Newly arrived in New York City, twenty-two-year-old Tess lands a job as a "backwaiter" at a celebrated downtown Manhattan restaurant. What follows is the story of her education: in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen. As her appetites awaken—for food and wine, but also for knowledge, experience, and belonging—Tess finds herself helplessly drawn into a darkly alluring love triangle. In Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler deftly conjures with heart-stopping accuracy the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the restaurant industry and evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, and the fragility and brutality of being young in New York.
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The most interesting thing about this novel was the behind the scenes look into the wirings and operations of fancy high-end restaurants. Had no idea about the family dinners, the coke, and the glorified abusive treatment. The least interesting part was the main character and all of the accessory characters. It's painful to read about humans interacting with each other but not actually connecting, and it's effortful to pretend to care about certain relationships when you barely know about the people in question.
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