Chef

March 15, 2010
Shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book, this first novel takes place in Kashmir, long disputed by India and Pakistan and also the setting of Singh's short story collection, "Seventeen Tomatoes". The novel serves up the memories both delicious and bitter of Kirpal, or Kip, the son of an Indian war hero. Kip, who trained as a chef under the passionate and skillful Kishen, known simply as Chef, joined the military after his father's death and was shipped to a post near the Sichuan Glacier. The story is relayed while Kip, who has a brain tumor, travels by train back to Kashmir. He is returning not only to prepare a wedding feast for his former general's daughter but also to negotiate and resolve his past. VERDICT Throughout, Kip's emotional passivity stands in opposition to his culinary abilities. Canada-based Singh adroitly blends lyrical accounts of Kip's past with sensual renderings of the cold climate and piquant cuisine. The result is another successful work of fiction from the Indian diaspora. Recommended alongside other recent powerhouse titles from younger Indian-born writers, such as Manil Suri's "The Death of Vishnu" or Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss".Faye A. Chadwell, Oregon State Univ. Lib., Corvallis

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2010
Singh, author of an acclaimed collection of stories set in his birthplace of Kashmir, Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from Kashmir (2004), returns with a debut novel. He writes lyrically about that majestic, impossibly beautiful, and quixotic place, wedged between India and Pakistan, and doomed, it seems, to be forever caught up in their ongoing conflict, fueled by centuries-old sectarian violence. The vehicle for Singhs probing scrutiny of this conflict is Kip, a master chef who 14 years before the novel opens worked as an apprentice to the chef at the generals residence in a Kashmiri military camp. Now living in India and recently diagnosed with brain cancer, Kip is returning to Kashmir to cook for the wedding of the generals daughter. As the narrative jumps back and forth in time, Kip ponders the events that forced him to leave, and especially remembers Irem, the young Pakistani woman whom he befriended, a Muslim who was inexplicably branded a terrorist. The rippling effects of religious and cultural prejudice infuse this whole, complex story, leaving no character in Singhs poetic, thought-provoking tale untouched.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)