NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • The Christian Science MonitorIn the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where … table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets—usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine.
It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio’s cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. . . .
By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale–like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta.
What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he’s sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing.
Equal parts mystery and memoir, travelogue and history, The Telling Room is an astonishing work of literary nonfiction by one of our most accomplished storytellers. A moving exploration of happiness, friendship, and betrayal, The Telling Room introduces us to Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, an unforgettable real-life literary hero, while also holding a mirror up to the world, fully alive to the power of stories that define and sustain us.
Praise for The Telling Room
“Captivating . . . Paterniti’s writing sings, whether he’s talking about how food activates memory, or the joys of watching his children grow.”—NPR
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What an absolutely brilliant non-fiction writer. John Mcfee fans, take note. This guy shines! He’s even willing to pull back the curtain and reveal the behind the scenes struggles he went through to write the book you’re reading. Thoroughly enjoyable.
This book was all over the place, first it was a investigative piece about an odd newsletter article, then it became a travel log about this the authors’ time in Spain and how it affected him and then it changed into a personal book about how the 10 year experience affected the writer. The writing style is competent, despite numerous divergences from the main story line and LOTS of footnotes. I was intrigued at the start but as the author seemed to lose control of his narrative I started to get bored and just finished the book to see how it would end because the way it was being written there was no clue what was going to happen. I know how his editor felt as he began over seeing a 2 year contract for a book that took nearly 10 years to get finished. I cannot recommend this book, there are better non fiction stories available
I gave this book 3 stars for the humor and familiarity of the Ann Arbor area however, I kept waiting for the big creshendo and was disappointed in the slow unraveling of Ambrosio’s story. In the end he was just a sad, angry old man who was a poor business man. Didn’t really merit so manyy trips to Italy. Mostly an interesting travelogue.
The premise of this story sounded interesting, but I felt the author got off track a lot. It’s a book about the author writing a book about a cheese in Spain. The story could have been told in half the pages.
Great read.. .the back story/historical facts of Spain will delight history buffs. The telling of a story of great loss from many angles is interesting in that one sees many points of view. This book keeps you on your toes.
I wasted my time on this book so you don’t have to. The author admits constantly throughout that he doesn’t know where to go with the story. He never does figure it out – might have made an ok magazine piece, but as a book, it’s the most poorly edited piece of writing I’ve ever read, and I’ve been reading for a very long time.
A very different book, but way too long.
Disappointing. The book rambles and never develops the storyline. I don’t know how it is rated highly as mentioned in the description.
Many years ago, a grad student in Ann Arbor was attracted to a rare and outrageously expensive piece of cheese he couldn’t afford to taste. In his more profitable adulthood he aspired to taste said cheese, only to find out it wasn’t being made anymore. This set off a search in a tiny village in Spain for the artisan who had been the cheesemaker to find out what happened. Some of the descriptions of village life are a bit over-romanticized (which the author eventually recognizes), but some are downright hilarious (please see the description of the Guzman bar and bartender on pages 109-110 of the Kindle version. It’s an interesting tale that make me want to taste the cheese, but alas, it will never be made again.
Provides a take on an entirely different pace and style of life. Thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny in places. Rich in detail.
Learned about cheese, life and dramas in a small Spanish village, and slow food, as well as people coping with changing way of life.
Well written.
Gets a little preachy sometimes but is an interesting and thought provoking read.