Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter has been on my TBR list for a while now. I saw it on one of those books to read in your twenties lists online. I’m definitely interested in books with characters navigating their twenties, because I’m trying to do the same for myself. I also liked that the main character, Tess, worked at a restaurant because I have also worked at restaurants. So I assumed I would enjoy the book because I thought I would be able to relate to the main character.

But Sweetbitter ended up being a lot different than what I expected.  I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I liked it. I definitely didn’t hate it, but I don’t know if I loved it either. For now, let’s just call it a pleasant read.

The novel follows 22-year-old Tess and her journey working at an upscale restaurant in New York City. I really enjoyed learning about how the restaurant works.  I’ve only worked at fast food restaurants, so I don’t really know much about what goes behind the scenes at these fancier establishments. I noticed the positions are a lot more specific. This restaurant has backwaiters, servers, and senior servers. These are roles that probably would have been combined at a more casual place. Don’t even get me started on the wine descriptions. I felt so uncultured reading them. They just went right over my head, because my knowledge of alcohol is almost non-existent.

I still don’t know what to make of Tess. She is the narrator, but for some reason she feels very detached. I don’t know much about her and I think that has to do with the lack of back story. I know she didn’t have a good relationship with her family. Her mother left and her dad wasn’t really there emotionally for her. But that’s about it. She says she came to New York to escape but she doesn’t know what from? I think she was just lonely.

I think it’s this loneliness that causes her to get so absorbed in work and hang out with her coworkers frequently, even though some of them could be very cold to her. At least in the beginning. Most of them came around the longer she worked at the restaurant.  But I also need to say I really did not like Jake or his relationship with Tess.  Jake is a bartender who Tess had a huge crush on and she later started sleeping with him. I just felt like he talked down to her too much.

But her time with Jake, like the work mistakes, the drugs, and the heavy drinking are all a part of her journey. I think she started to grow after going through all of these negative experiences, which I could see more toward the end of the book.  However, I need to say this book ended in a weird way and I don’t know what I was supposed to get out of it. It was so open-ended that I can’t even guess what would happen next.

This book wasn’t a major page-turner for me, but it definitely wasn’t the slowest book I’ve ever read. I think it was a nice medium pace if that makes sense. I think this novel is for people who like books that really focus on the characters and their growth and are foodies and/or wine enthusiasts.