Man
Published on 7. August 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-84668-996-3 (ISBN)
Description
Man has three mothers: the one who gives birth to her in wartime, the nun who plucks her from a vegetable garden, and her beloved Maman, who becomes a spy to survive. Seeking security for her grown daughter, Maman finds Man a husband - a lonely Vietnamese restaurateur who lives in Montreal.
Thrown into a new world, Man discovers her natural talent as a chef. Gracefully she practices her art, with food as her medium. She creates dishes that are much more than sustenance for the body: they evoke memory and emotion, time and place, and even bring her customers to tears.
Man is a mystery - her name means 'perfect fulfillment', yet she and her husband seem to drift along, respectfully and dutifully. But when she encounters a married chef in Paris, everything changes in the instant of a fleeting touch, and Man discovers the all-encompassing obsession and ever-present dangers of a love affair.
Full of indelible images of beauty, delicacy and quiet power, Man is a novel that begs to be savoured for its language, its sensuousness and its love of life.
Thrown into a new world, Man discovers her natural talent as a chef. Gracefully she practices her art, with food as her medium. She creates dishes that are much more than sustenance for the body: they evoke memory and emotion, time and place, and even bring her customers to tears.
Man is a mystery - her name means 'perfect fulfillment', yet she and her husband seem to drift along, respectfully and dutifully. But when she encounters a married chef in Paris, everything changes in the instant of a fleeting touch, and Man discovers the all-encompassing obsession and ever-present dangers of a love affair.
Full of indelible images of beauty, delicacy and quiet power, Man is a novel that begs to be savoured for its language, its sensuousness and its love of life.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Ru:'Kim Thuy writes with equal delicacy and candor about a childhood marked by horrifying brutality, and the pleasures of ordinary peace. A brave and moving book, bringing lucid insight both to the costs of violence, and elusive processes of psychic survival -- Eva Hoffman This is an exemplary autobiographical novel. A tragic journey described in a keen, sensitive and perfectly understated voice -- Governor General's Literary Award jury citation Thuy's stories are poetic and powerful -- James Smart * Guardian * Striking -- Claire Armistead * Guardian * Rendered in exquisite, unsentimental prose. Kim Thuy is a born storyteller, but she rewrites the traditional immigrant narrative in a completely new way, makes it whole and wondrous once more. * Jury Citation for the Gillier Prize Shortlist *
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Product notice
With flaps
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 133 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
211 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84668-996-3 (9781846689963)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kim Thuy has worked as a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer and restaurant owner. In 2010 Thuy won the Governor General's Award for French language fiction. She lives in Montreal, where she devotes herself to writing.