Sweetbitter

 

Set in 2006, Sweetbitter tells the story of Tess, a 22 year old Ohio native recently transplanted to New York, who quickly gets a job as a 'back server' at Union Square Cafe. (The Cafe is never named in the book but it is mentioned in the acknowledgments and if you have even a smattering of knowledge about New York restaurants it is evident that it is the restaurant concerned.)

I've had Sweetbitter at home on my book pile for sometime and I was looking forward to reading as it had a lot of publicity along with glowing editorial reviews when it came out last summer. Sorry to say, it was a major disappointment when I did get around to it for a number of reasons...

Let's start with the characters. Tess is so self absorbed and comes across as selfish and narcissistic, I found her to be truly unpalatable. Meanwhile the supporting characters are either thoroughly unpleasant or else so one dimensional that it is hard to remember who is who.

Secondly there isn't a plot to the book, it simply talks about the time that Tess works at the restaurant, the people she works with, and what they get up to out of working hours - which is basically getting messily drunk and taking drugs. There were so many scenes where Tess and her co workers sat around drinking and taking coke, which may have been entertaining had you been there but for the reader (or this reader at least) it was so repetitive and boring that I failed to engage with the 'story' and found myself thinking about other things whilst I read.

I also didn't enjoy the way the book was written. There was a lot of dialogue (which at least made it somewhat quicker to read) but the way the characters talked was so pretentious that I was forever wondering 'who on earth talks like this?'

My final gripe with the book is that it is obviously semi autobiographical and I am assuming that as the restaurant is so thinly disguised many of the characters are probably based on her ex co-workers. There is nothing discreet about the failings and habits of the people written about and the restaurant is presented in a bad light. I feel quite strongly that there is something (almost morally) wrong about this, it doesn't sit well with me...

I hate to be so harsh but Sweetbitter as a story was all bitterness with no sweetness for me. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.