This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite
The Gourmet Club by trial lawyer and award-winning author Michael A. Kahn is an engaging, sometimes funny, sometimes heart-rending novel that traces the lives of four lawyers accepted into a prestigious Chicago law firm. During the early, hazing-like days after their employment, they form a bond that the author traces with humor and compassion for twenty-five years, beginning with their firm’s orientation meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 1981. Gabe is a Jewish baseball player and avid Cardinals fan; Eric comes to make several brave career changes; Susan is a coal-miner’s daughter who plays bluegrass guitar; and Norman is also Jewish and a die-hard Cubs fan. All four grew up in the Midwest; indeed, Chicago is veritably a character in the story along with Judaism, food, the music of that time, and sports (mainly major league baseball). We follow the lives of these four characters and their spouses and their family members during a quarter century of their successes, failures, challenges, and even their follies as, four times a year, they gather for a meal where each one provides a part.
I more than enjoyed this book. I felt as if I met and grew to know these characters as real people. I felt as if Kahn was writing about people he knew, simply renaming them. Indeed, the author seemed to be a character himself, one who loved, and loves, these people in real life. Another pleasure for me was the immersion into the upper echelons of the legal profession, a world that I knew little about. I was immersed in the life of Chicago, Jewish culture, and in memories of happenings from the eighties and up, with the songs that introduce each chapter and the events of those times. But what gripped my attention most were the challenges these characters dealt with, especially the chances they took with major life changes—marriage, child-rearing, and professions (not to mention meal preparation). These are issues we all face. Michael A. Kahn’s The Gourmet Club is intelligent, absorbing, joyous, skillful, and innovating—an exquisite book not to be missed.
