Delicious! A Novel
By: Ruth Reichl / Narrated By: Julia Whelan
Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
A sweet (and savory!) listen
Perhaps you know that Ruth Reichl was once (and arguably still is) one of the most influential food critics out there. Perhaps you know her from her food memoirs. But did you know that she writes some really charming fiction also?
Yup. Delicious! was my mom’s pick for our audiobook club, and it came at a great time (I think we’d just done a book on genocide or something… whoulda thunk it, huh?).
Billie is a young woman new to New York City, and she just landed a job with Delicious! a notable food magazine which has just! …failed…
So then follows her life as the person who handles all of the magazine’s correspondence that’s still coming in, even as she works weekends at one of the most special delis/food stops in the city. There are wonderful characters in the deli, comrades from the defunct magazine, and there’s especially a hunt to find letters from a young girl to the famous James Beard during WWII. Frankly, the letters from young LuLu to Beard were my favorite part of the book, especially since I’m kinda a WWII history buff.
And Sammy! I loved the character Sammy! So sweet, so urbane, Billie’s veritable godfather of style and class. He adds a lot of humor to the book. Both he and Billie are trying to uncover all the letters LuLu wrote, even as the letters’ hiding place is apt to be discovered as the magazine’s premises are about to be sold.
Billie does a lot of unfolding over the course of the book. She starts off a frumpy, little sister to an adored and perfect older sister she writes to. And she never sees how special either she or her amazing palate is. She starts off shy but winds up opening up to friends and colleagues. She starts off lonely and winds up lovesick.
This latter part was about the only part of the novel where I got bored and exasperated a bit. She gets lovesick so quickly, turns into a mush pot, then she devolves into shrill and defensive shrewish behavior that pushes him away. Naturally. I coulda done without that, but yes, it’s relevant to how the story unwinds. So I’ll forgive it.
Besides, I really, really liked LuLu’s letters, especially as she starts off a young girls and grows into a young woman by the end of the correspondence. And who knows? Maybe now, Billie and Sammy wonder, she’s an old woman, still alive? Still able to answer all their questions?
If you’re looking for a pleasant listen, surround yourself with the sights and smells Delicious! conveys. Truly a pleasure for foodies, a pleasure for fiction lovers.
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