This is a rather humerous book examining the relationship between two neighbours who just want to be alone - Gerald the ghostwriter and *cough* adventurous chef and Marta the composer and member or an ex-Soviet crime family.

This book is a little chaotic and all over the place. There isn't that much of a plot. Other than Gerald and Marta learning to co-exist. My favourite part was definitely the recipes, even though I probably won't try most of them. Some may seem relatively harmless (like fish cakes) but others include garlic ice cream, cat pie and otter with lobster sauce. Most of which include Fernet Branca (which I discovered is an alcohol and not a person!) ( )

Excellent. After getting readjusted to the loquacious British humor, which I haven’t enjoyed in a while, this was hard to put down. Can’t wait to read the sequels. ( )

Excellent. After getting readjusted to the loquacious British humor, which I haven’t enjoyed in a while, this was hard to put down. Can’t wait to read the sequels. ( )

It's been nothing but bad news lately, so it's time for some lightweight comic reading.

I think that I probably bought Cooking with Fernet Branca because it was longlisted for the Booker in 2004. My visit to Goodreads today reveals that it is Book #1 in the Gerald Samper series which surprises me a little because I thought that the joke had worn a little thin towards the end, but still, it is a funny book.

The narrative is carried by two alternating voices:

Gerald Samper is a truly awful and spectacularly pompous Englishman who is a ghost writer of sporting biographies. He despises all his subjects, as indeed he despises many things, including his neighbour in Tuscany where he has bought a villa. Since he considers himself a writer of more importance than his publications suggest, he has had assurances from the house agent Mr Benedetti that this villa is remote and quiet and conducive to creative thought, and that his only neighbour down the hill is very rarely in residence.

His neighbour, Marta, was promised the same solitude. A refugee from a family of ex-Soviet crime lords in 'Voynovia', she is involved in the creative industries too. She has come for peace and quiet to complete a film score, on commission from a famous but past his use-by date Italian film-maker called Piero Pacini. She despises Gerry with equal fervour but she has a good heart and when Gerry knocks himself out demolishing an ancient privy that spoils his view, she brings him breakfast the next day.

'Gerree!' she cries, and certainly her voice has no connection whatever with music. It goes right through your head like a bullet, leaving a track of gross tissue damage. 'You are not bedding! Is very good. Look, I bring a break-fast. Yes. Is Voynovian food for dying.' She produces what looks like a ball of putty wrapped in a sock. Is kasha.'

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/08/19/cooking-with-fernet-branca-by-james-hamilton...

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Gerald Sampler is an Englishman planing to hide in his quiet house in the NW corner of Tuscany to ghostwrite autobiographies of minor celebrities, mostly sports figures. Upon his arrival, he meets his newly arrived neighbour, Marta, who has escaped from "one of those vague ex-Soviet countries," where her family still lives and appear to be involved in organized crime. She composes film scores for a ....colourful .... Italian film director. Gerald and Marta clash. Gerry sings loud opera, badly, while creating outrageous recipes that involve something savoury, such as sardines, and something sweet, such as butterscotch. Endless combinations. Some of them include dubious and illegal ingredients, such as otter and Jack Russel terrier. And I learned early on the "Fernet Branca" is a disgusting herbal spirit (which I'm sure my Italian father-in-law made me sample once) that both characters drinking frequently. Silly me, on reading the title, I assumed Fernet Branca was a person.

Very clever satire, mocking the fantasy "memoirs" such as Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence, and pretentious books about gourmet cooking, and satirizing a zillion other things as well.

Way too many entertaining passages to quote, but if I have to pick one, I'll share his comment on Jane Austen: "Even the witty old fag-hag Jane Austen started one of her incomparable novels--was it Donna?--with the telling sentence 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a good man in possession of a wife must be in want of a tidy fortune.' And there you have it, memorably expressed."

Cooking With Fernet Branca was nominated for the 2004 Booker Prize. There are two sequels: Amazing Disgrace and Rancid Pansies, which I will eventually track down.

Recommended for: People with a sense of humour and who know a lot of stuff. Hamilton-Paterson packs the narrative with obscure details and goes off on many a tangent. Lots were outside my scope of knowledge and didn't mean much, but all the ones I understood were hilarious. If you're one of those people who take pride in being outside everyday culture -- especially 2004 from a Brit male POV, this novel will be gibberish. Otherwise, if you like clever, fun books, I highly recommend it. ( )