In a Nutshell: A literary fiction focussing on three characters, one of whom has just been accused of rape. Infuriating and depressing in many ways, especially if you are a woman. A thought-provoking read for lit-fic lovers.

Story Synopsis:
When Hannah hears that her ex-boss, Chef Daniel Costello is facing rape charges, she goes down memory lane, to the summer she spent waitressing in Daniel’s hotel, about a decade ago.
Daniel, meanwhile, can’t believe that his personal and professional successes are now under a dark cloud just because of some allegation from the long-forgotten past.
Julie, Daniel’s wife, isn’t sure how to handle her husband’s new identity and the attention of the press. As she watches their private lives become public, and her two teenaged sons deal with the aftermath of the slander, Julie wonders if she could have done something differently.
The story comes to us in the first person perspective of these three characters. Hannah’s pov is majorly set in the past, while Daniel’s and Julie’s stories are set mostly in the present.

Bookish Yays:
? Nicely developed characters, not surprising for a well-written literary fiction work. Hannah and Julie were so different from each other, and yet so similar in many ways. Both their arcs touched me.

? Is it a yay or a nay when you want to rip open the fourth wall and bash up one of the characters? Daniel’s pov left me jittery and infuriated at the same time. I suppose it is a yay as emotional involvement by the reader is a sign of realistically sketched characters.

? The use of Dublin city and its socio-economic-cultural aspects in the plot.
(Irish lit-fic novelists seem to be in a whole other league!)

? The focus on systemic sexual abuse, when misogyny and chauvinism are written away as necessary evils of urban living rather than as problems to be eliminated.

? The glimpse of what goes into the daily running of a restaurant. If you ever thought waitressing is an easy task, here’s the book to set your assumption right.

? The regularly interspersed statements in Daniel’s pov asking “What is a chef?” and providing a one-liner reply to the same. Loved every single one of these!

? The ending. Not too optimistic nor depressing. But just at the right point of hope.

? The author’s note at the end: brief yet impactful.


Bookish Nays:
? The story takes a while to get going. It’s too slow even for a literary work, and the constant back-and-forth between timelines and characters doesn’t help. I would have been okay with this for some other topic, but when I know a book is dealing with sexual assault, the woman in me wants to get to the crux of the matter because it is a topic that leaves me fretful.

? I would have d more details about the impact of the accusation on Daniel’s sons. While there were details, the narrative from Julie’s side focusses more on her own emotions than on her children’s.


All in all, this novel created in me tremendous emotional upheaval. It wasn’t easy reading, partly because I wasn’t in the right headspace for this topic. Nevertheless, it still kept me involved all the way. It is a powerful work, and for the right reader (i.e. one who appreciates character-driven novels), it will create an impact that will last long after the last page.

4.25 stars.


My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Service”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Content warning: Misogyny, infidelity, sexual assault, physical assault.




———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
4-25-stars netgalley ng-2023103 s2 comments Ceecee2,326 1,931

4.5

A sexual assault case against chef Daniel Costello is brought before the court in Dublin. Three versions but who is telling the truth? The waitress back in the day at his restaurant is Hannah, she tells her side. Daniel gives us his perspective as the allegations and the subsequent rumour mill force him to close the successful restaurant. He is in disbelief, he has worked so hard, he runs a ‘tight ship’, wins award after award but is it all to collapse a house of cards? Finally, there’s Julia, the wife of twenty two years and who watches the paparazzi behind her curtains and ruminates how Daniels actions have ruined the lives of the family and she just wants it all to go away. Will she hold her peace as she always does, be loyal and stand by her man especially in the court room? She looks back on their life together and wonders about it all. Three people tell the story as they see it, each forced to reevaluate their version of the truth.

Sarah Gilman is a very talented writer as her latest character driven study clearly demonstrates and choosing to give three different versions of the rape accusations makes for fascinating and compelling reading. Through Hannah you are captivated by the intensity and chaos of the restaurant, the excitement of it but also running the gauntlet of the misogyny of some customers. Initially she’s buzzing with working in such a high end restaurant but then that changes and the atmosphere becomes more toxic. We also have her perception of Daniel, a powerful, egotistical and driven chef, a temperamental artist but also her growing insidious fear. Daniel's perspective is not unnaturally very different but you can read between the lines and you can see that behaviour post service is at best a bit weird and at worst something entitled. Julia is very contained, she has to be for the sake of her sons. Through her you see the impact on a relationship and the family with some interesting dynamics at play. You realise she is literally almost bursting with suppressed emotion. Each of the perspectives is equally strong, the characterisation is perceptive and incisive and it arrives at a very good conclusion.

Overall, a well written, pertinent and relevant novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pushkin Press, ONE for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.43 s1 comment Kate O'Shea840 86

Wow. Honestly, I'm in between lost for words and wanting to tell you the whole plot. I want to tell how wonderful the writing is, how the plot develops without judgment, without sansationalising. This book is superb. It should definitely win awards.

The story is simple: Daniel Costello is a chef at the top of his game until a year old charge of sexual assault is laid at his door from Tracey, a waitress whose story is one of harassment, sexual abuse and physical intimidation.

Three voices narrate this story - Daniel whose confusion and feelings of persecution are clear on every page. Julie, his wife, who tries to see past the allegations and remember the man she married. And Hannah, another waitress who had walked out of the restaurant without a reason.

I get lost in how beautifully this horrifying tale is told. Sarah Gilmartin's Dinner Party was good but this is another level; for me, this was perfect. I had to force myself to stop reading too fast because it grabs you and holds you so few novels do these days. She manages to tell a divisive story without preaching, without taking anyone's side.

I've got to stop evangelising but this is a novel you really must read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.21 s *TUDOR^QUEEN* 512 577

I love to read about the restaurant industry and its inner workings. It's fascinating to me how all the moving parts work, from the wait staff, bartenders, reservation takers, hostesses, chefs, etc. This work of fiction takes place in the early 2000s in Dublin, Ireland. The location is a high end restaurant owned and run by the head chef - the charismatic Daniel Costello. He's married to Julie and has two sons, Kevin and Oscar. Their lives are upended when Daniel's charged with rape and goes on trial. His main accuser is one of his former waitresses, but there's another waitress who feels unable to participate in the prosecution. The book is narrated by Daniel, wife Julie, and Hannah- one of the waitresses. The writing is excellent. The author really captured the characters and the dialogue is spot on. The book clocks in at a very manageable 256 pages, yet the reading experience was so fulsome. The story had me in the palm of its hand, with the pendulum swinging back and forth as to Daniel's guilt or innocence. There were so many thought-provoking aspects to this story. One of the points that stuck with me was how such a violation can upend a woman's life, making her feel guilty when she's done nothing wrong, and also potentially derailing a good trajectory in life. This was a very interesting and well-written book.

Thank you to the publisher Pushkin Press for providing an advance reader copy via Edelweiss.17 s2 comments Blair1,866 5,313

A celebrity chef is accused of sexual assault, and three narrators observe the fallout: Daniel, the chef himself; Julie, his wife; and Hannah, a young woman who spent a summer working in Daniel’s exclusive Dublin restaurant. Daniel is never sympathetic, but this arguably makes the book’s core question all the more urgent: after all, a man may be a raging misogynist without being guilty of rape (though the former makes it much easier for us to believe the latter). The real MVP of the book is Julie, in whose narrative Gilmartin skilfully combines protectiveness and rage. Stretching the story across three perspectives inevitably means that some of the characters are spread a bit thin – with Hannah, there’s a powerful sense of her experience in the restaurant; less of who she is beyond that – but the writing is strong enough to override this. Gilmartin writes movingly about the impact of Hannah’s encounter(s) with Daniel and while the conclusion may, ultimately, be fairly clear-cut, these characters’ actions and choices are messy and real, and always have the ring of truth.2023-release contemporary18 s Rebecca3,839 3,168

The comparison with Sweetbitter, one of my favourite debuts of the past decade, drew me to Service, and it’s an apt one. Irish writer Sarah Gilmartin’s second novel is a before-and-after set partly in the stressful atmosphere of a fine dining restaurant in Dublin. Head chef Daniel Costello worked his way up from an inner-city childhood and teenage carvery-pub job to a two-Michelin-starred establishment known as T. But then came a fall: accusations of sexual assault from several female former employees led to the restaurant’s temporary closure and a high-profile court trial. Daniel maintains his innocence. His lawyer plans to cast shade on the lead waitress’ reputation, and question her failure to come forward until one year after the alleged rape.

Three alternating first-person narrators fill in the background of the macho restaurant world and the Costellos’ marriage. First is Hannah Blake, a former waitress who is not involved in the current lawsuit but has her own stories to tell about Daniel, who treated her as a protégée during the brief time she worked at T while she was a university student. “I’ve never felt as alive as I did that summer,” she writes; it was thrilling for a girl from Tipperary to be at the heart of Dublin’s culinary life and to have a world-leading chef believe her palate was worth training. We also hear from Daniel himself, and then his wife Julie, who begrudgingly supports Daniel but is furious with him for the negative attention the trial has brought her and their two sons. Some family members and neighbours have started avoiding them.

Gilmartin invites the reader to have sympathy for all the protagonists, even when it gets complicated. There was a point about three-quarters of the way through when I had to rethink who I felt sorry for and why. I would have d a few more restaurant scenes to balance out the aftermath, but that is a minor quibble. This is a solid Me Too novel with pacey, engaging writing and well-rounded characters. It’s made me eager to go back and catch up on the author’s debut, Dinner Party: A Tragedy.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.2023-release blog-tour current-events ...more15 s Robert2,164 231

I have always believed that the role of literature is to make a reader question themselves or make them feel uncomfortable. Sarah Gilman’s Service does this, I can guarantee that this novel will move the reader in one way or another.

Being someone who s food, I bought Service due to the fact that the setting is a restaurant. Superficially I thought it would be a satirical look at the catering business, in a way it is that but it’s definitely not a satire but a harsh criticism.

Hannah is a victim of sexual abuse. This stems from the time when she was a waiter at high end restaurant T, with it’s celebrity chef Daniel Costello. At first she thinks things are innocent but then slowly she finds out that Daniel and his male staff are not what they seem, everything culminating in a nasty incident.

Service switches between three voices. One his Hannah, the other is Daniel who is recalling a court case involving sexual abuse with his waitresses and the third voice is Daniel’s wife Julie, who is hoping that her husband is innocent.

Through these narrators we get a picture of the psychological affects of abuse, what goes in the mind of an abuser and what it is to live with one. At the same time Sarah Gilmartin is showing us what happens behind the scenes of the restaurant industry and a look at how court cases are dealt with.

Needless to say that this is a dark, gritty book with a couple of passages which make for uncomfortable reading BUT it is an eye opener and does provide a lot to think about. Earlier this year I read Vista Chinesa , a book about sexual abuse which provokes the reader, I had that same feeling with Service. This is a book that can provide a good picture at the psychological effects of acts these. I was struck by Service and I hope others, especially victims will read it as well.13 s Chris512 137

This was very good. Great writing and it shows well how complicated #metoo is. In our day and age it may sometimes seem as if it is a matter of opinion - which is excellently put forward here by Gilmartin through the three different perspectives in the book - but of course it’s not. It is extremely hard though, to get to the truth. Who in the end is telling the truth here in ‘Service’? And how to prove the truth? Gilmartin is nuanced and slowly lets the reader discover it all.
Thank you very much Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the ARC.10 s Sarah1,229 35

On paper this sounds something I'd having found a book set in a similar setting - Sweetbitter - to be memorable and usually finding myself drawn to books with a #MeToo focus, but I found myself only really interested in one of the three voices - that of the waitress Hannah - which meant the other sections which followed chef Daniel and then that of his wife, Julie, felt a slog. Perhaps a case of me picking up the novel at a bad time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.fiction netgalley11 s Chloe336 195

Service is the second novel from Irish author Sarah Gilmartin. A group of us read Service during the last week of December and it completely threw my “favourite books of 2023” list askew; I absolutely loved it.

In the wake of a sexual assault allegation against famous Dublin chef Daniel Costello, we hear the perspectives of three people. Daniel himself, who of course believes that he is without fault, his wife Julie who is struggling to maintain her role as supportive partner and mother, and Hannah, who worked as a server in Daniel’s restaurant back in its Celtic Tiger heyday and is now recollecting both the extreme highs and lows of that time.

This is such a cleverly written book; getting the viewpoints of these three characters reminds us that we all have different versions of the truth and we all assign blame and victimhood statuses according to our own beliefs and values, often even when the evidence is staring us in the face.

Sometimes with books this you’ll prefer reading a particular character’s thoughts more than another but I found all three completely engrossing; the writing flows so well and it’s such a painfully plausible story that it almost felt I was reading real people’s accounts.

Because of that, it’s often an infuriating read; the open misogyny the female characters experience is unfortunately all too realistic. Several members of our reading group shared similar memories of working in restaurants and hotels when we were younger. It’s a deeply relatable story and that definitely makes it hard to read at times, but equally, impossible to put down.

I honestly can’t recommend this book enough; I’ll be putting a copy into the hands of everyone I meet for the foreseeable future and look forward to whatever Gilmartin writes next.11 s1 comment Aoife1,398 619

CW: Sexual harassment, sexual assault, misogyny

When Hannah meets up with an old colleague Mel, she learns that their former boss, Head Chef Daniel Costello, has been accused of sexual assault and set to stand trial. The news makes Hannah think about the summer she worked in Daniel's restaurant T, and the hectic work/life/play balance they all managed to walk - plus the tense yet seemingly innocent relationship she formed with Daniel until everything came crashing down.

This book is told through three separate POV's - Hannah's POV is mostly reflecting on the past, on her experiences working in T and her relationships with the other front of house staff as well as those in the kitchen (or on 'the line'). We see Hannah as a 21-year-old learning what it's to work in a fast paced world and play even harder in Celtic Tiger Ireland with shots after work and the occasional line in the bathroom. I think the tense atmosphere of a professional kitchen and the God- status a Head Chef commands is described really well in this book. The waitresses aren't always treated the best by customers but tend to earn more because of tips, and we also see how they are often belittled, mocked and handled roughly by male staff but they put up with because they think they have to. There is a lot of misogyny in this book - both blatant and discreet - and I thought Hannah's recollections of a time in T were a really good way of describing the atmosphere as a whole, and also act as a direct contrast to what we're learning from Daniel as well.

"Being a chef is a vocation, not a job."

Daniel's POV for me was one of the most interesting and skilled in the book. Many times reading a book in which we are hearing about SA, it tends to be black and white - the rapist is ugly, rude, mean - you're almost not surprised when he commits an act so ugly but Daniel often appears the opposite. He is a man who worked his way up from nothing, a family man with a lovely wife and two happy kids, he's handsome and successful and as he asks his wife "Do I seem, have I ever seemed, a man who needs to force a woman to have sex with me?" Of course he has a temper but all chefs do, it's part of working in the industry but as we learn from Daniel, he mentored, he educated, he tried to help the men and women who came through under his charge. I thought the way Sarah Gilmartin created this man on the verge of losing everything really well - he is not remorseful because he has (in his mind) done nothing wrong. He is angry but more than that he is scared not only of losing his livelihood but of losing his family. This man, accused of being a rapist and a harasser, becomes an object of pity in the reader's eyes and I for a while did wonder at the truth behind the claim especially when we learn who the claimant is - and that's another great discussion brought into the book by the author, what makes a perfect victim and how in society's eyes a victim should look and act.

"I am not unused to being looked at, I am unused to being looked at in this way. The difference, I feel now (...) is the difference between winning and losing, life and death."

Julia's POV acts as a bridge between Hannah and Daniel - she has her foot on both sides. We see her angry and embarrassed by Daniel's actions but she wants them not to be true for herself and her family but also she remembers the girls who came through T, and particularly the ones who abruptly left, and she wonders. She also thinks back to her own history with Daniel, and the times she's heard him talk about women in specific ways. Julie is easy to , she can't be this hero who at once stands against her husband and never believes him because in reality, she loves him, they have built a life together, have children together and she doesn't want to lose that. But at the same time in her heart, she doubts his innocence. I felt for Julie a lot who is the person who no matter what loses everything in a way.

A marriage wears a woman's fingers harder than it does a man's."

This book was really well written and easy to fly through as well, and I loved the tense kitchen/restaurant atmosphere combined with the tension of a court case as well. The narrative around a 'perfect victim' isn't something new but I still enjoyed Sarah Gilmartin's take on it and I loved all the narratives that made up this story and captured it so well.food food-glorious-food irish ...more3 s frausarahsarah48

Vorab: Dieses Buch nur lesen, wenn es dir gut geht. Spoiler nur an, weil ich aus dem Buch zitiere. TW: Sexuelle Gewalt, sexueller Missbrauch, the list goes on …

Ein „Vorfall“, drei Perspektiven. Was genau passiert ist, kommt erst ziemlich am Ende raus und doch wächst mit jeder Seite ein Unbehagen, das ich nicht beschreiben kann. Das wiederum hat Sarah Gilmartin so so so gut gemacht, dass ich markiert, markiert, markiert und so viel mitgenommen habe.

I mean Sätze wie: „Und dann hörte ich auf, Nein zu sagen, weil ich dachte, dass es so einfacher würde.“ Oder „Ich will nicht auf eine halbe Stunde im Zeugenstand reduziert werden, nach der sich alle nur an die Vorwürfe von losen Sitten, Alkohol und Drogen erinnern. Denn wenn man zu einer Sache Ja sagt, muss man wohl zu allem bereit sein.“

Zudem wird sehr gut beschrieben, wie Männer mit eben diesen „Vorfällen“ umgehen. Sei es dir Täter, Mitwissende, Außenstehende.

Am Ende hätte ich gerne noch gewusst, wie es weiter geht. 4,5 Sterne.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review3 s Richard ChambersAuthor 1 book97

Stunning book - didn't get enough attention in a huge year for Irish fiction last year. Shocking, true-to-life and with a compelling three person POV rotation that drives the narrative all the way through. 3 s Becky Ward53 8

No major feelings until I got to the author’s note, which bewildered me a bit - she writes that, even though the story is set in Dublin, a criminal trial this wouldn’t even happen in Ireland because there are so many barriers built into the system for SA victims. Then why not write about that instead? Why set it in Dublin at all if you’re not going to address the truth of the context? I think there’s a missed opportunity herebexter-20233 s Livvy Cropper39 3

TW: rape, sexual assault, gaslighting

A cutting scrutiny of the Irish justice system's handling of rape cases; and a realistic portrayal of the minds and lives of those affected. Examines both societal and individual psyches very deeply but sympathetically. Each character POV was realistic and convincing, sadly I would not be surprised if each of these characters were not inspired by real people.

Being in Daniel's head was hard work, but I flew through the pages nonetheless, driven forward by longing for Hannah to find some peace and justice. The conclusion is devastating but cathartic in many ways and it felt very fitting to end on a chapter from Julie, looking for a way forward. The writing is beautiful throughout, poetic but never clichéd. At no point did it resort to shock tactics, titillation or a "big twist" for no reason.

Sexual violence is an issue that affects so many, and for too long has been far too taboo, but this open discussion goes some way to bringing the flippant, outdated, and illogical attitudes of perpetrators and those who defend rape culture to light. It also highlights the serious mental health issues that it can cause without infantilising the survivors. I felt empowered by it and hope others do too.

4.5 stars3 s Sarah O'Riordan | travelseatsreads498 37

Full review to come2 s Jolieke Weijmer33

ser güd 4,62 s fraugoldkette27 6

Wow wow wow wow!
The Bear x Suits x promising young woman x me too.
So gut, gesellschaftskritisch, ehrlich und trotzdem kein schweres Buch. 5/5 TW: Gewalt, sexueller Missbrauch 2 s zona ??152 17

Es war wirklich spannend, zu dieser Thematik etwas aus drei verschiedenen Perspektiven zu lesen. Ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass besonders die POV der Frau (+Kinder) mich am meisten mitnimmt. Wahnsinn, was man in so einer Situation durchmachen muss.
Leider hat mir im Mittelteil ein bisschen was an Tempo gefehlt, deswegen „nur“ 4 ??.
Trotzdem empfehlenswert.bibliothek read-in-20242 s Rebekah185 13

This is a very strong and accomplished novel that has Joseph O'Connor and Lucy Caldwell raving about it (two authors I rate extremely highly). I went in to this with high expectations and have to say that I was slightly disappointed. This may, however, have more to do with my malaise over MeToo fiction? is this a bad un-feminist thing to say? This novel does it extremely well though. I felt myself physically shaking in anger and recognition of many of the scenes of sexist male camaraderie and 'ribbing', the toxic workplace, the way women are subtly and continually coerced into accepting and validating this behaviour on the surface, how vulnerable and willing and scared you are as a young woman trying to navigate a world in which sexual violence hovers dangerously close at all times.

I think perhaps I hated the fact that there were three voices? I loathed hearing Daniel's voice, even though it was so instructive to the plot. The more I write about it actually, the more admiration I have for Gilmartin's intelligence. She lets Daniel dig his own grave, slowly and surely, and it's horrifying and satisfying to watch. You always know that he is guilty though? Are we supposed to doubt it or not? I think not? The rape scenes are abhorrent; they really made me feel nauseous (but not in an 'American Psycho, voyeuristic kind of way - they were always sympathetic to the female victim of male violence.)

All in all, I think this is a great achievement that I took very little pleasure in reading. It is perhaps a necessary book, but I do feel despair about this too. Because, much Prima Facie, the people that will be accessing this, willingly picking it up are (probably) middle-class women in their 20's, 30's and 40's? Certainly not the men of a certain generation that really could find this book instructive? So it's a bit shouting into the void? i think about trying to recommend this book to some older male customers that visit the bookshop and they would look at me in disgust if I explained the plot of this book. They don't want to hear it, don't want to change.

"For a week I didn't go in to work, or return the calls...or respond to the messages the girls kept sending. I knew it was unfair, they were worried, but some mood had set in, rigid and inert, a sort of self-protection mechanism that seemed to double down after the fact, in an effort to atone for its lateness. In those days, I felt extraordinarily guilty, and I didn't understand why. Blame and responsibility, colourless, confluent liquids. It was as if the rape was ongoing, that it hadn't been limited to one horrendous episode, that he'd left a part of himself inside me that continued the attack, some kind of tick that slept when I slept and woke again each morning as I lifted my head from the pillow and remembered. Even the violence of it remained. I don't mean physically - the bruised sensation went away, the cut on my forehead healed before the week was out - there was nothing that could be assessed and witnessed by a doctor. But the memory if it stayed in my body, in the tissues in the nerves. I became, after that night, a person who was sensitive to everything. Rain, noise, people, the common cold: in short, the world. I began to get cramps, aches in my lower back, jolting pains that went deep into my middle and ripped around my pelvis. If I was sitting, I needed to lie. If I was lying I needed to go from side to side, a bundled ball, to prone. What I really wanted was to get out of my body. Trapped inside there was nothing but pain. I stayed in my bedroom, away from my flatmates. I came out at odd hours and stole crisps and boxes of cereal to bring back to bed. I didn't drink. I knew it might help to numb me, but I was afraid of not being able to stop, of passing out, or rather, I was scared of having to wake up and remember with a hangover what had happened. I kept having thoughts of dying, the relief it would bring, a way to end the nightmare without having to account for myself."best-city-reads feminism2 s Kayleigh (BookwormEscapes)441 52

4.5* - AD/PR - Oh my goddd the straight white middle aged male privilege that seeps out of Daniel’s chapters… I was and still am FURIOUS! Sarah Gilmartin deserves all the praise for constructing a character so authentic that just epitomises the response of some (not ALL
Autor del comentario:
=================================