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The Restaurant Critic's Wife, by Elizabeth LaBan
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People magazine included The Restaurant Critic’s Wife on their Great New Fiction list and hailed it as “thoroughly entertaining.”
Lila Soto has a master’s degree that’s gathering dust, a work-obsessed husband, two kids, and lots of questions about how exactly she ended up here.
In their new city of Philadelphia, Lila’s husband, Sam, takes his job as a restaurant critic a little too seriously. To protect his professional credibility, he’s determined to remain anonymous. Soon his preoccupation with anonymity takes over their lives as he tries to limit the family’s contact with anyone who might have ties to the foodie world. Meanwhile, Lila craves adult conversation and some relief from the constraints of her homemaker role. With her patience wearing thin, she begins to question everything: her decision to get pregnant again, her break from her career, her marriage—even if leaving her ex-boyfriend was the right thing to do. As Sam becomes more and more fixated on keeping his identity secret, Lila begins to wonder if her own identity has completely disappeared—and what it will take to get it back.
- Sales Rank: #50714 in Books
- Published on: 2016-01-05
- Released on: 2016-01-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.25" h x 1.00" w x 5.50" l, .70 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 313 pages
From Booklist
Lila never saw herself as a stay-at-home mom. She liked her unencumbered life and high-intensity, high-profile job as crisis manager for a major hotel chain. Then she met food writer Sam Soto. Before too long, she has two very small children and is living in a row house in Philadelphia, where Sam has taken a job as a restaurant reviewer for a local newspaper. But she misses work, and Sam is going to extremes in his efforts to preserve his anonymity. He doesn’t like her getting too close to the other moms in the neighborhood, less they have any ties to the food industry, and he adopts ever-more-elaborate disguises to wear in the restaurants he visits. Frustrated, Lila has her own ways of regaining control; for example, she goes behind Sam’s back to accept some work assignments as a favor to her ex-boss. Though Sam’s obsessiveness is not quite convincing, readers will like Laban’s humor and breezy style, and many will relate to Lila’s struggle to balance the demands of husband, kids, and job. —Mary Ellen Quinn
Review
“A tender, charming, and deliciously diverting story about love, marriage, and how your restaurant-review sausage gets made. The Restaurant Critic’s Wife is compulsively readable and richly detailed, a guilt-free treat that will have you devouring every word.” —Jennifer Weiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Good In Bed, Best Friends Forever, and Who Do You Love
“Elizabeth LaBan’s novel The Restaurant Critic’s Wife stirs in love and intrigue making for a savory delight that pairs perfectly with your armchair. Prepare to be charmed!” —Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Rumor
“A heartfelt and relatable look at a woman navigating the difficulties of marriage and motherhood—while struggling to maintain a sense of self. Written with charm, honesty, and an insider's eye into a usually hidden slice of the restaurant world, it's a winning recipe.” —Sarah Pekkanen, internationally bestselling author of Things You Won’t Say
“In her debut novel for adults, Elizabeth LaBan cooks up a delectable buffet about motherhood, friendship, ambition, and romance (albeit one in need of a little more spice). She captures the essence of life with small children (smitten with a side of hysteria) and weaves a relatable, charming love story with the flair of an expert baker turning out a flawless lattice crust. LaBan's four-star story has the satisfying effect of a delicious meal shared with friends you can't wait to see again.” —Elisabeth Egan, author of A Window Opens
“Two things engage me when it comes to fiction—characters I want to spend more time with, and details, the juicier the better, from a world I’m curious about but not likely to ever experience. Elizabeth LaBan’s novel The Restaurant Critic’s Wife has both...The best part? Ms. LaBan really is a restaurant critic’s wife. Her husband writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer—which means that the wonderful details in the book both ring true and occasionally are.” —New York Times, Motherlode
“Author LaBan (The Tragedy Paper), who is married to a restaurant critic, excellently makes the joys and difficulties of young motherhood feel real on the page. Readers who are in the thick of raising a young family will enjoy, as will foodies looking for insight into the restaurant world.” —Library Journal
“The narrative flows effortlessly, and the dialogue is engaging and evocative. Lila and Sam’s love and devotion, despite expected bumps along the way, provides a sensitive look at rediscovering yourself and your marriage.” —Publishers Weekly
“Thoroughly entertaining.” —People
“LaBan’s writing...is like a dish of smooth custard—straightforward and a treat to take in. The detailed meal descriptions are likely to spark some hunger pangs, and the spicy and sympathetic Lila makes a perfect meal companion.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“Elizabeth LaBan's new novel tells a lively, often hilarious, story of one woman's struggle to deal with her semifamous husband's career and its side-effects...[Her] characters are fascinating, and the premise of her story is unique and guaranteed to keep readers flipping the pages...A light, fun read that would be perfect for book clubs.” —Wichita Falls Times Record News
InStyle Book Club Pick
“[In The Restaurant Critic’s Wife], we get an accurate portrayal of the pressures of restaurant reviewing. To outsiders, it must seem like the greatest job on earth. In reality, as Lila points out in several dining scenes, it is a grueling task to assemble tasters who understand they can't order what they want to eat, and your host will be anything but social.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
“The Restaurant Critic's Wife pulls back the veil on the declining art of ‘educating the reader versus badmouthing the restaurant.’” —Louisville Courier-Journal
About the Author
Elizabeth LaBan is the author of The Tragedy Paper, which has been translated into eleven languages, and The Grandparents Handbook, which has been translated into seven languages. She lives in Philadelphia with her restaurant-critic husband and two children.
Most helpful customer reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful.
Full of potential but couldn't get past selfish husband
By Thien-Kim
At first glance, The Restaurant Critic’s Wife by Elizabeth LaBan looks like the perfect book for me. There’s food galore, an independent woman, and a bustling city (Philadelphia in this case). The story of a mother with young kids who attempts to find her new identity is one that I can personally identify with, but the novel’s pacing didn’t work for me. It’s a solid novel, but nothing for me to shout about.
Lila’s husband Sam has relocated their family to Philadelphia for his new job as a restaurant critic. In an attempt to keep his identity a secret, Sam goes a little overboard. Pregnant with their second child, Lila is not allowed to chat with their neighbors, discuss her husband’s job, or become close to anyone in the restaurant industry. In addition to his rules, Lila has a tough time adjusting to life as a stay at home mother.
Slowly, Lila begins to make friends in unexpected places, including a waiter at a fancy restaurant. A former crisis management professional, she secretly begins consulting for her former boss. Sam becomes more obsessed with keeping his identity a secret–to the point of ignoring Lila’s feelings. Eventually everything explodes as someone discovers Sam’s identity and Lila’s consulting work comes to life.
Just writing the above synopsis made me angry at Sam again. He’s selfish and is clueless about how lonely his wife is. All he cares about is being the best and most critical restaurant critic Philly has ever seen. He cannot see how lonely she is or how much she misses working. He’s suspicious of the sitters she hires for their kids and the mothers that Lila meets at the park.
It’s hard for me to understand why Lila loves him. There are flashbacks to how they met and when they began dating. There’s also some melt your heart scenes of Sam with their kids. Those were not enough to redeem Sam in my eyes. Even after Lila explains how lonely she is and how hard it is for her to adjust to a new town with now friends, he doesn’t budge on his rules. He’s even upset that her return to work will get in the way of his job. He even lies to her to visit restaurants that he wants to review.
There’s a grovel scene, where Sam finally sees the light and apologizes. I was disappointed on how easily Lila forgave him.
I hate for my first review of the year to be not so positive, but that’s just how it goes. The Restaurant Critic’s Wife is a fun escape if you can deal with Sam’s boorishness.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed by such a well-written book
By Read Yourself to Sleep
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sigh. I don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed by such a well-written book.
On a technical level, The Restaurant Critic’s Wife is nearly flawless. Ms. LaBan’s style flows nicely and her descriptions, while a bit heavy-handed at times, are effective. She even does a good job at piecing various elements of the story together. Unfortunately, though, there isn’t much of a story for her to work with.
As you’ll see in the synopsis provided by the publisher, The Restaurant Critic’s Wife is about just that. Lila is married to Sam Soto, Philadelphia’s newest and most sought after food critic, and she’s having a hard time adjusting to her new life. In less than five years, she’s gone from workaholic to a reluctant stay at home mom to a toddler and a newborn, a lonely stranger in a new city. Sam, paranoid about his identity being revealed, becomes increasingly controlling as what little bit of plot there is unfolds, forbidding Lila from returning to work, making friends, or even leaving the house without him.
There are several issues that I have with this book. First off, from a storytelling perspective, it’s just downright dull. There are entirely too many minor characters that add next to nothing to the storyline. Several of the neighbor ladies could have been combined into one or two characters with no major loss. The woman who is supposedly Lila’s best friend in the world is only briefly mentioned, while people she supposedly hates who add nothing to the story are mentioned over and over again.
Second, the book could have been much, much shorter. Much of the time is spent on episodic tangents that don’t really seem to contribute to the story at large. Pages and pages are filled with the minutiae of Lila’s domestic affairs–there are about one hundred detailed accounts of her breastfeeding her son, tons of her daughter whining and wanting to change clothes, a huge chunk of a chapter devoted to her trying to get the kids in the car to go to Sam’s aunt’s house for tea. I have the feeling that Ms. LaBan wanted to convey the utter exhaustion and tedium that is the stay at home mother lifestyle, and if that hunch is correct, she definitely succeeded. While I applaud her abilities in this regard, it was more frustrating than enlightening.
Third, ninety-nine percent of the conflict in this story could be resolved with a few quick conversations and a hug or a handshake. So much of Lila’s inner dialogue goes over how frustrated she is by Sam’s asinine rules, how much she wants to return to work, how much she wants to make friends, but she hardly ever opens her mouth to have an honest conversation. Granted, Sam is incredibly childish and difficult, so the success of said attempt is questionable at best, but it would have been nice to see her try a little harder to get through to him. Also, I’m still not quite clear on why Sam didn’t just operate under a pen name for his reviews, if he was worried about restaurant employees giving him special treatment. The buzz surrounding him didn’t seem entirely believable either–I’m no expert, but I found it highly unlikely that non-foodies gave a rat’s behind what Sam thought of restaurants, anyway. Most of the places he visited seemed a little high-brow for an average American family.
Now, we get to the huge problem I have with this book: Sam.
I can’t stress this point enough: I hate Sam. Sam is a terrible, terrible human being.
For those interested in textual evidence:
“Lila, I hear you, but I don’t know if you can do it. I’m starting to think that letting you out there is like setting a wild animal free in a city–you just can’t help yourself.”
“I wish I were enough to make you…happy.”
“[Sam] would probably scold me for leaving the house at all.
Sam is despicable. He cares exactly not at all about Lila’s well-being or happiness. He moves their family across country without really caring about her opinion, he keeps her from going back to work even though that’s what she really wants to do, he forces her to isolate herself from her neighbors and pretty much everyone else she befriends because heaven forbid, someone might know someone who is somehow connected to a restaurant and everything will be ruined. He doesn’t even like her taking the kids out for lunch. This is a woman who has gone through a lot of life changes and is now caring for two children, one a nursing baby, completely on her own–a woman who is a prime candidate for postpartum depression–and he cuts her off from everyone who might be able to help her out. Honestly, I kept waiting for Lila to snap and stab him or something. Instead, she’s almost constantly frustrated at him but often forgets her feelings because she remembers how charming he was when they first met, or she sees him smiling at their children. Because, you know, that makes the emotional abuse just dandy.
Their conflict is finally “resolved” by Sam magically understanding Lila around the same time she comes around to the idea that his paranoia is justified. She actually blames herself for someone STEALING A PICTURE OF SAM FROM THEIR HOME to circulate around the local restaurants. She decides not to go back to work full-time, because he was right about that too, somehow, and instead she begins doing some maybe possibly part-time freelance work.
Here’s the thing: I don’t have a thing in the world against stay at home mothers. I actually have a lot of respect for them, and wouldn’t mind having the option myself some day. But I’m not okay with a woman being strongarmed into staying home, just because her husband says so, without really talking to her or trying to understand what she wants out of life. Some women really want to work out of the home after they have children, and that deserves equal respect, especially when there are financial problems in the household. Ahem.
The Restaurant Critic’s Wife was a total disappointment, doubly so because of how well the actual writing was. The two star rating is for Ms. LaBan’s skills in that arena alone; otherwise, it’s a solid .5-1 stars. Avoid if possible. It will only break your heart.
View all my reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Truly A Great Book!
By Angie Hays Young
I just love books that have to do with food. And I especially like to read books where food critics or food bloggers for that matter are involved. I was so tickled when I was chosen to read and review this book. It did not disappoint.
I felt so bad for Lila in this book. Thanks to her "paranoid" husband, she wasn't able to have a very normal or social life at all. More than once I found myself screaming at the book telling Lila to screw Sam and go out and have a life for her and her children. I think in the end though, it all worked out ok. Sam, I just wanted to string him up by his toes from the get go. He was so worried about being found out by the restaurants that he didn't allow his wife any freedom what so ever. Lila was a better woman in this situation than I would have been for sure.
This book made me really wonder about the life of a food critic and their spouses for sure. How much of their lives are like this story? I'm hoping less than more, especially where the spouses and children are involved.
I do highly recommend this book. I found it very good. Truly I did. I guarantee you will want to string Sam up by his toes as well when you are done with this book.
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