A Fortunate Age
By Joanna Rakoff (Bloomsbury)
I was completely caught up in the lives of the characters in Joanna Rakoff's chunky novel, A Fortunate Age. They're observed so keenly and drawn so finely that reading about them almost felt like spending time as part of their group. This is a mostly realistic piece of fiction about that second great coming-of-age in life, the end of the freedoms and idealisms of young adulthood, and the dawning of responsibility and harsh reality. It is centred on six Jewish college friends in New York and opens as they gather for a wedding. They are a talented, middle-class bunch, convinced they are different from their parents' generation but, at 26, already are beginning to learn the world is more complicated than they had imagined. The story zooms in and out of focus on each of them as they grapple with personal and professional issues. There is Emily, an impoverished actress, Lil the newlywed, Beth, who's in love with struggling musician Dave, successful Tal and beautiful Sadie. Rakoff is a fan of long sentences, piling on the details, and she knows her material so well it is clear there is a measure of autobiography here but the line between what is real and imagined is invisible. This is a hugely absorbing read.
Prick With A Fork
By Larissa Dubecki (Allen & Unwin)
Restaurant memoirs have become almost a genre of their own, as chefs and wait-staff compete to share their insider secrets. Spilling the beans this time is Larissa Dubecki, a Melbourne waitress-turned-restaurant critic who carved out her inglorious hospitality career in some of her city's less fabulous eateries. She supplements recollections with scuttlebutt and funnies from other wait-staff but doesn't need to as she has a fund of stories about terrible bosses, cockroaches on pizza and chefs who can't poach an egg. Dubecki is a sparky writer with a sense of humour and a smart take on the industry she worked in but I'd had enough of this memoir about three-quarters of the way through. Perhaps I've just read too many restaurant tell-alls and this one isn't in the same vein as Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.