The ex-boyfriend's favorite recipe funeral committee A novel

Saki Kawashiro

Book - 2025

"Twenty-nine-year-old Momoko has been tragically dumped. She thought her boyfriend was her soulmate. She believed he was going to propose. Instead, he broke things off at a love hotel. So Momoko does what many broken-hearted people do--she gets incredibly drunk. So drunk that she passes out in a nearly empty café. When she awakens, she's eager to tell her story to anyone who will listen and pours her heart out to a curious manager and the sole other customer in the café, a Buddhist monk in training. As Momoko describes how she doted on her ex and how he loved her cooking, the manager decides to indulge her by allowing her to slip into the kitchen and cook up her former beau's favorite dish: a warm, delightful butter chicken... curry. As Momoko finishes telling her story, she realizes that this combination of cooking and sharing has stopped the flow of her constant tears. And the manager has a brilliant idea. What if they started doing this regularly, inviting patrons to share stories about heartbreak while cooking dishes that held significance in their relationships? Thus, an unconventional therapy group, the "Ex-Boyfriend's Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee," is born."--Provided by publisher.

Saved in:
1 copy ordered
Subjects
Genres
Psychological fiction
Published
New York : Crown [2025]
Language
English
Japanese
Main Author
Saki Kawashiro (author)
Other Authors
Yuka Maeno (translator)
Edition
First US edition
Item Description
Includes recipes.
"Originally published in Japan as Moto-kare gohan maisou iinkai by Sunmark Publishing, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, in 2023." -- Title page verso.
Physical Description
288 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780593801093
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A heartbroken woman turns to helping others move on from their own failed or lost relationships in Kawashiro's simplistic debut. After Momoko Yuuki is dumped by her boyfriend, Kyohei, she gets drunk and wakes up in a restaurant. She requests that the owner, Iori, prepare her ex's favorite curry for herself and fellow customer Hozumi to share, as a means to move on from Kyohei. Iori then convinces her to launch a weekly event at the restaurant where women can come in and symbolically bury their past relationships over a meal. Subsequent chapters are dedicated to encounters with customers followed by recipes for the meals described, among them a woman who vows to leave the lothario singer she's been bankrolling, who is served Red Flags Megastone Hamburger Steak. Momoko also helps customers with grief, such as a widower who requests the onigiri that his late wife used to make for him. It's pleasant to read, but there's little character development and the story feels a bit formulaic, with each episode designed to show Momoko's gradual progress in letting go of Kyohei. This doesn't quite stand out from the glut of healing fiction on offer. Agent: Neil Gudovtiz, Gudovitz & Company Literary Agency. (Oct.)

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