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Crandolin
In a medieval cookbook in a special-collections library, near-future London, jaded food and drink authority Nick Kippax finds an alluring stain next to a recipe for the mythical crandolin. He tastes it, ravishing the page. Then he disappears...So begins an 'adwentour' that quantum-leapfrogs from Central Asia in the Middle Ages to Russia under Gorbachev, from the secrets of confectionery to the agonies of making a truly great moustache, from maidens in towers to tiffs between cosmic forces. Food, music, science, fruitloopery, superstition, railways, bladder-pipes and birth-marked Soviet statesmen; all are present in an extraordinary novel that is truly 'for the adwentoursomme'.
382 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 15, 2013
It is impossible to even begin summing up Anna Tambour's novel 'Crandolin' without sounding a bit crazed. And that's not a bad thing at all. There's something insane about this whole enterprise, but it is an inspired insanity, internally coherent and completely mesmerising.
See, there's this fellow, Nick Kippax. He's looking for piquant flavours. He's been through wine snobbery and the all the usual forbidden fruits of the gourmet. But he's after the grail now, the most legendary and elusive dishes of all time, among them the fabled crandolin. In a musty old tome, he finds a stain on the page that contains the recipe for this dish. He tastes it - and is hurtled into a multiple existence as a red blotch on a variety of entities across time and space. These include an itinerant musician's bladder-pipe, the face of a Soviet railway cook, a nest belonging to a family of cinnamologus birds and a jar of very rare honey.
Are you with me so far? Good work, you're probably ready to read the book itself, then, and need no further prompting from me.
If a completely bonkers conceit isn't enough, Tambour's novel is peopled with a delightful array of, well, people. There's the hapless Kippax himself, Galina, the railway cook, a matronly woman who is blind to her own manifest charms, the many railway employees who yearn for her, a group of railway-enthusiast tourists including a phlegmatic retired Indian railway man and his recumbent wife, there are wandering princes seeking adventure, wannabe brigands, a honey merchant, a master sweetmaker, a virgin in a tower, the Omniscient narrator, the eternal Muse and more. Enough characters to populate a medium-sized and very weird province, maybe even a smallish peninsula.There are even people who aren't people: a donkey whose affections are not to be trifled with, and the crandolin him/herself.
Oh, themes? You want themes? How about the nature of love, the source of inspiration and the quandary of authorship? The diversity of food, the inner glory of donkeys and the elusiveness of truth. This book has enough themes for a bumper-sized Cliff's Notes and then some to spare.
Most of all, this book is completely original. And how many times do you find a book like that? I read a few hundred of the blasted things a year, and even I only encounter one or two really, really unique books on a good year. If I don't read another book as original, whimsical, witty and wondrous as this all year, it will still have been a very good year. Heck, a very good decade.
See, there's this fellow, Nick Kippax. He's looking for piquant flavours. He's been through wine snobbery and the all the usual forbidden fruits of the gourmet. But he's after the grail now, the most legendary and elusive dishes of all time, among them the fabled crandolin. In a musty old tome, he finds a stain on the page that contains the recipe for this dish. He tastes it - and is hurtled into a multiple existence as a red blotch on a variety of entities across time and space. These include an itinerant musician's bladder-pipe, the face of a Soviet railway cook, a nest belonging to a family of cinnamologus birds and a jar of very rare honey.
Are you with me so far? Good work, you're probably ready to read the book itself, then, and need no further prompting from me.
If a completely bonkers conceit isn't enough, Tambour's novel is peopled with a delightful array of, well, people. There's the hapless Kippax himself, Galina, the railway cook, a matronly woman who is blind to her own manifest charms, the many railway employees who yearn for her, a group of railway-enthusiast tourists including a phlegmatic retired Indian railway man and his recumbent wife, there are wandering princes seeking adventure, wannabe brigands, a honey merchant, a master sweetmaker, a virgin in a tower, the Omniscient narrator, the eternal Muse and more. Enough characters to populate a medium-sized and very weird province, maybe even a smallish peninsula.There are even people who aren't people: a donkey whose affections are not to be trifled with, and the crandolin him/herself.
Oh, themes? You want themes? How about the nature of love, the source of inspiration and the quandary of authorship? The diversity of food, the inner glory of donkeys and the elusiveness of truth. This book has enough themes for a bumper-sized Cliff's Notes and then some to spare.
Most of all, this book is completely original. And how many times do you find a book like that? I read a few hundred of the blasted things a year, and even I only encounter one or two really, really unique books on a good year. If I don't read another book as original, whimsical, witty and wondrous as this all year, it will still have been a very good year. Heck, a very good decade.
February 15, 2014
"Kiss the beast you cannot eat."
One of the most joyous and inspired books I've ever read. Its plot is difficult to summarise, but that's a big part of what makes this mischevious book so great. The various stories are both unconnected from each other and yet racing to some sort of focal point, egged on by the titular creature that acts as both MacGuffin and demi-urge puppet-mastering the chaos. To say that Tambour 'commands' the language wouldn't be wholly accurate - she is entirely assured but equally playful, so that while you never doubt that the crazy story is in safe hands, you're surprised by every twist, play on words or irreverent, exquisitely constructed image that comes your way. Comparisons are odious but let's make a couple anyway:
1) Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente: cast of characters crowding around a hedonistic pursuit. Equally baroque, but funnier.
2) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: has none of the Russian master's political subtext/text-text, but an equally mad, seemingly improvised (by virtue of its energetic plenty) forward motion.
What could be better than a fun book that has no qualms about being clever? And a clever book that, when all is said and done, is just happy to be a fun one? Crandolin is all this and more, and deserves all the readers in the world.
One of the most joyous and inspired books I've ever read. Its plot is difficult to summarise, but that's a big part of what makes this mischevious book so great. The various stories are both unconnected from each other and yet racing to some sort of focal point, egged on by the titular creature that acts as both MacGuffin and demi-urge puppet-mastering the chaos. To say that Tambour 'commands' the language wouldn't be wholly accurate - she is entirely assured but equally playful, so that while you never doubt that the crazy story is in safe hands, you're surprised by every twist, play on words or irreverent, exquisitely constructed image that comes your way. Comparisons are odious but let's make a couple anyway:
1) Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente: cast of characters crowding around a hedonistic pursuit. Equally baroque, but funnier.
2) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: has none of the Russian master's political subtext/text-text, but an equally mad, seemingly improvised (by virtue of its energetic plenty) forward motion.
What could be better than a fun book that has no qualms about being clever? And a clever book that, when all is said and done, is just happy to be a fun one? Crandolin is all this and more, and deserves all the readers in the world.
April 8, 2013
I loved this book, but I'm giving it four stars, like I did to Joanna Russ' "The Female Man," in recognition of the fact that I can't think of anyone to pass it to next that I can be 100% sure will find it a completely worthy struggle to try to hold this amazing lucid dream inside their head.
(Note: I'm not really sure why surreal or absurd writing isn't more popular. What makes another human being's dreams less worthy than their waking life? As seperate awarenesses, to me it seems just as magical to enter another person's beautiful and strange imaginings as it is to enter their memoirs.)
Anyway. Crandolin. An incredible, five-senses experience, containing neither too little weirdness ("madness seizes you") nor too much ("Death swoops you up").
(Note: I'm not really sure why surreal or absurd writing isn't more popular. What makes another human being's dreams less worthy than their waking life? As seperate awarenesses, to me it seems just as magical to enter another person's beautiful and strange imaginings as it is to enter their memoirs.)
Anyway. Crandolin. An incredible, five-senses experience, containing neither too little weirdness ("madness seizes you") nor too much ("Death swoops you up").
May 28, 2020
There's a saying about daring and winning that applies here, I think. Just an absolute stunner, the likes of Gravity's Rainbow and the like, but with a prose style more akin to a Brit. The whimsical and farcical nature of the story, the playfulness of the characters and their exchanges, the labyrinth of story set in a wild world of fantasy and magic and equally mundane as our own. It was as queer and quirky as Mervyn Peake and as comical as Bulgakov. I just could not stop reading it.
This hasn't gotten enough attention since publication and deserves better. Buy one. If you don't like it, get ahold of me and I'll reimburse you. Promise.
This hasn't gotten enough attention since publication and deserves better. Buy one. If you don't like it, get ahold of me and I'll reimburse you. Promise.
November 17, 2012
Every word and conjuration in this stunning novel caresses your pleased with linguistic delights. This is a major work by a sadly overlooked master of lyric narration and limitless imagination. You will not want the awe on these pages to end!
Read
January 11, 2025On page one, the protagonist licks a bit of mythic crandolin staining a page of a recipe book and immediately spins off into a hallucinatory spirit journey. Every page after that, I had to check that I hadn't accidentally touched a psychoactive substance stain in
Crandolin
itself. It's that trippy.
My library doesn't have it and time ran out on my ILL after twenty-something short chapters.
My library doesn't have it and time ran out on my ILL after twenty-something short chapters.
Now, when the bladder-pipe sings with the speed of a flow of honey, the eyebrow dance is strange but dignified, with the hauteur of a great moustache soaking up fat.
.....
The truth is that since he ascended many years ago, a new moustache has been made annually for the Great Timürsaçi, and this moustache has required the hair of every virgin in a village so secret it must pretend to move every year, and is only visited by a man known to the villagers as 'him with the basket, who finds us'.
February 3, 2019
A fairy tale which takes you to a fairy land where your imagination would enjoy the divine smell and sweet taste of best "Helva" of the world, where you become to know about an in-love muse on a train somewhere in Russia and where you meet a wise donkey and a demanding musical instrument...
March 12, 2013
More fantastical craziness, loved it
March 11, 2023
Crandolin is a glorious, joyful tour de force. Its sensibility reminded me of the novels of Angela Carter's late period.
May 14, 2025
A delightful literary puzzle that doesn't need solved, just enjoyed.
March 8, 2025
2023 update to my 2017 review:
The audio version was published this year and I grabbed it. And what an audiobook! This takes the wondrous, strange, and witty ride that is Crandolin and elevates it to a truly memorable experience. It managed to equal reading One Hundred Years of Solitude as performed by John Lee. I can't imagine a better narrator than Joshua Saxon for this mosaic of strung-together vignettes of various individuals and groups on their journeys in various timelines, all searching for fulfillment in one form or another. The stories are loosely held together by the Crandolin, which, merging in a most unique way with the first character, Nick, allows us to flit in and out of the other lives before the story comes full circle again. Anna Tambour is masterful at weaving words and story and humor into something truly unique.
I'd love to rate this novel highly but have to concede I've finally found a book that defies text-to-speech. I missed such huge chunks of text and myriad details along the way, that I finally had to just let the words wash over me rather than try to digest them as I wanted. The feel of the book and language it used reminded me strongly of Michael Cisco's work, though with wonderful wit and humor woven continually through the text. As more author backlists are being converted to audio all the time, I'll be keeping an eye out for this to re-read in audiobook.
The audio version was published this year and I grabbed it. And what an audiobook! This takes the wondrous, strange, and witty ride that is Crandolin and elevates it to a truly memorable experience. It managed to equal reading One Hundred Years of Solitude as performed by John Lee. I can't imagine a better narrator than Joshua Saxon for this mosaic of strung-together vignettes of various individuals and groups on their journeys in various timelines, all searching for fulfillment in one form or another. The stories are loosely held together by the Crandolin, which, merging in a most unique way with the first character, Nick, allows us to flit in and out of the other lives before the story comes full circle again. Anna Tambour is masterful at weaving words and story and humor into something truly unique.
I'd love to rate this novel highly but have to concede I've finally found a book that defies text-to-speech. I missed such huge chunks of text and myriad details along the way, that I finally had to just let the words wash over me rather than try to digest them as I wanted. The feel of the book and language it used reminded me strongly of Michael Cisco's work, though with wonderful wit and humor woven continually through the text. As more author backlists are being converted to audio all the time, I'll be keeping an eye out for this to re-read in audiobook.
January 29, 2016
As I said in one of my updates, this book defies summary. I was glad to see that the revelation I had around page 75 was both half wrong and half right.
All right. This story fractures at the very start and slowly some of the pieces pull back together, until the story is as whole as it can be. The plots are very disjointed and episodic at first, but elongate as they merge together.
Think of a single person, split into many independent, but captive pieces and spread out across time periods and places, connecting them simply by being part of them, and then, like a draw string, pulling them back together, some pieces connecting, others not, but all still part of the whole. That is this book. That is my best attempt at a summary beyond list each story line and character contained within the text.
The story is well-written and I did enjoy reading it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone unless I knew for certain that their tastes ran toward weird.
All right. This story fractures at the very start and slowly some of the pieces pull back together, until the story is as whole as it can be. The plots are very disjointed and episodic at first, but elongate as they merge together.
Think of a single person, split into many independent, but captive pieces and spread out across time periods and places, connecting them simply by being part of them, and then, like a draw string, pulling them back together, some pieces connecting, others not, but all still part of the whole. That is this book. That is my best attempt at a summary beyond list each story line and character contained within the text.
The story is well-written and I did enjoy reading it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone unless I knew for certain that their tastes ran toward weird.
November 28, 2015
I desperately wanted to like Crandolin for a variety of reasons: fascinating and unique topic, indy press, recognized for the World Fantasy award. Unfortunately, I just could not get into it. The jaunty initial chapters didn't keep my interest because they presented precious little context for cryptic goings-on. Then the next chapter would be in a completely different setting with different characters and no clear relation to the preceding chapters.
At any rate, I have to go with one star for "did not like it." I think it may be basically a bit post-post-modern for my taste.
I also found the typeface a bit hard to read. The lines of the letters are so thin that it makes the text look a bit faint overall. Usually I don't give the typeface of a book a second thought, but this stuck out in my mind because it required an unusual amount of concentration.
At any rate, I have to go with one star for "did not like it." I think it may be basically a bit post-post-modern for my taste.
I also found the typeface a bit hard to read. The lines of the letters are so thin that it makes the text look a bit faint overall. Usually I don't give the typeface of a book a second thought, but this stuck out in my mind because it required an unusual amount of concentration.
August 4, 2013
Not the easiest book to categorize. Like a really good meal, it's a little bit of everything carefully put together so the flavours blend. A nod to ancient cook books, fantastic tales, all sorts of love, journeys and adventures, Filled with delightful writing, insights and imaginings. Sit in a comfortable armchair, or in the sun, and set your mind free on a voyage of discovery with this very enjoyable book! I loved all the characters, especially the donkey. REALLY enjoyed reading it! Suggest you read it too.
April 28, 2015
Marvellous. A joyful romp through two (or maybe more) fantastical lands, one a lot like the USSR, the other some kind of Persian kingdom. Features honey-based sweets, carpets, work units, sunflower seeds, 'Pravda', donkeys, and the hair of virgins. Oh and writing, and whether fact or fancy makes a better book. A worthy and grown-up successor to my childhood favourite, 'The land of green ginger' https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
January 23, 2016
How do you describe the indescribable? Crammed Amphisbaena and Pillows of Delight are the least of the delicacies on offer. Not a love story, but rather a meditation on love, not a quest but an interconnected web where innumerable lives may hang on a single (lustrous, black and fragrant) hair.
abandoned
November 23, 2013I'm calling it. Sad as it makes me, since I don't actually know where the book is and haven't for a while, it is officially abandoned.
July 21, 2016
A surreal Arabesque travelogue. Whimsy given bite by a dash of the antic. Vivid yet taut prose. Poignant characters. Thoughtful metafiction. A contemporary Saragossa Manuscript.
November 19, 2024
I'm not… sure what to think about this book.
January 16, 2023
Sublime, lyrical, delightful fantasy. Any detailed description of the plot(s) would not do the book justice. This one was a joy to read.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews