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trin's review against another edition
2.0
Mystery box book #34!
Half a history of Jell-O, half a memoir about the author and her mother; I found the former much more interesting than the latter, unfortunately, as there is significantly more of the family history. Rowbottom is from a family of Jell-O heiresses (incredible phrase to contemplate), but she tries to to make connections between all the bad things that have happened to her family -- which are bad, but sadly not atypical or even unusual -- and the legacy of everyone's favorite wiggly goo* and the patriarchy in general. Most of these connections feel...tenuous, at best.
Are they? Was it? I am not convinced. Sometimes a Jell-O mold is just a Jell-O mold.
*Not mine; I actually hate Jell-O and have not eaten it in...idk, 30+ years? Oops. Ideal audience.
Half a history of Jell-O, half a memoir about the author and her mother; I found the former much more interesting than the latter, unfortunately, as there is significantly more of the family history. Rowbottom is from a family of Jell-O heiresses (incredible phrase to contemplate), but she tries to to make connections between all the bad things that have happened to her family -- which are bad, but sadly not atypical or even unusual -- and the legacy of everyone's favorite wiggly goo* and the patriarchy in general. Most of these connections feel...tenuous, at best.
All women, [my mother] always said, are privy to a collective female unconscious. The girls in LeRoy [the town where Jell-O was founded and from which Rowbottom's family hails] suffered in particular . . . because they lived beneath the weight of an insular and conservative community, one that was itself colored by Jell-O, which was itself cursed by its complicity in conforming and molding women."
Are they? Was it? I am not convinced. Sometimes a Jell-O mold is just a Jell-O mold.
*Not mine; I actually hate Jell-O and have not eaten it in...idk, 30+ years? Oops. Ideal audience.
daumari's review
3.0
I felt obligated to read this after Allie showed up on two of the podcasts I listen to (Gastropod's episode on gelatin/jelly, and the Sporkful posting a guest episode from Household Name). While the history of the Jell-O company is sprinkled throughout, like the subtitle says this is primarily biography- first, of Allie's grandmother Midge, and then mostly about her mother, Mary.
Family history, feminism, and Jell-O's marketing strategies throughout the years are deftly woven into a quick pageturner. Looking at other GR ratings, opinions seem pretty mixed, and I wonder if that's due to expectations. This isn't a microhistory of Jell-O, nor does it focus on the inventor's family (the man who sold it to the Woodwards, who Allie is related to by marriage). However, it's an alright piece for the mother-daughter genre.
Family history, feminism, and Jell-O's marketing strategies throughout the years are deftly woven into a quick pageturner. Looking at other GR ratings, opinions seem pretty mixed, and I wonder if that's due to expectations. This isn't a microhistory of Jell-O, nor does it focus on the inventor's family (the man who sold it to the Woodwards, who Allie is related to by marriage). However, it's an alright piece for the mother-daughter genre.
jess_mango's review
3.0
Part Memoir, Part family history, Part food history, and part something else.
What to listen to while reading...
Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane
From the Beginning by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Jello on My Mind by Half Moon Run
Last Hope by Paramore
Inner Demons by Julia Brennan
Now I'm in It by HAIM
What to listen to while reading...
Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane
From the Beginning by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Jello on My Mind by Half Moon Run
Last Hope by Paramore
Inner Demons by Julia Brennan
Now I'm in It by HAIM
erakow13's review
5.0
I found this book at a thrift store, so I had absolutely no expectations going in. Easily one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. The interlacing of research and history, personal anecdotes and family legacy, deep emotional intimacy and societal observations - I loved it so much. Skillfully written and smartly arranged, the stories of Rowbottom’s family juxtaposed with the rich history of Jell-O as a cultural phenomenon was a compelling, heartwrenching, gorgeous read.
ehtomb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This book blew me out of the water. Far from what I expected but an excellent memoir. Really shows how evil things like marketing can be. A re telling of three generations of women who descend from jello money and the curse they feel haunts their family. Talks a lot about trauma, how that connects to womanhood, and the transformation of culture. Loved it
sterlingisreading's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Part family history, part memoir, part cultural examination of an iconic American product. In 1899, Allie Rowbottom’s great-great-great uncle bought the patent for Jell-O, making the family immensely wealthy for generations to come. Her mother believed there was a family curse related to the way they made their fortune, leaving the family haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and mysterious ailments. (I’m not too swayed by “The Jell-O Curse” angle, everyone’s family has some darkness and misfortune. But as a literary device, it works beautifully to weave everything together.) The stuff about Jell-O’s history in American culture was really interesting, the way the marketing was always manipulating women, first to be the perfect little housewife and then decades later re-emerging as a pillar of toxic diet fads. Allie Rowbottom writes about feminism and women with so much empathy and insight, it honestly makes me want to be more gentle with myself and the other women in my life.
mam22nov's review
2.0
Not my cup of tea. I thought there were a few too many liberties taken with the characters' inner feelings and motivations. I felt she was personally struggling to explain or understand the women who came before her in her family, but that it was proving difficult to detach from a modern-day feminist viewpoint to get a clear picture of what they might have been thinking or feeling. I wondered why she didn't use any excerpts from her mother's notebooks, if it felt too personal or wasn't a good example of her mother's authentic voice. It just felt a little self-indulgent.