I wasn’t crazy about Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore when I read it along with what seemed like half of CBR6. My biggest complaint was the magical realism but the longer I stay in the Cannonball community the more open to new genres I become. Plus Yesknopemaybe read and reviewed Sourdough at the start of CBR10 and prefaced her review by stating she despised Penumbra so if I haven’t stretched my tastes as much as I thought what could it hurt?
Sourdough is a quirky story about a software engineer named Lois who discovers a restaurant that delivers a mysterious meal that soothes her stressed stomach. When the brothers who run the place get sent back to their home country they leave their sourdough starter with Lois because she was their Number One Eater. The brother’s call themselves Magz, which sound a bit like Gypsies, and as the story progresses we learn a little more about their culture and the mysterious starter.
“The menu charmed me, and as a result, my night, and my life, bent off on a different track.”
Lois, who has never baked before, decides to give it a try and her whole world changes. She begins to prioritize baking over her day job which leads her to a bizarre farmer’s market and a new set of challenges. Her transformation from high paid sought after software engineer to sourdough baker seemed a little too quick to be even remotely believable. Actually, the whole book felt too rushed; the story could have benefited from Sloan slowing down the pacing and adding another 100 pages. The whole ending just got so weird so quickly that it was hard to digest (heh).
This isn’t to say I didn’t like Sourdough, I did, I liked it so much that it just wasn’t enough! Which is how I feel about actual sourdough bread so there’s that.
Starting this one next. My new life goal is to become a restaurant’s Number One Eater