Chop Chop

February 10, 2014
In his fiction debut, Wroe, a freelance journalist and former chef, invents (or possibly recalls) the life of a chef. The narrator, Monocle, is so nicknamed by his fellow chefs because of his English degree. He is an aspiring writer living in London’s Camden Town, who, in order to pay rent, unwillingly accepts a job at a restaurant called the Swan, where he suffers the bizarre and darkly comical torment of his boss, Bob, a culinary dictator (“Bob wanted soldiers, psychopaths, and masochists”). Amid the diabolical name-calling and the intentional spilling of boiling caramel to ensure his workers have real chef hands, Bob orchestrates an array of undeserved disciplinary actions for his workers. The worst punishment is a time-out in the refrigerator—next to live lobsters that Bob personally detanks for the occasion. Despite his suffering, Monocle returns to the stove daily, out of stubbornness inherited from his unsupportive and egocentric father. Then Bob’s tyranny is challenged with the arrival of crafty and crude chef Ramilov—who also threatens the future of the Swan. Wroe’s imaginative metaphors and gritty kitchen colloquialisms are the key ingredients in a story that will appeal to anyone with a taste for the morbid and the whimsical.

March 1, 2014
A British university graduate sets out on a journey of self-discovery when he's forced to break a sweat in an asylumlike kitchen in Camden Town. Freelance journalist Wroe employs his experience as a chef in an uneven debut novel that tries to shoehorn in a few too many stylistic moods. Our narrator is a recent graduate of one of London's many English literature programs and believes himself the next wunderkind of the publishing scene. As his hopes are dashed on the rocks of reality, he takes a job as the resident "bitch" in a rough-hewn kitchen called The Swan, where he's quickly dubbed "Monacle" by the crew. This ensemble comedy is the best part of the novel, pitting the sensitive writer against merciless head chef Bob, the aptly named "Racist Dave," a salacious molester named Ramilov, daft pastry chef Dibden, and a quiet, dark-eyed girl named Harmony who captures Monacle's heart. After the crew sabotages a monstrous creation similar to a turducken, Bob is ousted and Monacle holds out slim hope of promotion. "No, you're still the bitch. But a loved bitch," Ramilov tells him. It's in the back half that the tale takes a dark turn, interrupted by wearisome meditations from Monacle on his troubled childhood and his relationship with his father, who turns up on his son's doorstep all too often. Following the arch comedy of The Swan's kitchen and the familial drama, Wroe finishes his kitchen epic with a monstrous encounter with an unsavory local crime lord that may leave even the most jaded readers a bit shocked. "Then the bad news," shares Monacle. "I was arrested almost immediately, along with Ramilov, on unrelated but extremely serious charges, the charges that form the dark heart of the story." Proceed with caution. For British readers, David Nicholls meets Guy Ritchie; for Americans, Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain.

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March 15, 2014

After university, underemployed would-be writer Monocle is having a hard time making ends meet and keeping the landlady off his back. So he jumps at the chance to work as a prep chef at the Swan, a London "gastropub" where the food is high end, the patrons peculiar, and the staff an assortment of oddballs, the quirkiest of whom is sadistic head chef Bob, who lives to inflict pain on his employees. Racist Dave, the foul-mouthed, hard-working second-in-command, Ramilov the Russian (actually Bulgarian) sous-chef, and Dibden, the accident-prone dessert chef--all fall victim to Bob's savagery, which includes burns, cuts, and exile to the walk-in cooler. Revenge comes in the form of a sabotaged "Gloriana," a nesting doll affair of birds within birds ordered as a special treat for "The Fat Man," the patron whose gluttonous tastes go way beyond exotic. VERDICT All of this intrigue serves as fodder for a kitchen confessional that makes Anthony Bourdain's and Bill Buford's memoirs pale in comparison. Foodies will like this insider account of the London gastro scene, while others will appreciate a ripping good yarn.--Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

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