We’re excited to announce that our March Book Club selection is Maylis de Kerangal’s new novel The Cook, forthcoming from FSG on March 26, but available to Rumpus Book Club members in just a few weeks!
More like a poetic biographical essay on a fictional person than a novel, The Cook is a coming-of-age journey centered on Mauro, a young self-taught cook. The story is told by an unnamed female narrator, Mauro’s friend and disciple who we also suspect might be in love with him. We follow Mauro as he finds his path in life: baking cakes as a child; cooking for his friends as a teenager; a series of studies, jobs, and travels; a failed love affair; a successful business; a virtual nervous breakdown; and―at the end―a rediscovery of his hunger for cooking, his appetite for life.
“[The Cook] encompasses more emotional and sensory detail [than The Heart]; it’s slim but potent… an admirable literary lagniappe.” – Kirkus
“Fitfully delectable… [de Kerangal] takes readers on a brilliantly realized culinary tour of the world… [A] rich novel, particularly for armchair travelers.”– Publishers Weekly
Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Club by February 20 to join us in reading The Cook, culminating in an exclusive online discussion with Maylis de Kerangal about the book!
