Chop
Chop
Simon
Wroe
If
I'm being totally honest, I must confess to watching a healthy (or
perhaps unhealthy) amount of reality television that involves
cooking, and to a few employment experiences in the (very) low-rent
end of the culinary world. This book, with its promised blend of
sarcasm, profanity, and insight into London's culinary underworld,
seemed like a good option for lighthearted, modern book to counter
the more serious classics I've been reading in the past few weeks.
Irreverent, Chop Chop
most certainly is; as for the rest of it, I'm not quite convinced.
It's clear from the first page, which kicks off a visceral
description of a culinary process involving pork (not for the
squeamish!), that Wroe intends to pull no punches, and indeed he
doesn't. The language is unapologetically brutal as our
protagonist-narrator- dubbed Monocle on account of his English
degree- reluctantly joins the staff of a somewhat aspirational
restaurant, The Swan, in Camden. Wroe immediately and convincingly
drops readers directly into the world of high stakes restaurants,
profane chefs, questionable sanitation practices, underpaid and
mistreated assistants, and the underemployed.
It
is here that Wroe truly shines. He offers an uncompromising, and
quite unflattering, peek behind the curtain, and his kitchen is full
of unsavory characters who are, despite the exaggerations that drive
their descriptions, uncomfortably believable. The cursing may become
a bit uncomfortably misogynistic and homophobic at times, but it does
effectively create and maintain appropriate atmospherics and can
largely be forgiven. The book does contain a few truly disturbing
scenes that are, perhaps, a bit too
amoral and upsetting, though I acknowledge that they are effective
displays of a villain's utter depravity. Many of the book's punches
are delivered with a dry, English wit that suits the book's somewhat
bleak- yet strangely hopeful- outlook; there's some subtlety and
craft at work, and the restaurant-based portions of the book
establish and maintain a strong tone that carries the plot quite
effectively. Add this to a lively ensemble cast that runs the gamut
from the head chef's relentless cruelty to the sex-obsessed Ramilov
and the aptly named, musical-loving Racist Dave, and it's a recipe
for success. The book isn't, perhaps, as continuously funny as it
aspires to be, but the restaurant parts offer a solid, evolving plot,
interpersonal intrigue, and hijinks galore.
Wroe,
however, aspires to more than satire, and these more lofty goals tend
to derail, rather than strengthen, the book. Too much of the book
focuses on Monocle's relentless (and annoying) self-doubt, and we
witness too little change too late to salvage the story of his
emotional maturation; readers are constantly a few steps ahead of him
and can be forgiven for losing their patience as he remains stagnant
for page after page. The book also suffers from uneven pacing and
plot; somehow, it seems bloated despite its relatively small size
(276 pages in my hardback edition), and it loses much of its momentum
permanently after the first act. Though Wroe has Monocle's personal
and professional stories to juggle, the family- and
restaurant-centric chapters barely seem to influence each other and
never achieve a proper sense of balance. The stories don't quite come
together, despite the author's best intentions, and each thread's
respective resolution leaves a lingering note of dissatisfaction. The
novel is, by turns, appropriately and effectively humorous and
serious, but it cannot quite reconcile its two moods.
Wroe
also errs in making Monocle's narration a bit too self-aware, hinting
that two of the book's major players have access to the text
throughout its creation. Rather than offering readers this external
commentary and context (with one notable, and successful, exception),
Wroe filters their comments through Monocle, resulting in a sense of
self-indulgence that adds nothing constructive to the book. The
editors' impact is ambiguous at best, and Monocle's only clear
indication of their influence is a statement blatantly ignoring it at
the story's climax. Offering alternate perspectives could be a clever
narrative trick, if the author made a legitimate attempt to do it,
but as they are these references cheapen the novel and make it seem
patently artificial- almost certainly the opposite effect than what
was intended. Even more egregious are the author's constant reminders
that Monocle is, in effect, writing an ex post facto memoir; the
reader doesn't need to be told- repeatedly!-
that the plot will thicken, the events will escalate, and things will
get very interesting indeed. At some point, the story needs to speak
for itself, and the author's lack of confidence inspires little in
the reader. One gets the feeling that Wroe would do well to rely on
his talents, which are many and evident, and not on his tricks.
Chop
Chop is an interesting novel,
but it is plagued by too many faults to be considered great; it
ultimately suffers from its glut of good intentions. In attempting to
write a coming-of-age story wrapped in a rollicking satire, Wroe
loses the far more interesting plot at hand and creates a bit of a
muddle. The characterization and satirical elements are often
top-notch, as are many of the book's metaphors, and there are a few
truly touching points of emotional resonance that betray the author's
talents. Monocle's lingering guilt over his brother's childhood
death, long past, feels viscerally real, as do the death's pivotal
effects on the family, but at some point even these raw emotional
observations become lost in the noise. In another novel, perhaps,
they would ring clearly. Chop Chop
contains the makings of a few good novels within it, but its
ingredients never quite come together to make a satisfying dish.
Grade:
B-