Marc Fitten

Elza’s Kitchen by Marc Fitten appears initially to be a simple tale of a successful women in her middle years becoming disillusioned with her life. It follows Elza an attractive petite woman in her late 40’s and owner of the only good restaurant in a small Hungarian town. She is in a fairly loveless relationship with her young sous chef which shortly ends badly because she refuses to marry him. She is dissatisfied with her success and has plans to win a coveted prize and she hatches a plot to lure a critic whose regular column she follows to this end. Elza is definitely the protagonist of this book but it also follows the lives of the Sous Chef, Dora the pastry chef and the critic.

I first discovered Marc Fitten with his first novel Valeria's Last Stand about an older woman having a final stab at romance. He really does have the feel for the characterization of an older woman and all of his people in both these books feel quite substantial and real.

Also contained within is a fabulous informal recipe for chicken paprika. There are various twists and turns and not the plot is not without setbacks but overall the book left me smiling. There are several wildly funny moments but generally it is a gentle flow to a satisfying ending.

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Elza’s Kitchen ought to have been a beaut book for a Masterchef tragic like me. Set in post Soviet Hungary, it’s about an ambitious cook who dreams of getting a favourable review in Europe’s top gourmet magazine. It was the blurb that enticed me: it sounded like fun.

But it’s a disappointment, and not just a disappointment. With its stereotypical representation of Roma (called gypsies in the novel) it’s an offensive disappointment. Did it not occur to the Bloomsbury editor that portraying Roma relentlessly as beggars, thieves, greedy opportunists and scoundrels was just a tad inappropriate? (Maybe the Bloomsbury editor grew up reading Enid Blyton stories where the ‘gypsies’ were always fair game for negative stereotyping).

The plot is mildly engaging so I resisted the temptation to turf it, but really, it turned out to be more like another limp episode of Mystery Diners. The characterisation is feeble. I realise that the book is supposed to be a comic fable so most of the characters are stock types, labelled not by name but by their job (i.e. Sous-Chef, the Line-chefs, the Dishwasher, The Critic, &c) but Elza is such a driven personality, with no redeeming features, that it’s just not ever convincing that the Sous-chef is so in love with her that he persists in trying to marry her for three years. And her jealousy when he finds love elsewhere after she’s ditched him is pathetically sexist in conception and wholly unconvincing. And even a fable needs to be convincing.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/09/10/elzas-kitchen-by-marc-fitten-bookreview/… (plus d'informations)

The novel opens with Valeria, a crotchety old woman who lives in a small rural village in Hungary. She is not well liked and is a bit of a bully. One day in the market, she sees the potter and is smitten. She once had her heart broken and has been closed off since, but she thinks she might be able to open her heart to him. There is only one catch – he is already seeing the pub owner, Ibolya.

Valeria decides to ask the potter to make her a pitcher. He ends up making her the most beautiful pitcher he has ever made and discovers that Valeria brings out his creativity. He and Valeria have an affair, but the potter feels very badly for Ibolya. He cannot decide what to do so he does nothing which infuriates both women.

In the second part of the book, a chimney sweep comes to town. While he is supposed to bring good luck, his presence ends up altering the village. When the potter does not visit Valeria, she has a tryst with the chimney sweep. While he falls in love with Valeria, she does not return his feelings. She is still in love with the potter. Ibolya and the chimney sweep become friends and try to unravel the potential relationship between the potter and Valeria – along with some other bad behavior that causes trouble in the town.

The ending is bittersweet and is happy enough. I very much enjoyed reading about this town and the people in it. Valeria and the potter’s love story is sweet and timid and satisfying. Fitten’s writing is full of fun characters with subtle depth. This novel was a joy to read.… (plus d'informations)