Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger

This autobiography could so easily have been one of those catalogues of unremitting childhood misery that are a fashionable genre these days. Fortunately you are so busy smiling in recognition - and laughing - that the tearful moments are gossamer strands rather than the Slough of Despond.

It's very deceptive - it looks like a book of short episodic chapters that can be dipped into randomly. However that means you would fail to recognise a couple of sentences as the punch-line that suddenly illuminates themes woven over several chapters. Any mention of "Walnut Whirls" now causes a Pavlovian smile.

My copy was pristine from a charity shop - often a good indicator of something that has polarized readers' opinions. In fact some of my amusement lay in recognising where snorts of disgust probably caused it to be immediately discarded - probably like eating a succulent peach with a maggot proudly waving a few inches from your eyes.

Get the hardback and lay it flat so you can appreciate the family picture that sums up the whole story. The paperback version unfortunately omits the back half of picture. If it is an artist's collage then it is immaculately executed - but it is probably a real one from the family album. A picture that is indeed "worth a thousand words".

I liked him! (4/11 people found this helpful)

I have just finished Toast and loved it. I hadn't expected it to be so revealing. Some other critics on this page have called the author an unpleasant snob. But my heart bled for the gentle, bewildered boy living a cold English household. The stepmother, Joan, is described very vividly and I can only guess why one reviewer would identify with her. That the father beat him up for a spill on the carpet and threatened him with going into care says it all. The child who tells the story seems to me perfectly normal, if a little introverted . How splendid that Nigel Slater is able to express himself so beautifully now.

A tasty read! (0/11 people found this helpful)

Having been recommended to me by a friend, I was unsure at first whether 'Toast' would be my 'cup of tea.' However, I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of this tasty text, and devoured it whole in just two sittings.
I particularly liked the memories of tastes gone past that this book evoked, and enjoyed the many humorous anecdotes scattered throughout the book. Definitely one to recommend!

A sad boy becomes a happy man (1/12 people found this helpful)

I found it difficult to give a rating to this book. The reading, by the author (it's available on CD), and the writing are excellent: five star. However, I felt a bit of an eaves-dropper on a therapy session as I listened to the bitter descriptions of his unhappy child-hood. I'm amazed at how candid he has been in this book: I hope it's been cathartic. The book, though, is leavened by Nigel Slater's humorous descriptions of some of his life-events.

For those of us who experienced the 1950s and 60s there are some nostalgic reminders of what we ate and even enjoyed. Though this autobiographical book ends at the beginning of his cooking career, one can see the beginnings of the inspirational cook and writer that he has become. I'm glad that I'd also read his Kitchen Diaries, which give the impression of a now contented man. I hope he writes a sequel to Toast.

A Wonderful Memoir (11/12 people found this helpful)

This is Slater's evocation of his childhood through stories of countless meals he has both enjoyed and endured. It is beautifully written and incredibly poignant, as he did not have the happiest of childhood's and his aching frankness in looking at the emotional deprivation he suffered is at times quite unbearable. His connection with the fruits of the table is touching and at times quite funny. His very personal experiences of food make one look at his oeuvre of actual cookery books in a whole new light, and for me, this book is best enjoyed when read alongside his masterwork, the Kitchen Diaries.

Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger

Nigel Slater

Reader Reviews:

It isn't Miz-Lit (7/11 people found this helpful)

I liked him! (4/11 people found this helpful)

A tasty read! (0/11 people found this helpful)

A sad boy becomes a happy man (1/12 people found this helpful)

A Wonderful Memoir (11/12 people found this helpful)

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