0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
amazing story told in a good way, Mar 27 2011
This review is from: Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat (Hardcover)
i pre-purchased this book as soon as it was announced. i'm a self-professed foodie trying to figure out if i should switch gears and become a chef. on top of that i've eaten at alinea and had grant achatz prepare a dessert for my table personally. so that's where i'm coming from with this review:
the book is written in 2 perspectives, the first from grant and the second from nick kokonas (strangely not shown as a co-author on the amazon site). as a guess i would say 2/3 of the book is written by grant, the other by nick. different fonts are used to identify who is writing. i bring this up because it wasn't what i expected, and was sometimes difficult to keep track of.
the book details all of grant's life from childhood through to starting alinea with nick. the last portion of the book deals with his ordeal fighting cancer, and then looks to what the future holds for the duo. it also explains from nick's perspective how he got involved in becoming the owner of the best restaurant in america.
i am exactly the target audience for this kind of book, and i burned through it very quickly, just days. the story itself would be interesting for anyone, not just a foodie. i'm giving this book a 4 out of 5 because of the back and forth writing style between 2 authors (which worked in places and didn't work in others). and i have to admit, there's another intangible element i can't put into words, but i really wanted just a bit more out of this book. an amazing story told in a good way, but not in an exceptional way.
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