Reckless Appetites,
By A Customer
This review is from: Reckless Appetites: A Culinary Romance (Paperback)
I love to read and I love to cook but I found this book self-impressed and not too good a read. The concept - unique, the execution dry and the story doesn't work too well. Some interest in the recipes of so many famous writers but the book tries too hard.Deval did her research but it's as if the novel's characters of Pomme, Pomme's lovers and chef-father were just a vehicle to hang her academic research upon. She gave it a title with passion but no sparks here!
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