A book by Somerville, Mass. writer Steve Almond.

CandyFreak: A Journey Through The Chocolate Underbelly of America. Steve Almond. ( Algonquin Books  Chapel Hill, NC) $22. 2004.

 

  I've always taken food very seriously. In fact, the subject of my Master's thesis was food in the fiction of Henry Roth, a celebrated Jewish-American novelist who wrote the classic novel CALL IT SLEEP. Food, like a favorite song or a sepia -tinted snapshot, can be a delectable totem of one's life; an evocative taste of memory ;  a savory bite of the past.

  Steve Almond,  dived into the world of  candy , as an elixir for the adult malaise he was finding himself in: "The ancient sorrow had resurfaced--the loneliness, the creeping sense of failure--and I felt doomed by the oncoming winter, trapped in the clutches of my apartment, frantic to escape. So I allowed myself to hope, as I had in childhood, that the pleasure of candy would help me beat a path from my despair." 

  Indeed, if this book is an indication, Almond is a "true " candy freak. Some of his descriptions of candy, the eating of it, or shall I dare say the 'fondling" of it, can only be described as ...well... erotic. In this passage Almond describes his heated encounter with a sexy Caravelle Bar: " ...the chocolate was thicker, darker, full bodied, ...the caramel was that rarest variety, dark and lustrous and supple, with hints of fudge. More so, there was a senseof the piece yielding to the mouth. By which I mean one had to work the teeth through the starchy chocolate shell, which gave way with a distinct, moist snap, through the crisped rice... And how they offered themselves to the heat and the wetness of the mouth--the sensation of the crisped rice drenched in melted chocolate chomped by the molars into the creamy swirl of caramel." Perhaps one should wear a condom before proceeding with this girl, I mean bar, or is it just me?

  Almond takes "joy" ( pardon the pun) in tracking down candy factories in the hinterlands, as well as locally, ( such as the Necco factory in Cambridge) to give the reader a bird's eye view of the manufacturing process, as well as the often eccentric characters who are passionately involved in the biz.

 

  Almond is obviously a talented writer, and his skills are generously displayed in this book. At times this saga of sweets became a bit much to bear, with all the elaborate descriptions of the arcane bars, and esoteric manufacturing processes, etc...But of course, Almond is a true "freak," and he has written a freakishly unique book, that will make you think twice before you pounce on your SNICKERS bar.

 

Doug Holder/ The Somerville News ( This review will appear in an upcoming issue of The Somerville News)