Kitchens of the Great Midwest, by J. Ryan Stradal
31/60 | Started 06.29.23 • Finished 07.09.23 | 3.5 stars
Another good book club read! This was very different than what I was expecting. The book is about the life of Eva Thorvald, but it goes about telling her story in a roundabout way. Each chapter introduces the reader to a character who is somehow connected to Eva. Usually there is also some kind of connection to food. (Speaking of, I loved the food aspect of this novel. I found the fact that there are recipes in it downright endearing.) And in the end, everything ties together, although I will say the book club decided we still didn't know an awful lot about Eva herself, just how other people saw her. I wondered if maybe that's what Stradal was trying to do - show us Eva, but only through the eyes of others, and how that told her story to us. I didn't find the writing exceptionally good or at all lacking, so this one gets a solid three and a half stars.
In his office, Dr. Latch listened to Lars’s question and then looked at the young man the way someone might regard a toddler who’s holding a Buck knife.