Aftertaste: A Novel

wildbear

Original, fresh and fascinating story

"The book is fascinating and even stunning with fresh and original ideas and unexpected turns in story and characters development. How can you connect with loved ones in Afterlife? You need some spiritual connection or medium, right? What about food? What? Yes, if you remember their favorite food flavors there is a way to communicate with them. One young NYC chef discovered an unexpected ability to attract ghosts while cooking their favorite food. Here is where the story becomes kind of personal for me – my son is also a NYC chef, he is a very good chef, but I doubt he has this magical ability. Another moment in the book is personal, and I hesitated to disclose it, because it’s too embarrassing for me. Kostya comes for interview with the chef of very fancy French restaurant for dishwasher position (Yes, this restaurant was so fancy and famous that even dishwasher position was very competitive, and his friend had to pull some strings just to get him into the queue of possible candidates). The Chef asked him a few questions, and Kostya feels that he failed the interview. The last question was “Had you ever eaten really good food?” Kostya does not know what to answer – his experience in area of fine dining was next to nothing, and he keeps thinking… The Chef starts mocking him, “Are you thinking about Olive Garden salad and breadsticks? Or you cannot choose between Big Mac and Whopper?” Wow! This was a mortal blow. Not for Kostya, but for me. No, actually I hate Garden Salad and breadsticks in Olive Garden, but I have to confess I love their chicken parmigiana. I never eat anything from MacDonalds or Burger King. Why? If you look at me, you know the answer. But I have to admit, sometimes I think about their burgers, and they do not look like complete junk to me, they look rather seductive. That’s what hit me so hard – I recognized myself. Yes, it was my level of food knowledge and priority of my food desires. That’s why it was so intimidating. And here I realized that I would never get a dishwasher position in such a restaurant… The dream of my life was floating away… And then Kostya answered…No, no, no more spoilers… The setting of the narrative is the City— both beautiful and unsightly, captivating and dreadful, with a variety of appealing flavors and unpleasant odors. Lavelle's vivid and passionate descriptions of the City leave no one indifferent; one either loves or hates it. Notably, the story features more than one perception of the City—each character holds their own unique image of it. When Maura remarked to Kostya, "Now I will show you the City," he was perplexed, thinking, "What? Show the City to me? I have lived here all my life." It was only later that he realized he had never seen her version of the City. You know, I have to confess – I am not very attentive reader. Usually, I skip the descriptions of environment – how the building looks, what is the interior, walls, stairs, furniture – who cares? What a boring, uninteresting subject, right? Not so fast... In this book the looks of the City are part of the story. One example – old hotel/restaurant near Seaport that was glamorous and rich in the 70s, and now it has completely deteriorated and abandoned, not much left of former glory. I have seen many such old houses in the City, I have never paid any attention to them. But Lavelle described this old house in such an elaborate language with huge attention to details. Believe me or not, you start to see these houses, these rooms, they become alive in your imagination, or right in front of your eyes. It feels like I remember this building, that I saw it in better shape near Water Street and Fulton, next to Seaport. If it’s not magic, what is it? The food is extremely important in the story – food all over the world, delicious and not so much, maybe you are not used to it, and you taste buds fail to recognize the flavors. No, I just don’t have enough words to recognize all kinds of foods, and too many of them are way beyond my culinary experience. Shameful to admit that I have never heard of any kind of pasta (5 or 7) served in that fancy restaurant. I must quote the book to highlight the significance of food in this story. “The Living, after all, ate mostly to remember. They marked their lives in food. In birthday cakes, and champagne toasts. In bowls of ketchup soup and Michelin-starred menus. To eat was to celebrate. Food was living, after all; food was love. It was how the Living coped. How they kept going. Shorthand for their entire lives.” As story unfolds you feel diving deeper and deeper into magical world of City restaurants and kitchens, delicious food surrounded by mystical connections with ghosts, and complex relations to people – yes, it’s a love story, a ghost story, and a story of food. Warning! It’s not a book that you just put down and read the rest later, the story gets under your skin and forces you to read non-stop, without breaks. Have a mystical and adventurous journey with delicious Aftertaste. ["

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May 24, 2025 Verified Purchase

Janieya Emerson

4.5/5

"This book made me cry, smile, laugh, and crave delicious food! Omg!🥺😭 This book was hard to get into due to the writing style. I also had to adjust to the constantly back and forth of the present and past, and afterlife world but once your in it YOUR IN IT! I found myself locked into this whole ghost and culinary experience I could not put this book down!! It was a beautiful masterpiece and a read I won’t forget! Such a unique read and tear jerker towards the ending!😭 (Food, Ghosts, Romance, and Trigger warnings included.) ["

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June 1, 2025 Verified Purchase

robinohara

Not my “taste.”

"There are many reasons why people probably like this book. There are amazingly detailed descriptions of food and food prep, worthy of a cooking show. I think I read somewhere that the novel is like Love Story meets Ghostbusters in the middle of Top Chef. But although I loved all of those books/movies/shows, I feel it is too ambitious to mix them all together. There were so many plot inconsistencies! I can suspend my disbelief for a good ghost story with a good plot, but this one was just too out there. Really. For example, mending a rip in the afterlife with the same technique of sealing a rip in rolled dough??? C’mon. ["

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April 1, 2026 Verified Purchase

Stanislav Zak

Magical, enchanting read!

"It all started a few weeks ago, when my friend and a fellow bookworm told me that there’s a preorder on Amazon for a book by a new author and the plot sounds interesting. I asked her what’s it about and she replied, “Love… food… ghosts”. I told her that it was not really my cup of tea, I am more of a thriller guy. Give me Reacher any time of the day. She pointed out that I said the same thing 25 years ago when she made me read Harry Potter books, and now I am the biggest Potterhead she’d ever known. Fair enough, so I preordered the book, Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle. On the 20th of May, the book arrived. My curiosity was high at the moment and I started on it immediately, abandoning the thriller I was reading at the time. From the first page, I forgot about everything: where I was, who I was, what’s my name. I dived into this enchanted book with full abandon, letting it bewitch me totally and completely. The idea behind the book was so novel and fresh that I was captivated from the get-go. Don’t want to spoil anything for anyone so I will let you have the pleasure. Oh yes, there was love. And food, delicious food, plenty of it. Ghosts, as promised. Also loss, grief, yearning and redemption. And mystery, among many other things. Everything masterfully woven together to create unforgettable reading experience. The writing is smooth and easy followed. When I came up for air in the middle of the book, I asked my bestie why she lied to me about this being Lavelle’s first book. It didn’t feel like the first attempt at all, there was a certain maturity behind the writing. But it was indeed her first book. Just shows how talented Daria is. One more thing I wanted to share. Lavelle’s writing is so powerful that for a moment it made me question some of my lifelong convictions and tastes. Just two examples. I never liked peanut butter cups, but when I read the description of people enjoying them, I suddenly got a craving for a Reese’s! The other example: I have always been against tattoos, I believe human’s body is beautiful by itself and carving something on it is sacrilegious. However, when I read the scene in a tattoo parlor, I felt like I wanted one myself. That’s what you get when you read something written by a true wordsmith! After I finished the book, I immediately started reading it again. This time slowly, letting the magical words take me in. I was dining with Kostya and Maura and Frankie, walking the streets of the City with them. When I finished the book for the second time, it was sad to let them go, they became my friends. Please do yourself a favor and read this book. Just a couple of warnings: don’t start it before you go to bed (you risk reading it until morning) and don’t start it if you’re hungry (the mouthwatering description of food and exquisite dishes will be too enticing). You’ll thank me later! ["

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June 10, 2025 Verified Purchase