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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Power through service, says Head Chef. It's one of the first lessons taught at Cook School, where troubled youths learn to be master chefs by bowing to decadence and whim, by offering up a part of themselves on every plate.
'It's a motto Zac takes to heart. A teenage boy with a difficult past, he throws himself into the world and work of haute cuisine. He has dreams of a future, of escaping the dead-end, no-hope lot of his fellow cooks. He wants to be the greatest chef the world has seen. He thinks he's taken his first steps when he becomes House Cook for a wealthy family. Never mind that the family may seem less than appreciative. Or refined. Or deserving. Power through service.
'But as the facade crumbles and his promised future looks unlikely to eventuate, Zac the Cook is forced to reassess everything. Sweet turns sour and ends in bitter revenge.
'Blackly funny and deliciously satirical, The Cook feeds our hunger to know what goes on in the kitchen, while skewering our culture of food worship.' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
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Dedication: For Arch
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Epigraph: My God, I do hope I shall make something of myself one day... - Robert Walser, Jakob Von Gunten
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
form
y
First Tuesday Book Club [July 2012]
Sydney
:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
,
2012
15254341
2012
film/TV
Host Jennifer Byrne joins regular panelists Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, and guests Charlotte Wood and Geoffrey Cousins to discuss and review the international book Crossing to Safety and Australian novel, The Cook by Wayne MaCauley.
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Well Read
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 10 December 2011; (p. 25)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Eyes Right
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3 -4 December 2011; (p. 12) In a round-up of recent Australian and overseas publications,'Geordie Williamson advises on the season's most enticing reading' (p.12). -
A Master Chef Story with an Acerbic Twist
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 12 November 2011; (p. 29)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Review of the Week
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 30 October 2011; (p. 18)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel
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Menus and Lust
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 335 2011; (p. 53)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Roasting the Exploitation Generation
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 October 2011; (p. 28)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Book of the Week
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 16 October 2011; (p. 39)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Review : The Cook
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , September vol. 91 no. 3 2011; (p. 25)
— Review of The Cook 2011 single work novel -
The Manic and the Restless
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 October 2011; (p. 24)
— Review of Life Kills 2011 single work novel ; The Cook 2011 single work novel -
Eyes Right
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3 -4 December 2011; (p. 12) In a round-up of recent Australian and overseas publications,'Geordie Williamson advises on the season's most enticing reading' (p.12). -
form
y
First Tuesday Book Club [July 2012]
Sydney
:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
,
2012
15254341
2012
film/TV
Host Jennifer Byrne joins regular panelists Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, and guests Charlotte Wood and Geoffrey Cousins to discuss and review the international book Crossing to Safety and Australian novel, The Cook by Wayne MaCauley.
Awards
- 2012 inaugural winner Most Underrated Book Award
- 2012 finalist Melbourne Prize — Best Writing Award
- 2012 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
- 2011 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction