And the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese - A Tale of Love

Paterniti is an excellent writer who seems to have embarked on a very complicated journey. His descriptions of the small Spanish town of Guzman and its eccentric inhabitants take you there as he sits with you at the center of the action. My only complaint is since the story is so convoluted as it unfolds, it takes a long time to reach the conclusion.

The quirky talents of two master craftsmen are on display in this book--the cheesemaker, Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, and the storyteller, Michael Paterniti. As he did with Driving Mr. Albert, Paterniti once again proves himself to be among the most lyrical and original voices in contemporary nonfiction.

Paterniti allows the reader to enter The Telling Room, experiencing the dying life of a Spanish village and it's aging storytellers. To travel in this way with this writer is a luxury. The reader becomes enthralled as the story spins out, enticed by the elusive taste and the incredible tale.

Found myself interested in the culture, and history of Castile and about the Castilian character as revealed by the author in his many trips back to visit the village of Guzman. I really learned things that I had not known before. Though sympathic, I was less invested in the story of the main figure, Ambrosio, and his family.

I really enjoyed this novel and the historical and cultural revelations. By the end of book I had really embraced all of the characters and felt like I learned some interesting life lessons! Highly recommend this book!

Great story, especially if you are a foodie and like all things Spanish. The story takes many branches and lots of foot notes...probably a third of the narrative is in footnotes. But, they are easy to follow and do enhance the story. I really enjoyed this book.

The book was a lovely tale or collection of stories that meandered across the Spanish countryside with mythical characters. I was sorry to read it in the ebook version as there are many footnoted asides that get lumped together at the end of each chapter. So get the paperback instead.

Great personal story of 2 peoples' separate yet intertwined lives. What could be better than a bigger than life hero who turns out to be as human as the next person trying to stay true to his heritage but wanting so much more.

The premise is interesting & the book catches your attention right away. Then it drags on and on and on. The footnotes are difficult to follow when reading on a kindle as they are at the end of a chapter.

Initially, I was skeptical about this book as when I began reading it, it took so many tangential paths. But I stuck with it, and by the end, I was totally fascinated by Paterniti's storytelling abilities. His descriptions of the landscape, the cheese itself, and the main character is something only a master writer can do as well.

Paterniti's book, "The Telling Room", began with promise. I was looking forward to the promised tale of adventure, mystery, and revenge. Unfortunately, it's hard to make people want to read about a piece of cheese - and even harder to make them enjoy it. While Paterniti is certainly a good writer, his circling style of redundancy often left me wondering if I had lost my place because what I was currently reading sounded remarkably like what I had read two chapter earlier (and two chapters before that as well). It seemed to me that Paterniti was merely trying to write enough words to satisfy the contract with his book publishers.
I had great hopes for the book when I suggested it to my book club. The book publisher did a good job of making it sound intriguing . . . mystery, murder, revenge . . . a modern day true-life story with historic roots. The beginning certainly wasn't terrible. I found it interesting that Paterniti was so consumed with the quest for this amazing cheese that he was prepared to seek it out as he did and, even after his initial findings, was still prepared to drag his family over there and immerse himself in the lifestyle.
By the middle of the book, he was repeating the same thing over so many times that I had trouble figuring out whether I had already read something because it sounded like the same thing I had read in the previous chapter . . . and the chapter before that . . . ad infinitum. I believe Paterniti didn't have anything else to say and was having to churn out enough words to justify the book he had accepted a contract to write. In other words, in order to meet his contractual obligations, he wallowed in redundancy to create additional pages. He could have cut out a lot of the garbage and the book would have only been 70 pages long.
I continued to slog away on the book for two main reasons: 1) I felt guilty because I'm the one who suggested the book in the first place, and 2) the English teacher in me can't leave an assignment incomplete. However, finishing the book was a definite chore.
In the last three chapters, Paterniti's eyes begin to open under the onslaught of additional perspectives supplied by Ambrosio's lawyer and his former best friend. (It's about time Paterniti got around to interviewing them. He's a freaking reporter for heaven's sake! Why did it take so long!) As I read, I realized that Paterniti had painted a picture of a real world tragic hero . . . so here comes the English literature lesson:
To be considered a tragic hero, one must meet certain criteria:
1. He or she must be of noble stature and greatness (or lofty position).
2. Though great, the hero is not perfect and, instead, possesses a tragic flaw such as ambition, greed, or excessive pride.
3. The hero's downfall is due, in part, to at least one of those flaws.
4. The hero's misfortune is not wholly deserved. In other words, the punishment exceeds the crime.
5. With the hero's downfall comes some increase in awareness, and some gain in self-knowledge.
If we look at Ambrosio Molinas, we find a larger-than-life character who considers himself to be a noble Castillian. His ambition is the tragic flaw that ultimately results in his downfall. The loss of his company and his crushing debt are, perhaps, more excessive punishment than he deserved. However, it was his own personal choices and his own hubris (excessive pride) that led to his downfall.
In the end, Paterniti comes to an awareness of his own complicity in the tale of the cheese and a realization that he cannot escape the modern world which formed and created him. (He misses his modern life and is more at home amid skyscrapers, modern technology, deadlines, and fancy restaurants.)
Ambrosio Molinas, our tragic hero, must live with the awareness of how much his ambition has cost not only himself but his family and the entire town as well. He had envisioned himself as the noble gentry who would bring life and wealth and growth to the community. Instead, the price has been severe - the loss of family lands, the loss of work for his family and the local community, and his loss of stature within that community. He ends up in debt having made things worse than they were when he started.
And I have gained a great example which would be useful in explaining the characteristics of the tragic hero to a classroom but the realization that I would never be able to put it to use because I can never expect anyone else to read this book.

Much of this book is wonderful. But I would caution everyone to NOT read it in Kindle. While the footnotes are interesting and their use understandable given the "storytelling", I had completely forgotten their reference by the time they appeared at the end of the chapters. I would have enjoyed it so much more in hard copy.

This was an interesting story that could have been told in about 1/4 of the pages. The author, a journalist, get a little too wrapped up in his own experiences, his own fascination with the main character in this story, and as a consequences, digresses on everything from the art of Goya to using the bathroom outdoors. The book ends up being mostly about the author and not all that much about the cheese, the story of its creation, creator, and the betrayal advertised in the title. If you like reading about a journalist's experiences in a foreign culture, you'll enjoy this book. If you want the story of the greatest cheese and its undoing, you'll be frustrated.

Colorful writing, good character description, but wanders. He seems to like his vocabulary over much. His friend Carlos is with him for most of his travels, but his thoughts and impressions are never revealed.

The Telling Room reminds us to take time, slow down, enjoy people and places for what they are and what they can teach us - and also to look deeper. It's a beautifully written book that provides a very welcome escape!

I read often and I appreciate non-fiction, culinary reads with a slow-food focus. I thought this book would be a perfect fit and it indeed started out with a very compelling storyline. However, that's where it ends. The author seemed to have a need to drag the story on and on talking about how he needed to focus on this book. I wish he did because it was one of worst reads in a long time and the story was not only anti-climactic, it was predictable and could have been expressed in a much shorter book. Save your money and more importantly: your time.