In read the description of this book like 8 times...and after each of the first 7 I thought something along the lines of "there is no way I'm going to read this, it sounds perfectly mundane, and how do you make that interesting enough to read? Plus, the title/jacket blurb mix made it sound a bit too chick lit for me." But after the 8th time I finally picked it up for real - I figured it THAT MANY people were talking about it so highly, then maybe I should see what it's about. Well, after reading I can say 2 things for sure: 1. I can definitely see what people were raving about. 2. I have absolutely no idea how the author made this book that compulsively readable. I mean sure, the fact that it's set in NYC, in a fancy restaurant, that helps a bit - NYC has so much there to write about, lots of options. But other than that? I mean this is everyone's story. I've lived it, my husband lived it, most of our friends lived it. Walking into your first restaurant, no experience, totally overwhelmed, learning the ropes, making mistakes, nights full of bad decisions (of varying levels) with your fellow workers, and a ton of uncomfortable relationships and staff members sleeping together. I mean, why read about something that everyone you know has lived? You know what happens. And still, I could barely put this book down. Maybe it's because Tess is totally relate-able for me, a timid/unsure/apologetic girl, her interactions with Howard, crush on an unreachable bartender (and maybe even the part where you get that unreachable bartender), the disillusionment when it turns out she can't actually reach that bartender, the heartbreak, learning about the damage/past of others (and how it both matters and doesn't), the mornings after her bad decisions...it's written so well, the emotions are raw, not overdone. Tess's confusion over everything that turns into too much understanding over time - it's a coming of age story that is intimately familiar. And credit to the author for making that happen. Being relate-able does not mean that a story/character will be un-put-down-able, but that is what happens here. Yet in the end, you can see that for all the experiences, Tess has grown, found more of herself...and though, as she even says, the platitudes about suffering in the present leading to more self awareness and contentment when looking back from the future, is bullshit, we find out that (for Tess as for all of us) it's true bullshit. Everything here was exquisitely detailed: Jake, Howard, Simone, Ariel, Sasha, Nick, the restaurant, the food (though perhaps detailed less often than would be expected in a book about food), the wine, the seasons, the little pieces of NYC that actually make it what it is. I'll admit it, this book was unexpectedly gorgeous in it's reality. And for someone who never really understood the pull people got from The Catcher in the Rye, I can definitely say this book gave me a little of what I assume that feeling would be.