A Kashmiri technical win

In case you haven't noticed in previous posts, I love Kashmir. I have been fascinated with India and Pakistan in general for as long as I can remember, but I have always been especially attracted to the inate beauty of Kashmir. Obviously, this is not a place I have been able to visit in person yet, and perhaps it will never be stable enough for Globus to set up a tour, but that doesn't stop me from being instantly interested when I spot a book about the region. Which led me to my next read:

Title: Chef
Author: Jaspreet Singh
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publish date: 2010
My start date: 8/8/10
My finish date: 8/10/10
Book count: 38/100

This book has won many awards and has been well praised, a fact about which I am truly happy. I am really glad that many others have liked this book, because despite my initial excitement over it, I did not. Technically, this book is stunning. I just wasn't looking for technical that week I guess. I am not even entirely sure where it went wrong for me. Let me see if I can figure it out.

On a very petty and minor note, Singh lost me in the first two pages when he immediately indicated that the protagonist was dying of a brain tumor. I have a thing with brain tumors. Not a fan. That is personal though, strictly a me thing, so the rest of you out there could probably read that as just another literary device. However, there was an immediate darkness over the novel and not necessarily in the "deliciously chilly" sense I mentioned in regards to The Scarlet Letter. Perhaps haunting might be a better word and others might find it beautifully haunting.

I think my bigger issue was with the books inability to deeply engage me. The narrative shifts times between various presents and marginally chronological memories of the past. Sometimes I forget or am plain unable to determine in which setting the action currently was.

I found the main character distant and hard to identify with. This is one of those stories in which you find the protagonists story interesting to hear but don't feel a connection to your own life. For me, I was left on the outside looking in. Even if the inside might be fascinating, I am still stuck on the outside.

Hmm, I think that as closely touches my issues as possible. As I said, Singh was highly praised for this work and there are some beautiful technical aspects to it. It was simply too distant to make my top ten list. Sigh. And I do love Kashmir so!

Oh well, onward and to one of my favorite authors!

Keep Reading!
Sarah