Tastes of the Dead

Konstantin "Kostya" Duhovny's life is defined by the loss of his father, a Ukrainian immigrant who died when Kostya was a child. The trauma leaves Kostya with a strange gift: he can taste foods he's never eaten, flavors that come to him unbidden, always connected to the dead. The first time it happens, he's a lonely boy at a Brooklyn pool, tasting his father's favorite dish—chicken liver with onions—though he's never had it. This "aftertaste" is both a miracle and a curse, a sensory haunting that ties him to the world of the dead and to the ache of longing for what's lost.

The Game of Memory

Kostya's father used to play a tasting game with him, feeding him bites of food to guess, a ritual that anchored their bond and their heritage. After his father's death, food becomes Kostya's only way to connect to his roots and to the man he misses. But the aftertastes grow stranger, more frequent, and more intense, especially as Kostya's mother sinks into grief and superstition. When he confides in her about his ghostly tastes, she panics, leading to his brief institutionalization. Kostya learns to hide his gift, internalizing shame and isolation, but the flavors never stop coming.

Ghosts in the Kitchen

As Kostya grows up, poverty and loneliness shape his life. He scavenges for food, endures bullying, and watches his mother spiral. The aftertastes become a secret language, a way to sense the pain and longing of others, but also a source of alienation. He dreams of using his gift for something meaningful, but mostly, he just wants to feel full—of food, of love, of family. The kitchen becomes his sanctuary, the place where memory, grief, and hope intermingle.

The Aftertaste Curse

Kostya's ability to taste the dead is both a comfort and a torment. He tries to ignore it, but the flavors are relentless, each one a message from someone who can't let go. When he finally confides in a psychic, Maura, she warns him: his gift is dangerous, a form of "clairgustance" that can open doors best left closed. She urges him to stop, but Kostya is drawn to the possibility of helping others, of using his curse to bring closure to the grieving.

Mother's Grief, Father's Absence

Kostya's relationship with his mother is fraught—she's superstitious, depressive, and emotionally distant, haunted by her own aftertastes and regrets. Their shared grief is a chasm neither can cross. Kostya's longing for his father becomes the central hunger of his life, shaping his choices and his sense of self. He clings to the hope that food, memory, and love can somehow bridge the gap between the living and the dead.

The Supper Club Experiment

Desperate for purpose, Kostya launches the Hell's Kitchen Supper Club, an underground restaurant where he tries to use his gift to reunite the living with their dead through food. Each meal is a high-stakes experiment: if he can taste the right aftertaste, he can summon a ghost for a final conversation. Some nights, it works—closure, forgiveness, and love are served alongside soup and cake. Other nights, nothing happens, and the hunger remains. The club becomes a crucible for Kostya's hopes, failures, and the limits of his power.

Hungry Spirits, Haunted Hearts

Kostya learns that not all spirits want to return, and not all living people are ready to let go. The aftertastes are strongest when grief is unresolved, when love and regret are tangled. He sees that his own inability to move on from his father's death is mirrored in the people he serves. The club attracts a cast of mourners—nuns, widows, siblings—each with their own unfinished business. Kostya's roommate and best friend, Frankie, becomes his confidant and co-conspirator, but even their bond is tested by the weight of so much sorrow.

The Psychic's Warning

Maura, the psychic, re-enters Kostya's life, first as a skeptic, then as a lover. She's haunted by her own losses—her sister's suicide, her own brushes with death, and a mysterious "Hunger" that gnaws at her soul. Their relationship is electric, passionate, and fraught with secrets. Maura warns Kostya that his gift is tearing holes in the veil between worlds, that the more he uses it, the more he risks unleashing something uncontrollable. But love and longing drive them both to keep pushing the boundaries.

Love, Loss, and Leftovers

Kostya and Maura's romance is a dance of intimacy and avoidance, each trying to heal the other while hiding their own wounds. They share meals, memories, and confessions, but the ghosts of their pasts are never far. When Maura asks Kostya to bring back her sister, Everleigh, the séance succeeds—but the closure is incomplete. The dead linger, the living remain hungry, and the line between love and obsession blurs. Kostya realizes that true closure may be impossible, that some hungers can never be satisfied.

The Restaurant as Portal

Kostya's culinary talents attract the attention of Viktor, a charismatic Russian mobster who offers to bankroll a high-end restaurant, DUH, built atop an abandoned subway station. The restaurant is a front for Viktor's criminal enterprises, but for Kostya, it's a chance to turn his gift into something grand. DUH becomes a sensation, a place where the living can dine with the dead, where aftertastes are the main course. But the more successful the restaurant, the more dangerous the magic becomes. The veil between worlds grows thin, and the ghosts grow restless.

The Mobster's Deal

As DUH's opening night approaches, Kostya is caught between his dreams and Viktor's threats. The restaurant's popularity brings fame, money, and the illusion of control, but also mob violence, blackmail, and moral compromise. Kostya's staff—his found family—are drawn into the chaos. Maura warns that the restaurant is a powder keg, that the aftertastes are binding more and more spirits to the world of the living. But Viktor demands more ghosts, more spectacle, more profit. Kostya is forced to choose between saving his soul and saving his skin.

The Veil Tears Open

On DUH's opening night, the veil between worlds rips wide open. The restaurant is overrun by "Hangry Ghosts"—spirits who have been trapped by Kostya's aftertastes, unable to move on, growing ever more desperate and dangerous. The living and the dead collide in chaos: glass shatters, lights explode, and the boundaries of reality dissolve. Kostya realizes that his gift has become a curse not just for himself, but for everyone he's tried to help. The only way to fix things is to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Hangry Ghosts Unleashed

The ghosts demand to be fed, to be released. Kostya, guided by Maura and the spirit of Frankie, learns that the only way to send the dead home is to cook for them using his own memories as ingredients. Each dish he prepares erases a piece of his past—his childhood, his friendships, his love for Maura. As he cooks, he forgets who he is, but the ghosts are finally able to move on. The act of feeding becomes an act of self-erasure, a final gift to the hungry dead.

Sacrifice and Salt

As Kostya's memories dwindle, Maura finds him in the afterlife kitchen. She tries to save him, to anchor him with love, but he has only one memory left—the moment he drove his father away. He uses it to make a final dish, a salt that embodies all his longing and regret. In a last, luminous kiss, he gives Maura the taste of their love, sending her back to life as he fades into oblivion. The price of closure is forgetting, but the taste of love lingers.

The Last Meal

Kostya's sacrifice restores balance between worlds. The ghosts are freed, the veil is mended, and Maura returns to life, changed but whole. She carries Kostya's memory in the taste of salt, in the recipes he left behind, in the love that survives even death. The restaurant is gone, the mobster defeated, but the lessons remain: food is memory, love is hunger, and letting go is the hardest recipe of all.

Letting Go, Moving On

Maura rebuilds her life, honoring Kostya by living fully, loving deeply, and sharing the recipes that once bridged the gap between worlds. Kostya's mother finds solace in her own kitchen, tending a cherry tree that connects her to her lost family. Frankie, in the afterlife, becomes a chef for the dead, helping spirits move on with one last perfect meal. The cycle of hunger and closure continues, but now with wisdom and compassion.

Recipes for the Afterlife

In the end, the story is about the flavors that shape us—the sweet, the bitter, the salty, the sour—and the ways we use food to remember, to heal, and to say goodbye. Kostya's legacy is not just in the meals he cooked, but in the love he gave, the memories he shared, and the salt that seasons every life. The aftertaste of love is what endures, long after the meal is done.

Characters

Konstantin "Kostya" Duhovny

Kostya is a Ukrainian-American chef whose life is shaped by the early loss of his father and the strange gift/curse of tasting the foods of the dead. Sensitive, lonely, and driven by longing, he seeks connection through food, memory, and eventually, the supernatural. His relationships—with his mother, his best friend Frankie, and his lover Maura—are all colored by his inability to let go of the past. Kostya's psychological journey is one of moving from shame and isolation to acceptance and self-sacrifice. His arc is defined by the tension between holding on and letting go, between the hunger for love and the necessity of closure.

Maura Struk

Maura is a psychic with her own history of trauma—her sister's suicide, her own near-death experiences, and a supernatural "Hunger" that ties her to the world of the dead. Witty, passionate, and deeply wounded, she is both Kostya's warning and his salvation. Her relationship with Kostya is a crucible for both their griefs, a place where love and danger intermingle. Maura's arc is about learning to let go, to forgive herself, and to choose life over the seductive pull of death. Her love for Kostya is both redemptive and costly.

Frankie O'Shaunessey

Frankie is Kostya's roommate, confidant, and culinary partner—a charismatic, ambitious chef who dies tragically in a restaurant fire. In the afterlife, Frankie becomes a guide for lost souls, running a food tour for the dead and helping Kostya navigate the supernatural. Frankie's character embodies loyalty, humor, and the bittersweet cost of ambition. His death is a turning point for Kostya, and his presence in the afterlife is a reminder that friendship and love endure beyond death.

Sergei Duhovny

Sergei is Kostya's father, a loving but flawed man whose death leaves a void that shapes Kostya's entire life. He appears throughout the novel as a memory, a taste, a ghost, and finally as a spirit seeking closure. Sergei's relationship with Kostya is the emotional core of the story—a bond forged in food, broken by loss, and healed through sacrifice. His forgiveness and pride in Kostya are the ultimate gifts, allowing both father and son to move on.

Vera Duhovny

Vera is Kostya's mother, a superstitious, depressive woman whose own aftertastes and regrets mirror her son's. Their relationship is fraught with misunderstanding and pain, but also with a deep, unspoken love. Vera's journey is one of survival, adaptation, and eventual acceptance. She represents the generational transmission of trauma and the possibility of healing through honesty and forgiveness.

Viktor Musizchka

Viktor is the Russian mobster who bankrolls DUH, Kostya's haunted restaurant. Charismatic, manipulative, and ultimately ruthless, Viktor embodies the dangers of unchecked ambition and the moral compromises of survival. His criminal schemes force Kostya to confront the cost of his dreams and the limits of his power. Viktor is both a catalyst for Kostya's rise and the architect of his downfall.

Everleigh Struk

Everleigh is Maura's younger sister, whose suicide haunts Maura and drives much of the novel's supernatural plot. As a ghost, she is both victim and agent, her unresolved Hunger threatening to tear the veil between worlds. Everleigh's story is a meditation on the consequences of unprocessed grief, the dangers of holding on, and the possibility of redemption through love and release.

The Hangry Ghosts

The Hangry Ghosts are spirits trapped by Kostya's aftertastes, unable to move on, growing ever more desperate and dangerous. They represent the consequences of refusing to let go, the way grief can curdle into rage and destruction. Their presence forces Kostya and Maura to confront the limits of their power and the necessity of sacrifice.

The Food Hall

The Food Hall is the afterlife's central metaphor—a place where the dead feast on memories, seeking closure and release. It is both paradise and purgatory, a space where hunger and satisfaction, love and loss, are eternally entwined. The Hall's rules and mysteries drive much of the novel's plot and its philosophical questions.

The Kitchen Brigade (Rio, Big Mike, Stephanie, Mica, Ale, etc.)

Kostya's kitchen staff are more than employees—they are his chosen family, the people who support him through crisis and chaos. Each brings their own history, skills, and wounds to the table. Their loyalty and courage are crucial in the novel's climax, and their presence grounds the story in the realities of work, community, and the messy, beautiful business of feeding others.

Plot Devices

Aftertaste as Supernatural Medium

The central device of the novel is Kostya's ability to taste the foods of the dead—a form of "clairgustance" that serves as both a literal and metaphorical bridge between the living and the afterlife. This device allows the story to explore grief, memory, and closure in a visceral, sensory way. The aftertastes are both messages and traps, binding spirits to the world and forcing Kostya to confront the consequences of his gift.

Food as Memory and Identity

Food is not just sustenance but a repository of memory, culture, and love. The novel uses meals, recipes, and kitchen rituals as ways to explore identity, heritage, and the bonds between people. The act of cooking becomes a form of magic, a way to summon the past and heal the present. The recurring motif of "the best thing you ever ate" ties together the living and the dead, the hungry and the satisfied.

The Haunted Restaurant

The restaurant DUH is both a literal business and a supernatural portal, a place where the boundaries between worlds are thin. Its success and eventual downfall are driven by the interplay of ambition, grief, and the supernatural. The restaurant's design, location, and clientele all serve to heighten the sense of liminality and danger.

The Veil and Its Tearing

The "veil" between worlds is a classic supernatural device, but here it is rendered as something that can be torn by unresolved grief, excessive longing, and the misuse of magic. The tearing of the veil unleashes chaos, forcing the characters to confront the consequences of their actions and the necessity of sacrifice.

Memory as Ingredient, Sacrifice as Closure

In the novel's climax, Kostya must use his own memories as ingredients to feed the hungry ghosts, each dish erasing a piece of his past. This device literalizes the cost of closure—the idea that to let go, we must be willing to forget, to sacrifice, to move on. The act of cooking becomes an act of self-erasure, a final gift to the dead and the living alike.

Narrative Structure and Foreshadowing

The novel weaves together multiple timelines, points of view, and narrative voices (including the dead, the living, and the collective "we" of the ghosts). The structure mirrors the themes of memory, recursion, and the cyclical nature of grief. Foreshadowing is used throughout—early warnings from the psychic, hints of the mobster's true intentions, the recurring motif of salt and aftertaste—to build tension and thematic resonance.

Analysis

Aftertaste is a rich, inventive meditation on grief, memory, and the power of food to connect and heal. By blending magical realism with culinary fiction, Daria Lavelle crafts a story that is both emotionally resonant and philosophically provocative. The novel asks what it means to hold on to the past, to hunger for what's lost, and to risk everything for closure. Through Kostya's journey—from haunted child to sacrificial chef—the book explores the costs and gifts of love, the necessity of letting go, and the ways we use food, ritual, and story to make sense of loss. The supernatural elements serve as metaphors for the real work of mourning: the need to remember, to forgive, and ultimately to move on. In the end, Aftertaste suggests that the flavors of our lives—sweet, bitter, salty, sour—are what make us human, and that the aftertaste of love is what endures, long after the meal is done.

Last updated: July 9, 2025