I Regret Almost Everything: Audiobook Review of the Restaurateur's Personal Journey
The personal account from Keith McNally, the founder behind famous New York restaurants including The Odeon and Balthazar, opens on a somber note as he describes trying to take his own life at the summer house in Martha’s Vineyard in 2018. Next, we travel back to 20 months prior, when on a Saturday morning, he took his small children to the National Gallery in London. When looking at a painting of Jesus and his betrayal by Judas, “I sensed my body showing symptoms of failing him: a strange metallic tingling started to pinch his fingertips.” This marked the beginning of a stroke that caused speech difficulties and numbness on the right side of his body.
This Reflective Work shows the author, currently in his seventies, reflecting on his health struggles and his lengthy career, transitioning from bellboy at the Hilton hotel in London to young performer – aged 16, he portrayed the lead in a production of The Winslow Boy – to restaurant assistant at the New York restaurant One Fifth, where he eventually became head waiter.
The actor Richard E Grant brings his words to life in a restrained yet empathetic reading that expresses the author’s mourning for his former life and his newfound introspection. True to the title, he has regrets: notably the end of his marriages, parenting from a distance to his eldest children and criticizing James Corden for disrespectful behavior in his dining venue. But he finds delight in movies, theatre and in his memories of sitting down with employees at the Odeon when service ended as they had a drink and shared the night’s proceeds. Of those late nights, McNally remarks: “Nothing since has ever matched that feeling.”
Distributed through the production company, 10hr 46min
Additional Audiobooks
His Word Against Hers
Dr Charlotte Proudman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, nine and a half hours
This accomplished lawyer’s account of representing affected women of male abuse throws light on the workings of the family court system and the iniquities of a justice system created by males. Read by the author.
Absolutely and Forever
Rose Tremain, Penguin Audio, just over five hours
The story is read by Jane McDowell the author’s youthful journey in a post-war era. The plot follows the life of Marianne, who, following a short romance in her teens, attends a typing school in London where she keeps lamenting for her partner who departed.