Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2016
368 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A lush, raw, thrilling novel of the senses about a year in the life of a uniquely beguiling young woman, set in the wild, alluring world of a famous downtown New York restaurant.
"Let's say I was born when I came over the George Washington Bridge..." This is how we meet unforgettable Tess, the twenty-two-year-old at the heart of this stunning first novel. Shot from a mundane, provincial past, she's come to New York to look for a life she can't define, except as a burning drive to become someone, to belong somewhere. After she stumbles into a coveted job at a renowned Union Square restaurant, we spend the year with her as she learns the chaotic, punishing, privileged life of a "backwaiter," on duty and off. Her appetites - for food, wine, knowledge, and every kind of experience - are awakened. And she's pulled into the magnetic thrall of two other servers - a handsome bartender she falls hard for, and an older woman she latches onto with an orphan's ardor. These two and their enigmatic connection to each other will prove to be Tess's hardest lesson of all.
Sweetbitter is a story of discovery, enchantment, and the power of what remains after disillusionment.
"Starred Review. Throughout, Danler evokes Tess's voice - intimate, confiding, wonderstruck, depressed - with deft skill. This novel is a treat, sure to find a big following." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. From her very first sentences - "You will develop a palate. A palate is a spot on your tongue where you remember. Where you assign words to the textures of taste. Eating becomes a discipline, language-obsessed. You will never simply eat food again" - Danler aims to mesmerize, to seduce, to fill you with sensual cravings. She also offers the rare impassioned defense of Britney Spears. As they say at the restaurant: pick up! " - Kirkus
"Danler was working as a waitress at a tony New York restaurant when she wrote her debut, which offers deliciously vivid descriptions as well as dark, churning moments." - Booklist
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in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stephanie Danler is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School.
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