Monday 20 February 2017

The Fat Man's Monologue - Aliza Galkin-Smith



                The Fat Man’s Monologue is the ultimate book for anyone who loves to read about food, have a good laugh, and indulge in a little food porn via the delicious recipes within the pages. It is the story of a very overweight man who just doesn’t give a care about exercise, eating right, or what anyone has to say about the matter. It is told entirely from his point of view and the book follows him as he writes about his foodie adventures in his popular blog and juggles his very active love life, a love life that would make most any man blush. He doesn’t have a lot of luck maintaining the relationships but he does seem to have a lot of them. For someone who is an acknowledged fat nerd, he sure does get a lot of women. Everything is written with a healthy dose of humour which makes this one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. The author is unapologetic about his weight and love of all things edible and he readily admits his flaws. It’s this ability to look at himself honestly, both the good and bad aspects, that makes him so very likeable. His relationships with various people are wonderfully explored throughout the book. A former student, Aviram, who is now a chef, becomes a very close friend and some of their discussions about food were my favourite parts of the book. The chemistry between him and Tanya, one of his love interests, oozes off the page and the dialogue between him and Tanya’s teenage daughter, Gali, is funny and truthful. The book travels throughout various places such as Israel, Italy and the U.K. The writing about the various foods native to these areas is so vivid that my mouth was literally watering. The recipes are wonderful and, because the author’s mother was a Polish Jewish woman, I was extra interested in her recipes and ways of preparing food because I can make them for my Polish husband. This is an extremely easy book to read because the writing flows along smoothly and the author had me cracking up the whole way through the book. There is one paragraph discussing “rope poop” that was so blunt that it couldn’t be anything else but funny.
                The front cover is different and unique but really didn’t draw my attention as much as the title did. I read this in a digital format and it worked very well on my ereader. This book will delight and amuse foodies all over.

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