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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
What a lovely book! Bauermeister weaves a story of eight individuals who attend a cooking class at a local restaurant - where they learn about food, about themselves, and about each other. I only wish I could attend a class like Lillian's and eat at her restaurant!
I found this book difficult to follow. The stories seem beautiful, but just as I was getting to know a character, the story changed. Loved all the food connections though!
The perfect palate cleanser to help me out of a reading rut.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So enjoyable. Read during the pandemic and ice storm of 2021, I delighted in reading about warm friendships, a warm kitchen, and the redemptive power of food. The structure of the book threaded pasts to the present, and each character was fully and satisfyingly drawn. [There were a few sentences where I wished an editor had caught awkward construction or strange word choice, but those detractions were only momentary.]
The premise of this book is so simple that I'm still surprised I enjoyed it so much, but perhaps its simplicity is what makes it so elegant and personal. When you first arrive at a gathering of strangers -- in this case, a cooking class -- you bring your own backstory, emotions, and current worries with you, while knowing nothing of anyone else's. What you bring colors what you're looking for from the experience and what you take away from it.
Each chapter of this book represents one person in the group who attends Lillian's monthly cooking class, including Lillian herself. Each time, we get to see what happens in that month's class, interwoven with that person's life experiences. And as the months progress, not only does each person grow and learn from their experiences in the class, but they begin to reach out and form relationships with one another -- teaching each other, caring for each other.
What makes this book beautiful is Bauermeister's ability to capture with language exactly how certain moments feel. Unfortunately, this is marred somewhat by her heavy use of metaphors and similes -- every single thing is compared to something else, and it becomes distracting after a while. If she could cut out the constant comparisons and instead let her descriptions of smells, tastes, and emotions speak for themselves, it would be perfect.
I didn't expect to become so emotionally invested in the characters' lives, but it's easy to do so when their stories are so familiar -- the new mother, the struggling teenager, the widower, the old woman losing her memory. Rather than being stock characters, they are recognizable as people in one's own life. Their stories are unique enough to add dimension, but universal enough to be familiar.
I read this as an audiobook and enjoyed Cassandra Campbell's presentation very much. She manages to give each character a distinct voice that is maintained throughout, and (at least to my American ears) she succeeds at the variety of accents demanded by the text -- Italian, Mexican, French, Chinese.
This book offers plenty of simple life lessons -- it may prompt you to call your grandmother, kiss your spouse, or (most likely of all) take a cooking class. But it is unlikely to leave you unmoved.
Each chapter of this book represents one person in the group who attends Lillian's monthly cooking class, including Lillian herself. Each time, we get to see what happens in that month's class, interwoven with that person's life experiences. And as the months progress, not only does each person grow and learn from their experiences in the class, but they begin to reach out and form relationships with one another -- teaching each other, caring for each other.
What makes this book beautiful is Bauermeister's ability to capture with language exactly how certain moments feel. Unfortunately, this is marred somewhat by her heavy use of metaphors and similes -- every single thing is compared to something else, and it becomes distracting after a while. If she could cut out the constant comparisons and instead let her descriptions of smells, tastes, and emotions speak for themselves, it would be perfect.
I didn't expect to become so emotionally invested in the characters' lives, but it's easy to do so when their stories are so familiar -- the new mother, the struggling teenager, the widower, the old woman losing her memory. Rather than being stock characters, they are recognizable as people in one's own life. Their stories are unique enough to add dimension, but universal enough to be familiar.
I read this as an audiobook and enjoyed Cassandra Campbell's presentation very much. She manages to give each character a distinct voice that is maintained throughout, and (at least to my American ears) she succeeds at the variety of accents demanded by the text -- Italian, Mexican, French, Chinese.
This book offers plenty of simple life lessons -- it may prompt you to call your grandmother, kiss your spouse, or (most likely of all) take a cooking class. But it is unlikely to leave you unmoved.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Beautifully poetic, mindful, and evocative. Wonderfully narrated.
3.5 stars.
The food part of this book was splendid and tantalizing...I looked up a couple of recipes while reading it. The back-stories of the characters before they came to the cooking class were interesting, heart-wrenching, and I enjoyed the back-and-forth story structure as each character was explored during each cooking class, during the preparation of a specific dish or meal.
But the novel was short (240 pages), and I feel that this was only about 2/3 of the story. The novel begs, I believe, a deeper exploration of how the students' lives intertwined and changed because of the class, not just a line or two in the epilogue. Because of that, it just seemed incomplete. I know there is a certain appeal to open-endedness, and being able to imagine what happens to all the characters, but the drop-off point here was too soon.
I still liked it, though, and would recommend it, particularly to anyone who is interested in cooking.
The food part of this book was splendid and tantalizing...I looked up a couple of recipes while reading it. The back-stories of the characters before they came to the cooking class were interesting, heart-wrenching, and I enjoyed the back-and-forth story structure as each character was explored during each cooking class, during the preparation of a specific dish or meal.
But the novel was short (240 pages), and I feel that this was only about 2/3 of the story. The novel begs, I believe, a deeper exploration of how the students' lives intertwined and changed because of the class, not just a line or two in the epilogue. Because of that, it just seemed incomplete. I know there is a certain appeal to open-endedness, and being able to imagine what happens to all the characters, but the drop-off point here was too soon.
I still liked it, though, and would recommend it, particularly to anyone who is interested in cooking.
It was such a delicious and sensual literary ride. This was a novel that hugged you like a soft blanket on a cold day. Easy and cloud-like experience all the way through.