New Haven Independent

April’s book was entitled Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw. The main character, Cyril, was a self-conscious chef who helped his friend Nick win over the love of his (Cyril’s) life by cooking crazy-good meals for her, and letting him (Nick) take all the credit.

This led the majority of the book club to the conclusion that Cyril was a loser all along. In the end, the girl (Rose) realizes that Cyril is who she really needs and Nick falls for her best friend (like we didn’t see that coming!).

The book was charming, light and enjoyable though. Tucker Shaw is a better writer than plot maker. I’d rather have seen Cyril end up with the best friend, Nick staying with Rose, and Cyril was always wondering “what could have been.” But that’s just me.

Anyways, book club is awesome. Sunnie made kitchen sink cookies that are made by Cyril in the story. And I swear, they were just as rich and complex as they were described in the book!

I definitely agree with Isha’s commentary. It was a light, fluffy read. Unfortunately, none of the book-clubbers were familiar with Cyrano de Bergerac, so they didn’t pick up on the plot similarities (Roxanne/Rose and Cyrano/Cyril?-it was a thinly veiled remake of an indisputable classic). However, we did all have a laugh over the original plot when I described it. We were pretty happy that Tucker Shaw didn’t imitate the familial relationship between Rose and Cyril (kissing cousins just seems a little gross nowadays).

Reports Love: Next month, we’re moving on to Fahrenheit 451, in keeping with this year’s Big Read. Feel free to join us for discussion (and guaranteed laughs) Tuesday, May 27th at 4pm. Write to me here for more details.