Sweetbitter
By Stephanie Danler
- Release Date: 2016-05-24
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A thrilling novel of the senses and a coming-of-age tale, following a small-town girl into the electrifying world of New York City and the education of a lifetime at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Manhattan. • "Brilliantly written.... Outstanding." —The New York Times Book Review
Newly arrived in New York City, twenty-two-year-old Tess lands a job working front of house at a celebrated downtown restaurant. What follows is her education: in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen.
The story of a young woman’s coming-of-age, set against the glitzy, grimy backdrop of New York’s most elite restaurants, in Sweetbitter Stephanie Danler deftly conjures the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the food industry and evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, and the fragility and brutality of being young and adrift.
Reviews
Decent
3By Bianca_amandaI hated the way it ended. It was a little dry but some parts of the book got me. I Love NY, loved the bad boy portrayal but still wanted to know what happen.Depressing and pointless story
1By BabyRuth22I was really excited to read this book and get the inside scoop on the inner workings of an iconic restaurant in NY. What I got instead was the lurid, drug fueled “journey” of an extremely lost woman who stumbles into NYC from the Midwest and nearly lets the city eat her alive. I couldn’t sympathize at all with the main protagonist, her predictable forced relationship with a damaged man or her shocking lack of self respect and confusing self-imposed isolation. We were never even offered a glimpse into her past to maybe connect with her present self-destructive behavior. And everyone she met was horrible and selfish. It really isn’t that impossible to meet and make friends with decent people in Manhattan. I was forcing myself to finish this book because I paid for it. Don’t waste your time and money.No Plot, Painful Read
1By itsruhbeccaI can't imagine why this book is so highly raved about. There is no plot, and the basis of the book is about drugs and sex. Call it a coming of age novel if you want, but I didn't even see the main character (or any character) change their ways throughout the book. I read the whole book and was highly disappointed. The book lacks everything a good book should have.Time for a shower
1By SueshepI finished this book only because it was for a book discussion and felt like I had to plow thru. Boring, incoherent, depressing and unredeptive.Terrible
2By MuehlederBoring and pointless...kept waiting for it to get better. UghTerrible read
1By Rfw06This was a poorly written, slow moving pointless journey that no one should take. I did not enjoy anything about this bookNothing happened
1By Elephantshoes0421This book was well written but nothing happened. Disappointing.Beyond overrated
1By Smck720Halfway through the book I realized I was forcing myself to read it. Wish I had read the user reviews before wasting my time and money - completely agree with all the negative comments.Not what I expected
3By Meggie1986Confusing and incomplete plot/narrative.Loved it!
4By Char trainThis is a really good book! The writing is like poetry! It made me really miss New York (which is a major character in the novel!) In the early 90's I worked in just such a restaurant as portrayed in the book! It's just as the author described! Simone reminds me so much of a waitress I worked with at that time, that I searched Facebook to find her! Alas, she must have married and changed her name! I highly recommend this book which is still in my head!!!For women only...
3By MrBill535This book should have a ChicLit label. I thought I was going to gain insight into life at the Union Square Cafe, but was quite disappointed. Profanity, drugs and sex is used to distract from uninspired prose. The fawning over wine is embarrassing and distractingly out of balance.If only it could be as witty as the author thinks it is
2By Jgj2006If you enjoy reading about people who think that they are smarter than you and that their lives are more "real" than yours, you will like this book. Overall, the characters are horrible people and halfway through I wondered why I was wasting my time reading about them. The author and her prose come across as "superior". Very disappointing, especially given the hype and the press.Wildly overrated
1By choate76A few months ago another book called City on Fire -- also written by a novice author w huge cash advance -- debuted to much fanfare. It, like this Sweetbitter book, was a slow, lumbering mess. The only positive reviews come from the PR machines of the publishers as they try to recoup their fees. It's just plain silly. The problem w this book: underdeveloped characters and a plodding plot that tries to move along by juxtaposing interesting food next to self-centered characters. The protagonist is an utter bore. From the moment the book starts you know who she'll "hook up with." Just ridiculously simplistic. This ain't no Catcher in the Rye for milennials.Steer clear. The hype is not validated by this drivel.Bitter Sweet
2By SusanAnn13I heard a radio interview with Stephanie Danler, who is a charming and funny person, in which she shared her experience as a backwaiter at Union Square, NYC. So I bought her novel, read it, and thought - who cares? Her main character Tess arrives from the midwest, bumbles her way into a restaurant job, and her story unfolds. But I’ve heard this one before. She falls in love with the bad boy, and guess what? He’s a damaged, elusive human. It’s tiresome. There are some gorgeous poems which end chapters that I found compelling and a character or two that I found fun - like Sascha. Overall, not worth your time or $$. Borrow a friend’s.Loved it
5By dsmithapsuLoved this book! Intriguing glimpse behind the scenes of a top NYC restaurant. Worth the read; as a bonus, wine lovers will want to keep a notebook handy.Totally Bland
2By Amy AbboudSo disappointing. Food and wine are two of the best things in life that enhance real relationships and this book took those things as a centerpiece around which to put shallow one dimensional slacker characters. The author never fleshed out any character enough to to give them any real personality or point of view and therefore there is no empathy or buy in from the reader. It was never clear why anyone behaved the way they did other than they had nothing else going on. Really good premise not well executed.absolutely beautiful
5By Seg518The writing is incredible and moving - one of my all-time favoritesDepressing book.
1By Aptos12I was really looking forward to reading this book based on the reviews. However it did not meet expectations at all. None of the characters were interesting and most seemed pathetic and bland. If there was a story line it was obscure.....most of the detail focused on the central character - newly arrived in NYC - trying to liberate herself by behaving in very demeaning and humiliating ways with various coworkers. I could not wait for this book to end.Best book of the year
5By chrmhAlready re-reading this gem.
