Book Tamers| book reviews

At first sight, The Devil’s Larder wasn’t appealing at all. And that is mainly because the presentation has nothing exciting on the surface (it has a rather tern cover). Jim Crace was an unknown name to me. And maybe it would have stayed that way if I hadn’t picked up The Devil’s Larder.
Crace’s book has 64 stories and reminds us of the “hidden goodies” of the human lusts, it says something about things that are maybe impossible to “digest”. And that is because characters in The Devil’s Larder have cravings that are hard to be satisfied, they become people submitted to instincts. And nothing is more exciting than a secret that has been discovered.
If at first sight Crace takes into the universe of larder full of food that can be explored and tried, later on I understood the author’s aim: food is left aside when human feelings and their interaction come up. Food is just an instrument that awakes the sense, temptations, guilt, disappointment, fear, etc. It is about those senses that most of us don’t feel when we eat.
Even though I’m not a fan of a soup made of an old leather purse, one can’t skip the intriguing food. It is actually the surprise, the uncertainty of what characters might eat that makes The Devil’s Larder a “delicious” book”!
Of course, it’s hard to explain what hides beneath the 130 pages of the book. But The Devil’s Larder gives me a strange feeling, a sweet guilt and pleasure and that is why I’d read it again. What did Crace gave me? Well, recipes that will tell me if I’m going to be a great cook, neighbour or wife. It gave me the taste of some sauces that can become and foods that stir imagination.
I can’t do anything else but to invite you all open this fantastic book and choose from its shelves a box, a can or food. I’m sure you will find something to your taste.

Written by Cristina