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The Food Chain
Virgil Marcel is the golden boy of L.A. cuisine—an all-American Wolfgang Puck with rock-star good looks, a restauranteur and owner of Trimalchio's, the trendiest restaurant in a city of trendy restaurants. A magnet for the beautiful and the powerful, Trimalchio's is the hottest ticket in town—Morton's, Le Dome and Spago all exist to absorb the hapless players who can't get a table at Trimalchio's. Out of the blue, he receives an invitation to join London's secretive Everlasting Club, where a party has been going non-stop for some 350 years and whose membership has included the Marquis de Sade, American presidents and European royalty. It's unclear what fuels the club's Dionysian revelry, but the members are ominously insistent that Virgil join. When he declines, he is "kidnapped" and taken on a sensualist's tour of Britain. But is this just part of the initiation, or is he being prepared for a more primitive and sinister ritual?
Paperback
Published November 1, 1993
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About the author
Geoff Nicholson
49 books55 followersGeoff Nicholson was a British novelist and nonfiction writer. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 15, 2014
The vagueness of what is going on makes this book stand out from others; the reader is kept in the dark about the present but gets the past woven in through the chapters to build up the story. I felt like I took a journey with Virgil Marcel, his invitation to the secret Everlasting Club in England wasn't traveled alone, it was a trip taken with the reader deeply immersed in with everything that was going on. For a foreigner such as himself the food was strange sure, but the real food that was served and created for the club was a mixture of disgusting combinations, fancy pairings, secret meats and an overabundance of liqueurs, not to mention the naked woman lounging on the dinging room table...
Virgil has no idea what he has gotten himself into, spoiled, rich and young he takes advantages of what the club has to offer but unknowns to him its not as simple as it seems. Something dark and secret and mysterious is happening and the members who belong to the club are no ordinary people. Sadists freaks, gluttons and weirdos with insatiable strange fetishes have feasted there for the past three hundred years and they have no intentions of changing their bizarre, dark rituals and feasts. As Vrigil gets tangled up deeper into the nets of despair and simply walking away is not an option. Half the fun was reading about the history of the members and the other was worrying what was happening to the guests, the chapters go back and forth giving more glimpses of what this club is really into.
The writing was silky smooth and flowed easily, it never bumped around my head like a blind critter and the ideas and theories the author included were not too foreign, but it was unusual to see crazy things one can make up in their head or simply know in print, staring them in the face. Nicholson's charm lays in his descriptions, the amount of food in this book is staggering, most of it doesn't come close to anything I would be able to eat, a creature put together on a silver platter with a shark's head and octopus tentacles, claws and other weird parts is not your daily fare, yet it was something that The Everlasting Club was known for and the reader gets to experience it all.
The bizarre meets gruesome and perverse in this strange but wonderful tale, and the ending was great, I felt scared that this thin book will end before thing get really ugly but it was all tied up wonderfully. Full of twists and turns this book doesn't shy on taking the deep plunge into the deep end of the psyche!
- Kasia S.
Virgil has no idea what he has gotten himself into, spoiled, rich and young he takes advantages of what the club has to offer but unknowns to him its not as simple as it seems. Something dark and secret and mysterious is happening and the members who belong to the club are no ordinary people. Sadists freaks, gluttons and weirdos with insatiable strange fetishes have feasted there for the past three hundred years and they have no intentions of changing their bizarre, dark rituals and feasts. As Vrigil gets tangled up deeper into the nets of despair and simply walking away is not an option. Half the fun was reading about the history of the members and the other was worrying what was happening to the guests, the chapters go back and forth giving more glimpses of what this club is really into.
The writing was silky smooth and flowed easily, it never bumped around my head like a blind critter and the ideas and theories the author included were not too foreign, but it was unusual to see crazy things one can make up in their head or simply know in print, staring them in the face. Nicholson's charm lays in his descriptions, the amount of food in this book is staggering, most of it doesn't come close to anything I would be able to eat, a creature put together on a silver platter with a shark's head and octopus tentacles, claws and other weird parts is not your daily fare, yet it was something that The Everlasting Club was known for and the reader gets to experience it all.
The bizarre meets gruesome and perverse in this strange but wonderful tale, and the ending was great, I felt scared that this thin book will end before thing get really ugly but it was all tied up wonderfully. Full of twists and turns this book doesn't shy on taking the deep plunge into the deep end of the psyche!
- Kasia S.
October 10, 2011
The vagueness of what is going on makes this book stand out from others; the reader is kept in the dark about the present but gets the past woven in through the chapters to build up the story. I felt like I took a journey with Virgil Marcel, his invitation to the secret Everlasting Club in England wasn't traveled alone, it was a trip taken with the reader deeply immersed in with everything that was going on. For a foreigner such as himself the food was strange sure, but the real food that was served and created for the club was a mixture of disgusting combinations, fancy pairings, secret meats and an overabundance of liqueurs, not to mention the naked woman lounging on the dinging room table...
Virgil has no idea what he has gotten himself into, spoiled, rich and young he takes advantages of what the club has to offer but unknowns to him its not as simple as it seems. Something dark and secret and mysterious is happening and the members who belong to the club are no ordinary people. Sadists freaks, gluttons and weirdos with insatiable strange fetishes have feasted there for the past three hundred years and they have no intentions of changing their bizarre, dark rituals and feasts. As Vrigil gets tangled up deeper into the nets of despair and simply walking away is not an option. Half the fun was reading about the history of the members and the other was worrying what was happening to the guests, the chapters go back and forth giving more glimpses of what this club is really into.
The writing was silky smooth and flowed easily, it never bumped around my head like a blind critter and the ideas and theories the author included were not too foreign, but it was unusual to see crazy things one can make up in their head or simply know in print, staring them in the face. Nicholson's charm lays in his descriptions, the amount of food in this book is staggering, most of it doesn't come close to anything I would be able to eat, a creature put together on a silver platter with a shark's head and octopus tentacles, claws and other weird parts is not your daily fare, yet it was something that The Everlasting Club was known for and the reader gets to experience it all.
The bizarre meets gruesome and perverse in this strange but wonderful tale, and the ending was great, I felt scared that this thin book will end before thing get really ugly but it was all tied up wonderfully. Full of twists and turns this book doesn't shy on taking the deep plunge into the deep end of the psyche!
Virgil has no idea what he has gotten himself into, spoiled, rich and young he takes advantages of what the club has to offer but unknowns to him its not as simple as it seems. Something dark and secret and mysterious is happening and the members who belong to the club are no ordinary people. Sadists freaks, gluttons and weirdos with insatiable strange fetishes have feasted there for the past three hundred years and they have no intentions of changing their bizarre, dark rituals and feasts. As Vrigil gets tangled up deeper into the nets of despair and simply walking away is not an option. Half the fun was reading about the history of the members and the other was worrying what was happening to the guests, the chapters go back and forth giving more glimpses of what this club is really into.
The writing was silky smooth and flowed easily, it never bumped around my head like a blind critter and the ideas and theories the author included were not too foreign, but it was unusual to see crazy things one can make up in their head or simply know in print, staring them in the face. Nicholson's charm lays in his descriptions, the amount of food in this book is staggering, most of it doesn't come close to anything I would be able to eat, a creature put together on a silver platter with a shark's head and octopus tentacles, claws and other weird parts is not your daily fare, yet it was something that The Everlasting Club was known for and the reader gets to experience it all.
The bizarre meets gruesome and perverse in this strange but wonderful tale, and the ending was great, I felt scared that this thin book will end before thing get really ugly but it was all tied up wonderfully. Full of twists and turns this book doesn't shy on taking the deep plunge into the deep end of the psyche!
May 6, 2015
I brought this book home from the shop mostly because I read Nicholson's What We Did on Our Holidays last week, one of the funniest, nastiest books I've ever read. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this one, so I thought I would just read the first couple of paragraphs and take it back if they didn't grab me. They grabbed me, I snorked coffee, I dripped snot and knocked the popcorn bowl off the table more or less as the protagonist (I don't know if he's going to be the hero yet) did with the wine and peanuts in his seat in First Class. I'm flying Business Class tomorrow so I'll read this and look at the hostess in a knowing, sideways kind of way and if she's read this book, she'll probably give me a filthy look back. Can't wait... (She didn't. The man in the seat next to me did, but only because I had the window seat and was travelling on a free upgrade and he had paid for his. Oh dear.. poor man, having to sit next to badly dressed but well-travelled me).
The book didn't disappoint but wasn't as funny as What We Did on Our Holidays. It would make an excellent spoof movie though as the plot if full of twists and turns, lots of sex, perverted and otherwise, violence and even snobbery and racism. I'd really really like to go out to dinner with the author, I'd bet he'd be fantastic company.
The book didn't disappoint but wasn't as funny as What We Did on Our Holidays. It would make an excellent spoof movie though as the plot if full of twists and turns, lots of sex, perverted and otherwise, violence and even snobbery and racism. I'd really really like to go out to dinner with the author, I'd bet he'd be fantastic company.
April 13, 2023
First finished book on Goodreads 🥳
Was terrible tho. Giving man who thinks he’s a feminist giving a provocative take on misogyny…but in fact is just misogynistic. Made me want to throw up.
#breastfeeding #sausageinV # fooderotica
Was terrible tho. Giving man who thinks he’s a feminist giving a provocative take on misogyny…but in fact is just misogynistic. Made me want to throw up.
#breastfeeding #sausageinV # fooderotica
February 13, 2011
I really don't understand what everyone is on about in relation to this book. I am giving it one star because I can't give it any less but I didn't dislike it, I loathed it.
I thought it was crass, sick, gratuitous, badly written and absolutely depraved. The characters are all assholes (which is the point I guess), sexual degenerates and utterly underdeveloped. The dialogues are strained and pathetic, the premise could have been explored in so many other better ways and overall is was a waste of my time. I hated the caricature of English men and food, it was completely off and clearly written with American ignorance and clichés in mind, perhaps serving to further reinforce these stereotypes.
It is going to the second-hand bookshop today, I am not embarrassing myself by having that shit on my bookshelf.
I thought it was crass, sick, gratuitous, badly written and absolutely depraved. The characters are all assholes (which is the point I guess), sexual degenerates and utterly underdeveloped. The dialogues are strained and pathetic, the premise could have been explored in so many other better ways and overall is was a waste of my time. I hated the caricature of English men and food, it was completely off and clearly written with American ignorance and clichés in mind, perhaps serving to further reinforce these stereotypes.
It is going to the second-hand bookshop today, I am not embarrassing myself by having that shit on my bookshelf.
July 15, 2023
Horror & culinary eroticism with a touch of pudding
This book hooked me on the culinary edge. And led me through the lives of very unlikeable characters. I did enjoy the thrill ride and culinary travels.
This book hooked me on the culinary edge. And led me through the lives of very unlikeable characters. I did enjoy the thrill ride and culinary travels.
August 30, 2019
If TC Boyle had written my own book (How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, and the Nature of Eating) it would have been very much like this. And would have saved me a LOT of research...
October 20, 2023
Gran libro, una narrativa bastante descriptiva cargada de gula, lujuria y ambición. Un final inesperado y un desarrollo de personajes muy bueno
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November 20, 2014Let me start by saying that this book is for broadminded adults only. It's strange, challenging, quite gross in places and altogether odd. It's definitely not for everyone.
Virgil Marcel is the darling of the LA restaurant scene - young, unconventional, achingly hip. When he accepts an out of the blue invitation from the Chief Carver of London's Everlasting Dining Club, he has no idea what to expect. Taken blindfolded in a limo by the enigmatic chauffeur Butterworth, he's blown away by the wild revelry he witnesses. The party at the club has been going on night and day for over 300 years and inside the closely guarded dining room there are no limits - gluttony, drunkenness and sexual excess are all tolerated and encouraged. Comparisons are drawn to the Hellfire Club, and to the antics of the Marquis de Sade.
Having survived one crazy evening at the club, Virgil is "kidnapped" and taken on a gastronomic tour of Britain by Rose, last seen lying naked on the dining table surrounded by food. Hel finds himself whisked from one orgiastic situation to another, days and nights of food, drink and very weird sex until he doesn't know if he's coming or going. At one point he wonders if this woman is trying to fatten him up.
To say any more would be to give too many clues about the book - are these people cannibals? Sadists? A Masonic cult? Why have Virgil's mother and father found their way over to the club (where women members are VERY rare). And why does religious maniac Butterworth suddenly turn on the Chief Carver and try and burn the place down?
Other storylines are going on in the background - Virgil's parents' horrible relationship breakdown, an LA chef doing unspeakable things with the food in his kitchen. It's confusing and a little nauseating at times - certainly not comfort reading. I'd love to hear others' opinions on it but if you hate it, don't say I didn't warn you.
Virgil Marcel is the darling of the LA restaurant scene - young, unconventional, achingly hip. When he accepts an out of the blue invitation from the Chief Carver of London's Everlasting Dining Club, he has no idea what to expect. Taken blindfolded in a limo by the enigmatic chauffeur Butterworth, he's blown away by the wild revelry he witnesses. The party at the club has been going on night and day for over 300 years and inside the closely guarded dining room there are no limits - gluttony, drunkenness and sexual excess are all tolerated and encouraged. Comparisons are drawn to the Hellfire Club, and to the antics of the Marquis de Sade.
Having survived one crazy evening at the club, Virgil is "kidnapped" and taken on a gastronomic tour of Britain by Rose, last seen lying naked on the dining table surrounded by food. Hel finds himself whisked from one orgiastic situation to another, days and nights of food, drink and very weird sex until he doesn't know if he's coming or going. At one point he wonders if this woman is trying to fatten him up.
To say any more would be to give too many clues about the book - are these people cannibals? Sadists? A Masonic cult? Why have Virgil's mother and father found their way over to the club (where women members are VERY rare). And why does religious maniac Butterworth suddenly turn on the Chief Carver and try and burn the place down?
Other storylines are going on in the background - Virgil's parents' horrible relationship breakdown, an LA chef doing unspeakable things with the food in his kitchen. It's confusing and a little nauseating at times - certainly not comfort reading. I'd love to hear others' opinions on it but if you hate it, don't say I didn't warn you.
August 5, 2011
This is a horrible book but it is horrible by design. In turns gross, blasphemous, repugnant, disgusting, it is also fascinating from beginning to end. Geoff Nicholson incarnates bits of William S. Burroughs, Tom Robbins, Franz Kafka and James Beard. In a story which is both bizarre and compelling, he describes the restaurant business in California and a mysterious exclusive club in London. There are no recipes contained in this book; no one would want any. But it is culinary from start to surprising finish. If one can overcome the horror, it is also funny. Not for every reader, nor even for most, readers who enjoy Burroughs, Robbins, Kafka and Beard (all four, not two or three) will likely enjoy this novel.
July 23, 2016
Once I started reading this one, I was compelled to go on. It's hard to describe this book--at times disgusting--but you can't help but want to read more. The theme of food and sex are by no means original. I kept thinking of the movie "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" which touches on many of the same things. All in all, I found the book to be very readable and interesting and for good measure it threw in some morbid information about de Sade, Aztec blood rites, Fritz Haarmann: The Butcher of Hanover, the Andes plane crash involving cannabilism, and the Earl of Sandwich. I will probably be reading some of Nicholson's other books in the future.
November 27, 2009
The writer used only one voice for many different characters, and for most of them the voice was above the character.
This was a book about appetites, Food and Hunger, sex and boredom, attention and loneliness; and people's ways of filling it.
A little twisted, a little obvious, but enough of a page turner to get me to read something else by Geoff Nicholson. WARNING- Nekkid Lady Art on the cover.
This was a book about appetites, Food and Hunger, sex and boredom, attention and loneliness; and people's ways of filling it.
A little twisted, a little obvious, but enough of a page turner to get me to read something else by Geoff Nicholson. WARNING- Nekkid Lady Art on the cover.
March 17, 2013
This book began as a fascinating treatise on consumption and lust. Teasing and repulsive in turns but keeps your interest throughout. Its one fault is its ending, at least as far as I was concerned. I feel that a book can be as exciting as possible but if the ending lets you down then I feel cheated. The end was predictable and I felt the author could do better. and yet I enjoyed the book up to that point, so do read it and see if you agree.
September 2, 2014
This book, like all of his work, is for bad people or those who aspire to be bad. It tells a story of human corruption of a rather unique and metaphorical sort, but is always captivating and clever even when you know you should be appalled. Eating clubs, history and England are putatively topics but you are better off knowing nothing whatsoever about this book when you read it.
May 4, 2009
Geoff Nicholson is highly underrated in the US. This is by far my favorite of all his books and I love the research on food and the inner story on the "Everlasting Club" is brilliant. Interesting to the very end, which will surprise you!
April 4, 2016
After reading Flesh and Blood, I thought this would be an interesting fictional work around the idea of cannibalism. I was wrong. It is a raunchy and poorly ordered romp through a sexy kitchen. Don't even go there!
September 3, 2007
A cute romp through disgusting culinary and sexual details. You figure out what's going on halfway through, but there are a few surprises. Don't read right after eating.
May 29, 2007
really twisted, disgusting and strange
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews