Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang - 3 stars (Subdue)

[Joy D]

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang - 3* - My Review

I had previously read Zhang’s debut, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, which I enjoyed very much, so I looked forward to reading her second novel. Land of Milk and Honey is very different. It is set in a dystopian future in which dense smog has descended over much of the world, causing the extinction of a large number of species of plants and animals. The unnamed narrator is an Asian chef who has lived in the US but has relocated abroad. She must cook with very basic and unappetizing ingredients and wants a change. The US borders have been closed, so instead of returning, she applies for a work as a private chef at a closed community on the top of a mountain on the border of France and Italy. She “enhances” her resume to appeal to the new employer and gets the job.

This closed community is financed by a set of wealthy investors. The mysterious employer and his scientist daughter have recreated lost species and created new ones. They have access to an abundance of resources, which are unavailable to the masses. The narrator employs her culinary skills to create a wide variety of dishes for the employer’s daily guests. She is also asked to take the role of his deceased wife at the dinner table. The storyline is one of food and many types of appetites.

It is an unusual take on the theme of climate change and its impact on the food supply. There are many moving parts in this novel. It explores greed, selfishness, pleasures, shifts in identity, class, and psychological manipulation. The first half of this book is very well set up and it immediately drew me in. I think it lost its way in the second half, and the last few chapters seemed like a very long epilogue. It introduced new characters and covered a lot of territory in very little depth. So, after a promising beginning, it ended up a mixed bag. I will definitely read more from this author, but I liked her first book more than this one.