Aug 24, 2012

Evel Knievel Days by Paul Toutonghi

Title: Evel Knievel Days: A Novel by Paul Toutonghi
Published July 17, 2012; Crown
Genre: comedy, novel
Opening sentences: "Egyptian cooking is folk magic. Not magic in the sense of dematerializing doves or sawing beautiful ladies in half. But magic in the deeper sense of the thing - in the raw joy of what magic once was, hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago: a surprise, a shock, an astonishment. A lesson about the invisible. A lesson bout belief. I remember this from my childhood: the image of my mother, Amy Clark-Saqr, cooking late into the night for a catering gig, cooking, in a nearly empty house, enough food to feed a hundred people the next afternoon. A feast - but not for her. Saqr Catering. Butte's Finest Middle Eastern Cuisine. Since 1990.
Mulukhiyya. A silky saline broth distilled from the leaves of the jute plant."
About the book: Khosi Saqr has always felt a bit out of place in Butte, Montana, hometown of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel. He travels to Egypt to find his father and his heritage, searches for his roots, and along the way finds his identity. (based on publisher's description).

11 comments:

  1. Sounds interesting. Hope you enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds great, and I expect there will be recipes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. A middle eastern caterer in Butte, Montana? That's definitely unexpected. I think I'd like this book.
    My Book Beginning is from Memories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wouldn't have expected it by the title, but this one does sound like it holds a lot of promise for me. I am always excited to read more fiction that explores different parts of the world, and this one seems like it does that really well. Don't really care for the title, though!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the idea of this book! I've been spending a lot of time in Montana for work, so have been reading books set in Montana. I'm pleased to find another one.

    Thanks for including your post in BBOF!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This does sound different and good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved this book. It was my favorite read of the summer, and all the more pleasant since Pauls emailed me himself to thank me for my review. That doesn't happen very often! I thought what he had to say about family, about our own idiosyncrasies and longing to belong was intrinsic to my soul.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A funny novel about food and memories, sounds good :) Hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have been reading a lot of great reviews of this one!!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments and thoughts...

Three Novels: Japanese Mystery; Family Drama; Ecuadorian

  Books in the mail The Night of Baba Yaga  by Akira Otani (translated from the Japanese). July 2, 2024, Soho Crime This is an unusual novel...