About This Book:
What if you could have one last meal with someone you’ve loved, someone you’ve lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high-stakes culinary world of Sweetbitter, Aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.
A food story to binge.
A ghost story to devour.
A love story to savor.
Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around him ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.
Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.
My Thoughts After Reading:
I get secondhand pride for authors that knock it out of the park with debut novels – or in Daria Lavelle’s case produce a chef’s kiss debut novel. Aftertaste is one of the most unique books I have ever read – a wholly original plot with complex characters that are easy to root for (even the ghosts!).
This is also another genre-blending book (something I appear to be gravitating towards lately!). It’s a supernatural thriller with hangry ghosts and surprise twists. It’s magical realism with special gifts and afterlife glimpses. It’s an epic love story with romantic and familial bonds. It’s a kitchen drama with high stakes and banter. On top of all that is the cherry of grief. Loss, guilt, and letting go all swirl through the narrative.
In Aftertaste, food is memory and magic. In the world Lavelle built, flavors are the echoes of a person’s life. This is poetic and central to the story – BUT I must admit, I did skim some of the longer sections of food descriptions. Regardless, Lavelle’s prose is immersive and vivid making the story, even the supernatural elements, feel real and tangible.
In short, this marketing of Aftertaste is beyond accurate:
A food story to binge.
A ghost story to devour.
A love story to savor.
I hope you find it as delicious as I did! 🙂
-Michelle
P.s. What food would call you back to the living? For me, it’s a toss up between my mom’s mushroom gravy meatloaf and a chocolate chip cookie whose recipe has been passed-down through generations.
