The Kitchen Man

by Ira Wood

In this delightful, laugh-out-loud first novel, Gabe Rose, the brash Jewish waiter with a play in his pocket, is looking for his big chance. Where else to find it but at the gilded, overpriced tables of Boston's fanciest restaurant, where crooked politicians, tight Old Money, preppies, parvenus and, of course, the stars come to dine on yesterday's fish under tonight's hollandaise? Under-30 Gabe contrives to meet over-40 Cynthia Kagan, a tough, sexy playwright-director, big in feminist circles…Plot and character are pas de deux under Wood's fast-stepping, always engaging choreography, but how to explain all the sharp and colorful, emotionally honest, sometimes heart-grabbing ensemble work? Besides the fun, The Kitchen Man is about love and loyalty outside conventional categories of age, gender and body proportions, a gamey kind of You Can't Take It With You with extremely recognizable people.- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) An excerpt from The Kitchen Man Everyone else I know accepts temporary malaise, the blues, as an ordinary human infirmity like the flu and sees nothing wrong with a few lackluster days of self-pampering and doughy lying about. But my own chosen love, my Cynthia, the caramel center of my bittersweet life, views depression as indistinguishable from masturbation and weight a waste of limited male energy. I admit it. The tides of my disposition fluctuate with my luck at the mail box. Following this morning's letter of rejection I returned to the house with the glazed, magnetized eyes of the children of the damned. "Uh oh," was all Cynthia said. "Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I should give up playwriting. Finally admit it. No, I do not have any talent. It's time I grew up, accepted the fact that some people have it and some people never will." She waited for me to finish. It is no secret that in her women's group I am known as Uncle Vanya. "Maybe I should just give up and find something I'm good at." "How about pottery? Or the guitar," she said. "Definitely. The guitar. And give yourself a solid month. Then if the Rolling Stones don't ask you to join them, take up, let's see, sand painting." According to Cynthia you don't pout about rejections

Genres: Fiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

Reviews

[Sissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

initially, this book just caught my eye at a used bookstore and when i read that it was about a playwright who pays the bills with his night shifts as a waiter, i stayed interested. it's terribly realistic, and painful for all the awkward moments that life allows. relationships shifting, powerphiliac bosses, etc. an excellent read, recommended as an 80's counterpoint novel to american psycho. i must admit that the book also didn't follow the trajectory that i assumed it would in the beginning which was a pleasant surprise.
i would recommend this book for foodies interested in lenghty passages about tastenotes in wine and pairings with food, artists/writers with day jobs, and people trying to hold on to what interests them in life.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb on the back of the book says "What woman wouldn't want a man like Gabe Rose?" I'll have to chime in and say "this one." Gabe chases the woman of his dreams, yet when he finally gets her in bed he's impotent because she's older (42 or 43 to his 30) and fleshy, and he's been conditioned by society only to become aroused by tight thin young women. In the spirit of honesty he tells her this and can't see why she gets so upset. There too much drama, too much self analysis, and too much jealousy in this relationship for me to want any part of it. When Wood writes about food and restaurants he's very witty, but the relationships left me cold.