The Thick and the Lean

January 2, 2023
Porter (The Seep) uses exquisite dystopian worldbuilding to critique the Western obsession with controlling women’s bodies in this powerful sci-fi fable. Reiko Rimando hopes to escape the poverty of the often flooded Bastian region with a scholarship to study artistic tech in the Middle, and even harbors secret aspirations of a rarified life of wealth living in the sky of the Above—but then her funding is pulled, and she instead turns to cybercrime and artifice to scam the rich. Meanwhile, Beatrice Bolano escapes the extremist religious community of Seagate where hunger is holy and eating only the minimum to survive puts citizens “closer to angels than animals” but casual public sex starting at puberty is nearly a cultural requirement, in pursuit of her dream of becoming a chef. Though at a distance from one another for most of the novel, Reiko and Beatrice are linked by their discovery and love of the same secret thousand-year-old book: humble kitchen maid Ijo’s cookbook-memoir. Porter’s sensual descriptions of even the simplest foods, inspired foraging, and creative cookery will resonate with those who love foodie fiction, while her visceral and blatant expressions of body, racial, and class stigma and fetishism give her allegory a heavy punch. This is sure to impress.

June 10, 2024

Porter (The Seep) lambasts religious extremism, colonialism, sizeism, and corporate capitalism in a parable that listeners will savor for its characters as much as its message. Narrator Kamali Minter gives voice to Beatrice Bolano, born into Seagate, a community where the faithful minimize calories to become "more like angels than animals." Beatrice must conceal her passion for cooking, for eating is outr� everywhere on this planet, except in the lowest settlements. In her narration of Beatrice, Minter supplies a youthful, naive tone that initially matches the sheltered teenager but soon grows unsuitable for her maturing subject. In a second entwined storyline, listeners meet Reiko Rimando, who has fled the climate-endangered life in Low Quake in hopes of achieving an education. Narrator Suehyla El-Attar Young expresses authentic emotion and shock when Reiko's university terminates her scholarship and, with it, her escape from poverty. Both Beatrice and Reiko take inspiration from The Kitchen Girl, a banned historical cookbook. Excerpts of the cookbook are read by the incomparable Deepti Gupta, who steals the show and makes this embedded story a main course to the two sides. VERDICT A satisfying ending makes up for the imbalanced performances in this packed but intriguing narrative.--Lauren Kage

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