Consumed

by Caroline Hamilton

Amelia wants to be the best cook in the world. But being the best cook is not just about preparing the perfect bean dish or cooking a steak so that it melts in your mouth, it's about struggle and learning. Amelia befriends Katarina, a strange, old Eastern European woman who teaches Amelia about tea, bread, bottled tomatoes and the art of cooking. Katarina's mysterious death unleashes a passion within Amelia and she discovers an age-old secret that unlocks the power and magic of famous cooks throughout history. In trying to invent a new recipe, Amelia discovers that her beloved Katarina was murdered and Amelia knows who did it. She begins to plan the tastiest recipe of her life, her recipe for revenge.

Genres: Fiction

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars at a stretch. And that's for the recipes which look great. I seriously suspect the author wrote this while ingesting the honey/mushroom concoction.

I mean, really - what the hell?!?! Started off as a little odd before then - I thought - starting to balance out. Well, THAT was short lived stepping up the strange before becoming full-blown and EXTREMELY weird. Weirder, even, than that description.

Wasn't quite what I thought it would be alluding to food/fantasy fiction genre...although, what should one expect, I guess? Characters were not easily likeable, much of it was written in the mind of eccentricity which left some strings of plot untied.

It was an effort to get through.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited about this book - the cover blurb drew me in and I feel as if it was a bit of 'bait and switch' in some ways.
Amelia has had an unloving childhood and has thrown her heart into food and cooking. In searching out the recipe for the 'perfect' sauerkraut, she meets Katarina who takes her in as her 'Vassalissa' and teaches her all about food and cooking.
After Katarina dies, Amelia inherits everything, including her history and personality. This is one of the areas where I felt the book fell down a bit. I liked the idea of a shared history and this amazing inheritance but I felt as if this should have taken up more of the book than it did. The whole idea felt a bit rushed.
The other issue I had was that I didn't find Amelia to be an entirely sympathetic character. When she decides to commit murder to avenge Katarina's death, I didn't understand why she chose the fat man, why she hated him so much. In all my suspension of disbelief, this whole section annoyed me.
I would have liked this book to be longer to make the part after Katarina's death more engaging.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Hamilton's first book and it is delightful. A young lonely woman is captivated by a delicious sauerkraut found in a Melbourne deli and goes on a search to find the maker. She and the fantastical cook that she finds go on a strange food journey together. The story goes a little strange but overall delightful and captivating. I was looking for a book to grab me fully and this did the trick. Please, someone else, read it.

[Leighsa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just weird.

[Anna Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was hard working getting to the end of this book. The main character was immature and self-absorbed which made it impossible for me to like her at all. The story felt too slow at the beginning, and rushed at the end, and was predictable throughout.

[MrsF · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only gave this a 3 because the ending got a little too creepy for me.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what to say about this book. There is a lot about food and cooking but it is also very strange and goes off on tangents that make you believe the author may have been tasting the hallucinogenic mushrooms. There is more than one murder in the book.

[Jayde Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this in the laundry of a camp site. It did the trick, it kept me reading and entertained while we sat by the pool. It’s a little magic, sci-fi and murder in an Australian city...

[Ella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was going to give this 3 stars and then I read chapter 15 which made me eye roll and then 16 which had me DNF because, dear author, teenage girls are not 'stupid for chosing an eating disorder instead of delicious food'. Like wtf even is that?

[Rebecca Rossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, quirky and a real page turner!

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia, works at Ikea and is a foodie, she want to be the masterchef. One day she meets Katrina, her teacher, seemingly a creepy old woman. Things happen, Katrina is killed, and Amelia finds herself become more and more like her, especially after she inherits everything Katrina had. After Katrina dies, in a way that's where the story really begins. We all know who killed her (the only antagonist), but this book isn't a murder mystery, it's more about food. The story first begins in the real world, in Melbourne, for me the picture that Hamilton paints is Elsternwick, and then it becomes magical. Though Katrina's home appears to be Euroa Butter Factory, which is near Shepparton...

Hamilton's work is absolutely amazing, you can see what she's writing. Her choice of words, just suck you it, and keep you glued till you fall asleep with the book in your hand. Sometimes it's a bit hard to understand, the order of things e.g. Katrina's childhood, her memories, but 's worth it. There are some bits that are quite disturbing e.g. do we really need to see what's up an old lady's dress when she isn't wearing underwear? That part was totally unnecessary.

And a word of warning: if you like your pork/ham/bacon, or faint at the sight of blood, don't read this. But other than that it's an amazing book. And a amusing fact: Amelia's name is only used a couple of times - you'll see why. ;)

[Akhila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's get something out of the way first.
If one would like to approach this book, the blurb, often a safe taster for the full course inside, reveals a crucial plot point that takes HALF THE BOOK to discover yourself. Revealing blurbs are the bane of my existence.
Do not read the blurb.

If you, dear reader, are deciding whether to give this book a go and have read the reviews below, it's a safer gamble to interpret this book for yourself. For this is the kind of book that will polarize readers. It is a strange one; at first a deep meditation on the art of preparing food and commentary on how food is so far manipulated today. And then, it becomes this strange fairytale of biblical proportions with cannibalism and gluttony and Artemis-like legendry. If you worship food or even just like eating it, it provides you with a rich and vivid foodscape -the right way to make tea, that final ingredient to her saukerkraut. You too will be Consumed.

My opinion is that it is good. It's not a forgettable book, it is the other extreme even if you do not like it. And make no mistake, it's about Food.
It made me try sauerkraut.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the passionate description of food and the relationship between the protagonist and her mentor, the elderly Jewish cook, but towards the last third of the book the story takes a mythical turn and becomes quite fantastical. I wasn’t sure if this represented the character’s state of mind or was suppose to be taken as reality. – perhaps it doesn’t really matter. The change in direction didn’t bother me but I have to say the first part of the booking dealing with the cook passing along her skills interested me more.

[Nancy Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was creepy and got extremely weird near the end.

I expected a harmless food novel - I did not expect it to descend into dark fantasy the way it did!

Despite the fact that it was a bit disturbing, I found the writing enjoyable and compelling - I could barely put this book down even when I was creeped out by it!

Definitely worth a read, and it's not too long so if you are as disturbed as I was at least it's over quickly!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting , i enjoyed wandering ficticiously around the streets of St Kilda and beyond. It was rather evocative and sensual .I really the attention to detail in everything to do with food. With unexpected but very welcome synchronicity this book reminded me of the books I read back in the early 90's when this was my locale. It's refreshing to read an unabashedly feminist work of this nature, the timelessness , the sense of community of women .

[Anna Matilda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm only 1 chapter in, and I can already tell this will become one of my favourite books. Like Patrick Süskind's 'Perfume' and Jim Crace's 'Devil's Larder', the way Hamilton writes (in particular a description of a fresh produce market) transports me to a different time, a richer place, and a warmer state of mind.

Not bad for 15-odd pages, eh? :)

[btayla10gmail.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I borrowed it from the library but it is a book that I want on my shelf.
The author is well researched in the areas covered in the book, including cooking, witches and the Baba Yaga. The ending leaves you wondering - more in line with the genre of short stories - but I like that. It's not very often that I say this, but, 'I will read it again.'

[Liz! (Bazil is Awosome!) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was EXTREMELY weird but in saying that i still enjoyed reading it. Some of it was really interesting and some of it was very sick! Lol Would recommend it just so you can see how weird and cool it is!

[Tia Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

For her first book this is amazing. Consumed follows a young woman who's trying to fid the meaning in life through food. It left me wodering and daydreamig about the history and stories behind recipes and how ever the simple pleasures in life are to kill for.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

a sensuous tale of food, madness and revenge.

[Rhonda Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

excellent story set in Australia

[Marjorie Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

kept my interest, surprised me, and I got a few recipes. lol

[Leisa Entwistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down.