Monica Ali – In the Kitchen
Feisty and tough, is how Monica Ali characterises herself. She is a novelist who creates controversy because she has the audacity to be both Asian and a woman who puts the spotlight on racism and inequality in modern Britain. She was born in Dhaka, Pakistan in 1967, to a white British mother and Pakistani father. When Monica was three they moved to Bolton, Lancashire.
She describes her early life as a traumatic time. Her father was not able to leave East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was then known) and was not in touch with the family for over 9 months.
It is from the north of England that she draws some of her characters in her new novel “In the Kitchen”, launched in Spain, in September, at the Hay Segovia Literary Festival.
Her first novel, Brick Lane, prompted the promise of book burning by Bengali men, because of her portrayal of the silent lives of Bengali women. Brick Lane was turned into a successful film of the same name.

Her second novel, Alentejo Blue, seemed to go askew, being based around an imaginary village in central Portugal. It followed a similar pattern, examining a collection of characters both ex-pats and Portuguese.
“In the Kitchen”, Ali returns to similar themes of Brick Lane, immigration and trafficking for prostitution, as she explores the internal and external life and breakdown of the Head Chef, Gabriel Lightfoot (Gabe). She calls him “a chef adrift”. As manager of a complex hotel restaurant, involving a staff representative of the United Nations, he begins to show the cracks inherent in a “modern man in his early 40’s”. As a character he is frustrating, distant and lovable. Some would argue not dissimilar to Ali herself.
For this book she spent time researching in 5 London Hotels. The reasoning behind this she says is because “kitchens are high pressure places enriched with comedy”. This kind of “research gives you a foundation to take liberties and to make things up”. She contrasts her research with the sanitised celebrity chef culture currently sweeping the UK and her desire to go deeper “to go below stairs,” “to explore the terrain of immigration beyond empire and the change of immigrant - Eastern Europeans in fields, Somali’s washing up - to uncover the reluctance of the UK to go into that space.

She has written three very different books and she promises more, but refuses to expose her current inspirations. She sees herself as British and notes “there are different ways of being British”. Although having never been back to Bangladesh, she follows the news, and comments that her parents, in particular her father, tell stories of Bangladesh to her children “of fighting tigers.” She feels her upbringing has given her a foot in each camp. “It makes you observant.” It is like “standing in the shadow of the doorway, having to fit in on both sides”.
As a teenager her favourite writers were Dickens, Flaubert and Dostoyevsky. Orwell has been an influence on her recent writing. She is critical of the huge trend for memoir to be linked to a novelist’s writing. In Brick Lane, the inspiration for her protagonist a poor Bengali woman who comes to the UK to marry, was her mother, rather than herself. Her mother underwent a social and cultural dislocation when she married in East Pakistan.
When questioned further about racism and British society she goes to ground behind the mask of “I am just a writer”. Not least because “fiction allows you to explore complexity - to take a nuance and not be obliged to come out with an answer”.
One senses a fierce intelligence that has been damaged by criticism and therefore she flips between attacking questioners with one sentence statements such as “I should be locked up” or “what do you think? and frustratingly refuses to open up to any questions that go much deeper than the superficial.
She assures us that if she had any answers to the way forward for world peace she would be with the United Nations, not writing novels.
Indeed if the world was collapsing she would be reading, writing or eating and so back to “In the Kitchen”. As Gabe’s life disintegrates, the reader is pulled into a mire of confusion. While he is exploring who he is, a dead body is found in the hotel cellar, his father dies and his girlfriend runs for sanity. Ali seems to have the gift of prophecy as the book accurately portrays some of the economic crisis that has spread over the UK and London in particular in recent months. This is explored through the eyes of a Labour MP and a business man, who Gabe hopes will bankroll his own restaurant. His father sees the British economy as a house of cards with no foundation. The crucial question raised by the MP is “can you ride it?” or indeed as the UK has found in recent months will “reality come around and bite you in the end”.
There are some moments of humour, notably when Gabe is questioned about a dirty plate by a pompous guest. He gives the plate his own version of “spit and polish”.
In all, “In the Kitchen” is worth reading for those glimpses of humour, intelligence, characterisation and daring. ( )

Didn't deliver.

I loved Brick Lane by this author and started this book with enthusiasm. Unfortunately I found it a very slow, unrewarding read and only finished it because I had to discuss it for a book group.
There are some valid observations on immigrant labour, life in Britain today and the pressures of life that many of us live under and these provided the basis for a good discussion. There were also some excellent characterisations. Unfortunately I require my reading to flow, to be a pleasure to read even if the content is challenging, and it was in this context that the book failed to deliver.

The central character is Gabriel Lightfoot, the head chef in the prestigous London Imperial Hotel. His staff are from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, only one of them is English. In spite of the stresses of work in a busy kitchen they mostly seem to gel as a unit. When a kitchen porter is found dead in the cellars it is Gabriel who appears to be most affected. As he unravels we get to meet his family and girlfriend, find out more about his past and become more familiar with his staff.

For a book along similar themes I would recommend The Road Home by Rose Tremain or Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka. ( )

Ditto to everything redladybooks said in her review......I just couldn't finish it.......boring and depressing. Ali's writing skills couldn't save a muddled plot and completely unlikeable characters.
What a disappointment! ( )

Completely underwhelmed by this over-hyped novel. Felt no empathy for the lead character. ( )

I had high hopes for In the kitchen by Monica Ali and I was thrilled to receive a copy through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. This is a hard review to write as I wanted to like this book. I read Brick Lane by Monica Ali several years ago with my book club and I liked the authors writing style. I enjoy reading foodie type books and in this book, the main character Gabriel is a chef who runs a restaurant in a major hotel in England and the story focuses on his relationships with his staff, his girlfriend, his family etc. I have to be honest....I couldn't finish the book. I found the story bleak and depressing and didn't care for Gabriel or any of the characters and the story line just seemed to drag. I read over 100 pages and then I had to put the book down. I am passing my book on to a friend that would like to read it so she may have a different perspective.