Daria Lavelle’s debut novel, Aftertaste, serves up a tantalizing premise: what if the most potent, unfulfilled cravings of the dead could be tasted by the living? For protagonist Konstantin “Kostya” Duhovny, this is his reality, a supernatural ability termed “clairgustance.”
The Narrative Platter: Structure, Story, and Sensation
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle charts Kostya’s life from his first ghostly taste of his deceased father’s pechonka to his complex, often fraught, relationship with his gift and the spirit world. Lavelle employs a non-linear structure, frequently dipping into Kostya’s past to reveal formative experiences that have shaped his identity and his understanding (or misunderstanding) of his clairgustance. These flashbacks are not mere exposition; they are crucial to understanding the layers of memory Kostya must sift through to find himself.
The story unfolds through several key stages:
- Childhood Trauma and the Gift’s Emergence: Kostya’s initial experiences with aftertastes are intrinsically linked to the loss of his father and his mother’s subsequent breakdown, forging an early association between his gift, grief, and isolation.
- Suppression and Self-Doubt: Years of hiding his ability, fearing judgment (a fear validated by his institutionalization), lead to a fractured sense of self.
- Re-engagement and Discovery: The encounter with Charlie Katzowsky and the successful summoning of Anna’s spirit mark a turning point, forcing Kostya to re-evaluate his identity and the potential of his gift.
- Culinary and Spiritual Development: His time at Saveur Fare and later, the Hell’s Kitchen Supper Club, parallel his journey of self-acceptance and his attempts to master his clairgustance, using food as a medium to connect with lost identities.
- The Ultimate Test: The climax with Viktor, Maura, and the multitude of “Hungry Ghosts” forces Kostya to confront the ultimate sacrifice tied to his gift: the loss of his own memories, and thus, a core part of his identity, to save others.
The pacing quickens as Kostya becomes more entangled with the spirit world, mirroring his own internal turmoil and the escalating stakes. The interludes narrated by the deceased Frankie, guiding a “culinary tour” of Kostya’s life, offer a unique meta-narrative layer. This device cleverly allows for the presentation of Kostya’s past and personality from an external, albeit biased, perspective, further illuminating the memories that have built him. The “world” of Aftertaste is one where the veil between life and death is permeable, and food, infused with memory, acts as the key.
A Cast of Craving Characters: Identities Forged in Loss and Flavor
The characters in Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle are not merely defined by their present actions but are deeply etched by their pasts and the memories they carry, often manifested through their relationship with food and loss.
- Konstantin “Kostya” Duhovny: Kostya’s identity is a tapestry woven from threads of Russian-Ukrainian heritage, profound early loss, and the isolating secret of his clairgustance. His journey is one of excavating his own identity through the tastes and memories of others. Initially, his gift feels like a curse, a mark of otherness. However, as he learns to control and use it, it becomes a path to understanding not only the dead but also himself—his capacity for empathy, his culinary talent, and his courage. The novel critically examines how much of Kostya’s identity is tied to these spectral connections and what remains when they, or his memories of them, are stripped away.
- Maura Elizabeth Struk: Maura’s identity is profoundly shaped by the traumatic memory of her sister Everleigh’s suicide and her own subsequent brushes with death, which manifest as a spiritual “Hunger.” Her past informs her present recklessness, her deep-seated fear of loss, and her complex attraction to Kostya, whose abilities resonate with her own experiences. Her journey involves confronting these painful memories to reclaim her own life and identity, independent of her sister’s shadow and the pull of the Afterlife.
- The Spirits: Each spirit Kostya encounters, from Anna to his own father, is essentially a condensed memory, a craving for a taste that represents a pivotal moment or a core aspect of their identity. The food they crave is a key to unlocking who they were and why they linger. The “Hungry Ghosts” represent identities lost to unresolved grief, their collective hunger a terrifying distortion of memory.
The Author’s Artistry: Weaving Memory into Prose
Daria Lavelle’s prose is rich and evocative, particularly in its depiction of food as a sensory gateway to memory. Her descriptions are not just about taste, but about the entire emotional and historical context of a dish. This allows the reader to experience the power of these food memories almost as viscerally as Kostya does.
Consider the initial pechonka (chicken liver) experience:
“It was savory, salty, the texture mealy, slightly sweet and fatty, something tart, barely, and then, at the tail, in the back of his throat, bitter, bitter, blooming like a bruise… It was only in the absence of the taste that he suddenly recognized what it had been… his father’s favorite dish… spirited there by the person who most longed to taste it again.”
This passage illustrates Lavelle’s skill in linking specific sensory details to profound emotional resonance and the core of a lost identity. The style is immersive, often using a close third-person perspective for Kostya, allowing direct access to his internal landscape of flavors and memories. Frankie’s more colloquial, direct-address narration in the “culinary tour” chapters provides a stylistic counterpoint, offering a different texture to the storytelling and reflecting his distinct personality.
The novel’s structure, with its carefully placed flashbacks and intertwined narratives, mirrors the way memory itself works—not always linear, but a web of interconnected moments that inform the present.
The Core Ingredient: How Memory and Food Define Us
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle posits that memory, particularly food-related memory, is a fundamental building block of identity. For the spirits, their lingering presence is often tied to a singular, potent food memory that encapsulates an unresolved aspect of their lives or a profound connection they cannot relinquish. For the living, especially Kostya and Maura, their pasts and the memories associated with their losses are constant companions, shaping their choices, fears, and desires.
The novel explores several facets of this theme:
- Food as a Mnemonic Device: Specific dishes act as powerful triggers, unlocking not just flavors but entire emotional landscapes and personal histories. The Spectral Sour cocktail for Anna, the burnt pechonka for Kostya’s father, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for Everleigh—each is a key to a specific identity and its unresolved narrative.
- The Subjectivity of Memory: Kostya’s initial attempts to recreate his father’s pechonka fail because his memory is incomplete or perhaps colored by his mother’s preparation. It’s only when the memory is “perfected” through the lens of overwhelming grief and longing at Saveur Fare that the connection becomes possible, suggesting memory is not static but can be reshaped by present emotion.
- Identity and Loss: Both Kostya and Maura struggle with identities heavily defined by loss. Kostya’s early life is overshadowed by his father’s death, and Maura’s by Everleigh’s. Their journey involves learning to integrate these losses into their identities without being consumed by them.
- The Sacrifice of Memory: The ultimate resolution, where Kostya loses his own memories to help the spirits find peace, raises profound questions about identity. If we are the sum of our experiences and memories, what happens when those are gone? Lavelle suggests that perhaps a core essence remains, an instinct to connect and to nurture, as seen in Kostya’s final state in the Afterlife.
The supernatural element of clairgustance serves as an amplifier for these themes, making the internal processes of memory and identity formation external and tangible. Kostya literally consumes the past to understand it, and in doing so, forges his own evolving identity.
Literary Companions: Echoes in Speculative and Culinary Fiction
As a debut, Daria Lavelle’s Aftertaste carves its own niche. For readers intrigued by its blend of supernatural themes, food, and deep character exploration, similar literary experiences can be found in:
- Joanne Harris’s Chocolat and Blackberry Wine: These novels imbue food and drink with magical qualities that unlock emotions, memories, and transform lives, sharing a similar appreciation for the sensory and the mystical.
- Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea: While not food-centric, it shares a richly imagined, dreamlike world built on stories, memories, and hidden connections, resonating with Aftertaste‘s exploration of layered realities and the power of the past.
- Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series: Explores themes of identity, belonging, and the impact of experiencing other worlds, which parallels Maura’s and Kostya’s journeys between the realms of the living and the dead.
The Last Morsel: A Hauntingly Memorable Read
Daria Lavelle’s Aftertaste is a deeply satisfying and thought-provoking novel that uses its imaginative supernatural premise to explore the very human landscape of memory and identity. It’s a story that affirms the power of food to connect us to our pasts, our loved ones, and ourselves. The characters are richly drawn, their emotional journeys compelling, and the culinary descriptions are nothing short of mouthwatering.
Highlights:
- An original and compelling exploration of food memory and identity in supernatural fiction.
- Kostya’s complex journey of self-discovery through his unique gift.
- The profound and often painful portrayal of how memories shape and define individuals.
- Lavelle’s evocative prose that makes flavors and emotions almost tangible.
Points to Savor Critically:
- The intricate rules of the Afterlife and the “Hunger” might occasionally require careful tracking to fully appreciate their impact on identity.
- The resolution, while thematically powerful, involves a significant shift in Kostya’s established identity that may leave some readers with lingering questions.
Ultimately, Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle is a memorable and moving debut. It reminds us that every life is a collection of flavors, some bitter, some sweet, but all contributing to the unique taste of who we are. It’s a novel for those who believe in the magic of memory, the comfort of food, and the enduring connections that transcend even death.