The Debt To Pleasure

THE DEBT TO PLEASURE

by John Lanchester

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1998, LA Times Finalist 1996

 

Date Read: October 15, 2022

 

The Debt To Pleasure is an incredibly unique book that is part cookbook, food criticism, travelogue and subtle thriller. Tarquin Winot, our snobbish narrator, has arrived in the south of France for the summer and begins stalking a couple. Surrounding this unusual endeavor are his thoughts and opinions on everything from art and post-modernism to the notes food should evoke and the proper aperitif.

 

The plot here seems incidental, as it crawls very slowly along so that the reader isn’t sure if Lanchester lost the thread. What is glaringly obvious is Winot’s opinion of himself as he spews his pearls of wisdom. Winot considers himself a chef and a scholar and his diatribes on both subjects serves to enshrine that perspective.

 

Winot is clearly privileged, becoming the sole inheritor of his parents’ estate upon their tragic death. His brother, Bartholomew, was left out of the will. Winot dismisses this oversight by his parents as Winot must clearly be the favored son and Bartholomew, an artist, was making plenty off his gallery work. The way in which Winot asserts these claims shows a level of obtuseness that is startlingly cringe-worthy. Toot your own horn much, Tarquin?

 

Overall, I found some delectable insights and a yearning to go to France that I is still lingering (Gaspard de la Nuit, here I come!). While pretentious and exclusionary, some of his insights are spot on and others are so far off the mark they made me gasp (pink is NOT a low-brow color). An enjoyable read with a haunting ending.

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