Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Rose Tremain
Vintage 2008
Lev is an immigrant from Eastern Europe who arrives in London poor, unemployed and with only a few words of English. A dodgy start, but things can only get better: he gets a job working as washer-up for a foul-mouthed celebrity chef and a room in the house of a hard-drinking Irishman. Soon he’s picking up the lingo, some culinary skills (he makes a lovely jus, whatever that is), and a beautiful girlfriend - his entrée into the glamorous world of London art. He’s sending money home and all’s going well. But - oh no! He’s lost his job and his girlfriend has ditched him for an avant garde playwright Never mind. He’s off to Suffolk, picking asparagus and having a brief gay encounter with two friendly and hard-working Chinese. And then one day, out on the field, he has a big idea. He’s going to open a restaurant back in his home country, where his family and friends’ poor but happy life with their goats is threatened by a dam. He’ll take his newly learned skills and introduce the town to English cuisine – because back there they’ve been deprived of these joys for a long, long time. So, it’s back to London, a bit of advice from the celebrity chef and a job in a Greek restaurant by night. Luckily – and Lev is very lucky – a day job comes along too: cooking high end meals in an old people’s home. The money’s rolling in and one of the old dears leaves him a sizeable sum so that her uncaring children won’t get their hands on it. So it’s back to Eastern Europe, rescue family, open up the restaurant, decide that looking forward is better than looking back – and the job’s a good ‘un.
As you might have gathered from this brief synopsis, this isn’t your typical immigrant’s experience, no matter how Tremain might try to dress it up. Lev’s progress is heartening but, regrettably, does not ring true. I wish, for example, that I had had pupils who could learn English so quickly that they were sailing through Hamlet after a few months. I think this typifies Tremain’s problem: her heart is in the right place but she just doesn’t know enough about her subject. The picture we get of Lev, his family, and his homeland is full of clichés. Tremain is obviously keen to get back to things she does know about: posh restaurants, art galleries, theatre, literature. This also means that, despite herself, her world view is very Anglo-centric; back in Lev’s home country the poor things were just too backward to have enjoyed English food, or to have appreciated Western art. Naturally when offered the opportunity, however, they lap it up.
This novel kept my interest but Tremain can’t see a nationality without reaching for a stereotype. This, and the fairy tale of a story, made it utterly unconvincing.
14 June 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Tremain
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