True Confections

For all the talk about realism in fiction, it is something special to step into a beautifully and intricately imagined fictional world. This is a very inventive novel about a family candy business narrated by a woman who knows all its secrets. I became immersed in Alice's world and learned a lot about candy making, spent time with an array of offbeat characters, and picked up some history about World War II and Madagascar along the way.

The title of Katharine Weber's TRUE CONFECTIONS describes exactly what she has concocted--something sweet, salty, tart, and full of nuts. I laughed out loud many times, but I was also fascinated and moved by the narrator, Alice Tatnall Ziplinsky, an outsider always looking in. Does she believe the story she tells? Does she know when she's fabricating and when she's not? I didn't care. Somewhere beneath her defensiveness and distortions I glimpsed a big, hurt heart that made sense of it all.

A funny, edgy book. The narrator, Alice Tatnall Ziplinsky, is so perfectly off-kilter -- she's both sympathetic and disconcerting, often at the same time -- that she lends a slightly funhouse feeling to the story's telling. This dynastic epic of a candy-making family encompasses immigration, assimilation, success, failure, racism, inclusion, and everything you ever wanted to know about the candy business, all skillfully interwoven. And Alice's weird, funny, almost-perfectly-reasonable voice is the perfect medium. You pay attention, because Alice is the kind of narrator you want to keep an eye on, and in the process the story unwinds vividly. This is a smart novel, out of the ordinary and fun -- recommended whether you have a sweet tooth or not (although that's definitely an asset).

You don't have to be a candy lover to fall for this tale spun by Alice Ziplinsky as she recounts her version of the family history behind Zip's Candies. I loved Alice's distinctive perspective, at once authoritative (particularly when talking about the candy business)and deliciously self-serving. It's a fabulous family saga played out against an unusual background--a smart, engrossing read.

There's something for everyone in this novel which can be read on a variety of levels and therefore is likely to appeal to the reading multitudes. Weber's love affair with the geological striations of story telling shine here making the story as sly and clever as it is fascinatingly informative about the candy business. Mine own hindmost was laughed off the floor as often as I relished the inspired turns of phrase and succulent use of language. Could this be Weber's breakout book? I bet it is, it's a gem indeed.