A wacky yet enjoyable book. The main voice of the book is a man that begins his life as an impoverished French noble, and ends as the Revolution is busting down his chateau door. In between, his adventurous eating habits first make him an object of ridicule, then earn him a more admired status. It also helps keep him alive when he most needs it.

12/6: Some books definitely take a seat within my soul and stay for a bit longer than others, and that's how I rate them. As time passes I also consider how many times I mention it to my friends. It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this novel and I am still thinking about it. I have raised my star rating.
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Très déçu... Beaucoup d'imprécisions (dans la traduction?). Un banquet bien fade. ( )

Surveyed in dismay the glut of those cookie-cutter mysteries and fatuous chick-lit novels in the library's New Arrivals section. Then a eureka moment, and off to search the digital catalog for Europa Editions publications which are nearly uniformly good to excellent. (I think I've had only a couple so far I'd call a yawn. I'm lookin' at you, Elsa Ferrante.) The Last Banquet was one of the few novels I've read in several years that kept me up to the wee hours (4:45 am - yikes!). The first-person narration was compelling and the supporting characters varied and rich, including the pet tiger. (Great, now they'll all want one.) French aristocratic society of the latter 18th century is a fertile ground for storytelling and Grimwood makes the most of it in his first novel (he's a journalist by trade). Can't wait to see what he does next. ( )

Enjoyable and impressive first novel, a multi layered story with a final twist in the tale. Starting in pre-revolutionary France, it is the story of a boy rescued from a dung heap, who rises to become an aristocrat, while this very class is threatened by the drumbeat of revolution. ( )

In pre-revolutionary France, Jean-Marie d'Aumount's earliest memories are of eating beetles from the dung heap outside his dead parent's home. After being rescued from this, he begins a life of unusual tastes and adventures.

You can read my full review here...

(My thanks to the publishers for the ARC of this book, via Curious Book Fans.) ( )