The Cheffe, Marie NDiaye
The Cheffe, Marie NDiaye
2 Rating(s)
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The Cheffe
A Cook's Novel

Author: Marie NDiaye, Jordan Stump

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Unabridged: 7 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/29/2019

Synopsis

From the celebrated French writer Marie NDiaye--Prix Goncourt-winning author of Three Strong Women--comes the story of the Cheffe: a woman who lives in the single-minded pursuit of creating incomparable culinary delights.

Born into poverty in southwestern France, as a teenager the Cheffe takes a job working for a wealthy couple in a neighboring town. It is not long before it becomes clear that she has an unusual, remarkable talent for cooking, and soon her sheer talent and ambition put her in charge of the couple’s kitchen. Though she revels in the culinary spotlight, the Cheffe remains secretive about the rest of her life. She shares nothing of her feelings or emotions. She becomes pregnant but will not reveal her daughter’s father. And when the demands of her work become too great, she leaves her baby in the care of her family and sets out to open her own restaurant, to rave reviews. As time goes on, the Cheffe’s relationship with her daughter remains fraught, and eventually it threatens to destroy everything the Cheffe has spent her life perfecting. Told from the perspective of the Cheffe’s former assistant and unrequited lover, this stunning novel by Marie NDiaye is a gustatory tour de force.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on October 15, 2020

Now winner of the American Literary Translators Association National Translation Awards "She thought there was something excessive in the praise people had begun to heap on her cooking. She found the phrasing of those panegyrics ridiculous and affected, it was a question of style. She had no taste for......more

Goodreads review by Bjorn on December 27, 2018

4-/5. Biography of rockstar chef told by (probably) unreliable narrator, that seems at once to invite interpretation and throw author-is-dead-ian scoff at it. NDiaye writes beautifully, and it leaves me hungry for every single dish in it, I'm just not entirely sure what to make of it.......more

Goodreads review by Annie on July 26, 2024

Marie NDiaye’s The Cheffe (translated beautifully by Jordan Stump) is billed as “a chef’s novel” but it is not a typical novel. Some of the people who read this book and rated it on Goodreads didn’t like it because it didn’t follow the typical genre rules. These readers found the book boring. That w......more

Goodreads review by Maxine on February 17, 2020

I did find this a really long read and wanted to give up at times, but happy I kept reading due to the ending. This is also a book translated in French and I would have enjoyed reading it in French. The translation though was done well and you get the sense of how intricate and detailed the writing......more

Goodreads review by Sohum on June 15, 2020

really loved this book & its craft. marie ndiaye doesn't miss.......more

Quotes

“Marie NDiaye is so intelligent, so composed, so good, that any description of her work feels like an understatement . . . . There’s the evenness of her prose, eminently polished, deliciously rhythmic, that seems to glide over the violence underneath . . . . Who is this writer? And how did she get to be so good? . . . . The Cheffe is a powerful reminder that any act of creation requires an act of patronage; there is no pure creation without the audience that consumes it.”
—Madeleine Schwartz, The New York Review of Books

“A sensual portrayal of the indispensable place of talented cooks in the world of the French bourgeoisie. NDiaye’s heroine doesn’t wield overt power over this class, but instead commits herself to delivering savory before sugar, invention and technique before pleasure.”
—Ankita Chakraborty, The New York Times Book Review
 
“An arresting portrait of a self-effacing genius.”
—The New Yorker (Briefly Noted)
 
“NDiaye utilizes the relationships between characters to observe the wide scope of love in our lives, how it drives us, and where…a story about impressions, ideas, and the extreme subtleties of human relationships.”
—Megan Otto, Chicago Review of Books
 
“Luminous…Any woman who has ever allowed her career to take precedence, even for an hour, over her offspring, will cringe in understanding.”
—Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
 
“The Cheffe is so gracefully reserved that her story is equal parts alluring and infuriating. Not knowing usually is…Cooking, serving, and enjoying food is its own method of communication.”
—Francesca Giacco, Guernica
 
“Like a great meal, The Cheffe leaves us pleasantly sated but still wanting more.”
—Thane Tierney, BookPage
 
“[A] portrait of a woman comfortable in her own skin, in…hypnotic prose that stalks and surrounds its subject as though hypnotizing it.”
—Eric Chevillard, Music & Literature no.8

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