I really wanted to love this but the constant misogyny and reduction of women to appearances was too much for me. As part of one character's personality, I could maybe accept it, but given that in just 100 pages it feels like a pervasive attitude across several characters, it's clear that the book might not be for me.

I think I could have finished this one without too much bother but it wasn't grabbing me and I could see it becoming a bit too saccharine for what I was in the mood for, so better to just stop and move onto something I more fitting my reading mood

I liked the uniqueness of the premise of this book: looking at the lives of 20th century dictators through the lens of the food they ate, told by the cooks that cooked for them, but I found the historical context and general information aspect of the book lacking. Too often there were just throwaway comments about significant events and I wanted more. The style and tone was very accessible and it was very easy reading, but I saw myself heading for an at best mediocre read, so I decided it was worth stopping where I was.

I have tried this book both as an audiobook and an ebook and yet I cannot get on with it and it's time to let it go. I really wanted to love this, it being literally the only non-children's Dutch fantasy I know of, but for me it moves too slowly and in a predictable direction. If it were one or the other, I think I would continue, but the fact that it's got both the unnecessary, long, and drawn out descriptions of literally everything and predictability mean it's too frustrating and not really an enjoyable reading experience.

The British/American made up university setting really irritated me, and I couldn't get past it 

I felt like I didn't know enough about the subject to enjoy the essays

The premise of this book was interesting and having enjoyed The Underground Railroad I was excited to try something else by Colson Whitehead. However, I found this really difficult to want to continue reading and I'm not entirely sure why. I think maybe there wasn't anything in particular that made me want to know *more* so it became hard to find the motivation to pick it up again once I had put it down.