 "Photo: Europa Editions")
Like many second novels, Muriel Barbery’s “Gourmet Rhapsody”—translated by Alison Anderson—fails to live up to the promise of her first novel, “The Elegance of the
Hedgehog.”
“Gourmet Rhapsody” favors obsessive culinary description over action, dialogue, or character interaction. The plot is simple, but the elaborate wording bogs it down, and lessens any emotional impact a reader might feel from the complex emotional issues it tries to portray.
“Gourmet Rhapsody” is based on a dying man’s deathbed wish. Eminent food critic Pierre Arthens has spent his life appreciating good food instead of appreciating his family and associates. Even as he dies, he obsesses over a flavor which he cannot remember, but feels he must taste again before the end.
The book is spent in episodic chapters as Arthens relives the feasts of his past, interspersed with soliloquies of people whose lives have been bound up with his. There is little dialogue and little present action, merely lots of exposition and discussion.
This method has its benefits. It allows Barbery to investigate the feelings of many people and to dilute the impact of constant exposure to the main character, who is brilliant
but despicable. However, it also makes it difficult to understand all the connections between the characters. The first part of each soliloquy may be spent trying to figure
out who the speaker is in relation to Arthens, and if they’ve been mentioned before. This makes it difficult to concentrate on or enjoy the complex language.
This leaves the reader with a difficult choice: put down the book in frustration because of Arthens’ arrogant self-love and disregard for other people—even his compliments are back-handed insults, as when he says of his grandmother, “I even thought at times that it was her stupidity and lack of education and culture that had made her an accomplished cook”—or to continue reading in order to not lose the momentum of the novel and forget who the characters are.
Fitting for a book with “gourmet” in the title, the novel focuses almost entirely on food, with detailed descriptions of everything from grilled sardines to brioche. Many of the descriptions perfectly capture the essence of the food described, as when Arthens explains how wonderful buttered toast is when the bread is buttered prior to toasting.
He says, “The butter loses some its creamy consistency, but nevertheless is not as liquid as when it is melted on its own... Likewise, the toast is spared a somewhat dreary
dryness and becomes a moist warm substance, ...ready to tantalize one’s taste buds with its contemplative delicacy.” Not all the descriptions are readily accessible, however, if the reader is unfamiliar with the delicacy in question. The reader may appreciate the language, but cannot enjoy the vicarious taste of flavors of which she has no concept.
Likewise, the depth of description favored by Barbery can be overwhelming when it is used by nearly every character in the book. It is simply not reasonable that almost all the characters should share the same laborious, almost slavish, love for elaborate description. They hate Arthens and they use complicated syntax and diction to do it. The cat, Rick, is one notable exception to this trend. His soliloquy stands out as one of the few with a definite voice of its own, as well as untainted affection for Arthens.
Despite occasional bright moments in the narrative of “Gourmet Rhapsody”, the majority of the book revels in hatred and spite or gluttony and elitism. Even the statue of Venus in Arthens’ apartment concludes, “Die, old man. There is no peace and there is no place for you in this life,” a summing up with which the reader, despite the exquisite culinary description, may have to agree.
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