Tomato Rhapsody by Adam Schell is a historical fable set in a 16th century Tuscan village. As the title suggests, the tomato is very important to this tale. In fact food is front and center throughout the book. Jewish farmer Davido grows the “love apple” with great care and love, cruel Guiseppe and his assistant Benito forage for truffles, the new village priest relishes food and spends much of his time planning his next meal. But when the stepdaughter of Guiseppe, Mari, falls in love with the Jewish farmer, things start to get complicated.

The story plays out much like a Shakespearean comedy which comes to a climax at the Feast of the Drunken Saint donkey race. Throughout the story, there is a puzzlement about the tomato. Although many uses of the raw fruit are described, they do not know how to successfully cook the tomato and have yet to discover the wonders of tomato sauce.

High in humor and high-jinx, the reader roots for the young lovers to find happiness and for tomato sauce to be discovered. Tomato Rhapsody was an unusual, clever and engaging story that also manages to shine a light on the oppression of Jews during the Renaissance. The story is both earthy and bawdy and an altogether delightful read. ( )

I do not know where I picked this book up nor why because I do not even like tomatoes! It just looked and sounded interesting. Well, it was a great read, full of comedy, family love and tragedy, wonderful characters that you just have to love! The whole time I was reading I kept visualizing this as a Mel Brooks comedy. I would love to see this made into a movie. The end just leaves you feeling so good I had to give it 5 stars. ( )

Tantalizing, irreverent, delicious, quirky and thoroughly enjoyable. ( )

not in CLAN

This is a most unusual novel. Set in 15th century Tuscany, it's a tale of love, lust, food and life. It features broad and bawdy comedy, poignant drama, rhyming dialogue (said to be in imitation of the peasant dialect of the place and time), random Italian words and phrases, commedia dell'arte elements, authorial asides, sensual descriptions of the joys of eating a tomato and creative explanations for the origin of foods such as tomato sauce and pizza.

I've noted that the book polarises opinion. Goodreads reviewers seem to either love it or hate it. I fall into the former camp. Although I thought the narrative dragged just a little bit in the middle (although that could have been because of my mood and not because of the writing), there was lots in Schell's writing to make me smile and enough in the plot to make me want to know how it turned out. The descriptions of food were a definite plus, although for reasons which I won't go into here, I may never look at a vat of homemade tomato sauce in quite the same way again!

While I found the novel a very enjoyable read, I can understand why it doesn't have universal appeal. I don't think it's possible to predict which readers will like the book, so I won't take on the responsibility of recommending it. Readers will know whether they are going to like it by the end of the first chapter. For my part, I'm glad I read a GR friend's enthusiastic review, because otherwise this novel would never have come my way. (Thanks Tracey!) ( )