That Part Was True

November 11, 2013
McKinlay’s latest (after 2011’s The View From Here) finds a bestselling American novelist connecting with one of his British fans as he nears his 50th birthday and she anticipates her daughter’s wedding. Jackson Cooper, who fancies himself a man’s man, lashes out at the women around him after his wife leaves him for a woman. He’s suffering from writer’s block and the feeling that he hasn’t penned anything important. Jack has turned his creative impulses toward cooking, but the beautiful, well-meaning vegetarian he’s dating doesn’t appreciate any of it. He shares his love of food with Eve Petworth, whose mean late mother, Virginia, still casts a shadow over her life in the form of Eve’s brash daughter Izzy, whom Virginia raised. When an engaged-to-be-married Izzy contacts her estranged father Simon, it exacerbates Eve’s anxiety disorder. Both Eve and Jack are idle and rich, as evidenced by their free time and many mentions of their maids cleaning up in the background. They romanticize one another and claim that their meager letters and recipe exchanges serve as stress relief. Jack tries to get Eve to meet him in Paris every now and then, but unbeknownst to him, her condition prevents it. Readers will appreciate the way McKinlay captures emotional truths, but the puerility of her protagonists often hinders enjoyment.

The charm of this unlikely romance translates well in this sweet and humorous recording. When Eve Petworth wrote to Jackson Cooper, praising a scene in his latest book, neither knew that their love of food would bring them together, or that their correspondence would develop into something so much more. The shift between narrators keeps the plot dynamic and engaging, and emphasizes the distance and differences between the two protagonists. L.J. Ganser and Katherine Kellgren are both talented performers, crafting characters that listeners can easily identify. Though their narration sometimes sounds too dramatic for this slice-of-life story, their performance evolves impressively, so that by the surprisingly satisfying conclusion, listeners will be entranced--and hungry for a gourmet snack. B.E.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine