Sweetbitter, the lauded debut of young American author Stephanie Danler, has been cropping up in the carefully curated feeds of well-read Instagrammers for months. And on the face of it, it’s easy to see why. It’s a pretty book. But do you know what else it is? A great read.

 

Right from the get-go, Danler sets a warm and unfussy tone. It’s friendly. She chats, albeit in beautifully elegant prose, and you connect with her, and with Tess, our protagonist, instantly. Sweetbitter feels modern and fresh. Not naive at all, but rather, reassuringly cynical, in that way that really only 20-somethings can be.

There’s something curious about the way Danler tells Tess’ story. It’s like you’re there—just another skittish back waiter, spying and prying—and the whole thing is devourable. I’ve never read anything quite like Sweetbitter. But I do know that I loved it. I read the entire book in around 4 hours. And I can’t remember the last time I did that, let alone enjoyed doing it.

The other thing about Sweetbitter is that it doesn’t read like you think it will. It feels cinematic. The structure of the book is offbeat, but not in any way that’s distracting. The story comes at you in bite-sized morsels; chunks of story that come together like a well-executed recipe. And it makes for quite the feast.

 

But enough with the metaphors. Here’s what you need to know about Sweetbitter: it’s good. It’s sultry. It’s raw and messy and just a little bit dirty. It’s voyeuristic (in a good way) and relatable and familiar. And it’s honest in a way that’s almost rare. All throughout the book, Danler, by way of Tess, is saying to us: “Yeah. I don’t get it either. And that’s okay.”

Sweetbitter is the story of Tess, yes, but it’s also a story about becoming the person you want to be. About discovering who you are and about the mistakes you make on your way to getting there. It’s about screwing up and making do. It’s about love. It’s about youth and growing up and how scary it all can be.

Over the year we spend with Tess—Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring—we watch her grow out of fear and into belonging. We watch her build a life. We see her fall and get back up and find pieces of herself she didn’t know existed. And we also learn things—about the terroir of wine and fancy food and, oddly, how to best handle a hangover. But we also learn that we’re all just as clueless as each other. And that being hopeless, lost, and flailing is fine.

 

Sweetbitter is not neat and tidy. Are we left with unanswered questions? Yes. Would I have liked to have learnt more about Jake, and about Jake and Simone? Yes. But I’d just as gladly have read more about Tess. So isn’t it just a bit greedy to want a neat ending? Because really, what’s tidy about life? And doesn’t it say more about Danler’s talent and how good Sweetbitter is, that we’re left wanting more?

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler is published by Bloomsbury, an imprint of Allen & Unwin. It is available now, online and from bookstores. R.R.P.: $27.99.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review copy.