Review by Booklist Review
Kostya's beloved father died when he was a young boy, upending his life. At age 11, he first tastes his father's favorite food. Kostya has the ability to, in a sense, taste the dead and eventually bring them back to their loved ones, just for the moments it takes to eat the dish he's prepared. He conceives a restaurant in his apartment, but it's closed down by the board of health, so he moves on to work in a high-end kitchen. His sense of flavor, even without the dead speaking to him, is innovative. His opportunity to open a real restaurant, with the concept of reaching those in the afterlife, involves the Russian Mob and danger. He finds love but through that learns that the veil between worlds is not what he had thought, and sacrifices must be made to undo the damage he has caused. This is an extraordinary book that seems jumbled at times, but in the end, all comes together to make perfect sense. For foodies, for lovers, for those who like a side of the supernatural.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lavelle riffs on hungry ghost mythology in her delectable debut. As a child, Kostya Duhovny maintains emotional ties to his family's Ukrainian homeland through the food and stories shared by his father. After his father dies unexpectedly, 11-year-old Kostya feels adrift, receiving little comfort from his depressed mother. When his tongue registers the phantom flavors of pechonka, a chicken liver dish that was a favorite of his father's, Kostya at first chalks it up to a fluke of memory. As an adult, he realizes his gift (called clairgustance) allows him to conjure up the favorite foods of the recently deceased and even to bring their ghosts back to share a posthumous meal with a grieving loved one. Determined to visit with his own dearly departed, Kostya begins dabbling in the afterlife--and the equally harrowing New York City restaurant scene--with dangerous repercussions. Lavelle hits a few false notes ("I love you like salt... make salt to me," a lover says to Kostya), but for the most part, the exuberant prose leavens the story's bittersweet pathos, and the novel brims with tantalizing descriptions of international cuisines. This inventive tale of food and family is likely to whet readers' appetites. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A chef who can cook food that reunites diners with their deceased loved ones finds out that's not such a great idea. A year after his father's unexpected death, 11-year-old Konstantin "Kostya" Duhovny mysteriously gets the taste of his father's favorite food, pechonka, in his mouth. As an adult, wracked with guilt because he and his father quarreled at their last meeting, tortured by memories of being a social outcast in school and of a mother who simply stopped coping after losing her husband, Kostya gets by with menial jobs and binge-eating, baffled by the mysterious ability whose purpose he doesn't know. Until one night, mistaken for the bartender in a speakeasy where he washes dishes, he gets the taste of a drink in his mouth--the favorite drink of a drunken customer's dead wife. He mixes it, and the wife's ghost appears. Both spirit and widower seem to get closure from this final meeting, although Maura Struk, the psychic Kostya consults about his gift, warns him, "Don't ever make their food again…you're no match for the Afterlife." Kostya ignores her advice when sinister Russian businessman (read: gangster) Viktor Musizchka offers him the chance to become a very special kind of restaurateur, making dishes to summon their ghosts for grieving survivors--for a hefty price. Even Maura, who re-enters the novel to become the love of his life, encourages him, and Kostya seems bound for success. Of course, things are not so simple, and debut novelist Lavelle spins a twisty plot filled with mouthwatering descriptions of food and some very hungry ghosts. Both Maura and Viktor have dark hidden motives, and the hilarious running narration between chapters of "The Konstantin Duhovny Culinary Experience" by his best friend, Frankie (the novel's most vivid character), in time reveals itself as another menacing element. The catastrophic opening night of Kostya's restaurant provides a bravura climax, followed by a poignant final twist. A tasty variation on the supernatural thriller. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
