michael pardus

Overly sensationalized title, narrowly focused narrative, uninformed narrator.

Revisado: 12-04-23

The title has nothing to do with the content, composed to catch attention without fulfilling the prurient promise - don’t buy the book expecting a low brow “Kitchen Confidential”.
The meat of the narrative focuses on a few, albeit some seminal, US culinary icons - still, too much detail about too few people.
If you’ve been on the scene, or following it closely, since the ‘70s, you’ll be amused/annoyed/frustrated by the narrator’s mangling of important names, and the elevation of dilettantes to “authorities”.
Ask any line cook who Auguste Escoffier was…then ask about Nathan Myrvold (the patent troll)…’nuff said.
- ROGER (US pronunciation) Verge?
- Johanne Killeen = Killian?
- Lutece = Lutaise?
- Taillevent = Tally Vent?
And please don’t ever say the name of Jean Louis Palladin aloud again.

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Far too abridged

Revisado: 02-09-23

I regret trusting Audible on this one.
The story has been cut down to comic-book/cliff notes version. Not what I was expecting at all.
It was so brief that I listened until the end thinking “there must be more”. There wasn’t, and now I can’t return it.
Wasted credit.

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Far too abridged

Revisado: 02-09-23

I regret trusting Audible on this one.
The story has been cut down to comic-book/cliff notes version. Not what I was expecting at all.
It was so brief that I listened until the end thinking “there must be more”. There wasn’t, and now I can’t return it.
Wasted credit.

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great story, but…

Revisado: 09-06-22

You must be somewhat of a geek to get through the thick parts.
My main criticism as a listener is that the narrator does not sound engaged or interested. She sounds like someone who is being paid to read a script for a paycheck.
That being said, I will listen to it again, and most likely a third time, to completely absorb the material offered.

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Extraordinarily entertaining!

Revisado: 07-17-22

I was very much prepared to dislike this, I threw it on to pass time while folding laundry. By the middle of the first episode I was sucked in, and six hours later, it’s finished.
Well worth the time, whether you binge it or break it up into episodes, it’s highly recommended.

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A Self Help book, wrapped around an advertisement, disguised as a memoir

Revisado: 07-11-22

The author‘s account of his childhood through college years was a compelling enough story for me to read that far.
Once he left college and entered the work force, it became very boring very quickly.
There are many other more engaging books detailing struggles with addiction and alcoholism.
When he shifted past sobriety and into the rigors of ultra marathon training on a vegan diet, I thought that I had accidentally stumbled into an infomercial.
Not my cup of tea,
I couldn’t finish it.

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Glib, overly verbose attempts at humor overlay neuroscience babble

Revisado: 05-11-22

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The author thinks himself funny, presents himself as discerning about food, wine, cars, art, pretty much everything. His ostentation overrides any useful information I was hoping for. Littering a book full of American English colloquialisms with Francophilia is equally distracting.
By the time I gave up and returned the book, it was fairly clear to me that the author’s goal was not to inform us, but to impress himself.
Prefacing each chapter with a quote from Shakespeare doesn’t diminish this impression.
Cultural biases and sexism alert.

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Good Story - Well Performed

Revisado: 01-16-15

Narrator took a while to get used to, but when it settled in I found myself thinking in his cadence. Good listen.

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