Helpful Score: 6
This book is completely not what the title, cover image, or some of the write-ups suggests. I picked it up because I enjoy cooking and have quite a collection of cookbooks. My second reason was that some reviewers likened to books to Jane Austen - a favorite author. Unfortunately, this book has very little to do with either. It actually ended up being about the dot com rise and fall and other historic events surrounding that time periods. There is a cookbook collector in the book, but still!
Helpful Score: 3
I started this book thinking it would be TOTALLY different then it ended up being. The title is vague at best in relating back to the plot. None the less, it was an excellent book. It tells the story of a couple caught up in the dot.com era and adds 9/11 in at the end in a very unexpected twist. It was good, I almost didn't put it up for swap having considered adding it to my collection. Almost.
Helpful Score: 2
This is the April selection for my bookclub. I had a very hard time getting thru it. There are so many characters. It starts around 1999. Two sisters, Emily and Jess. Topics are: Silicon Valley, bookstore, philosophy, IPOs, enviromental issues, Jewish mysticism, and finally cookbooks...The interest just faded.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was disappointing to me. It was billed as a delicious novel about appetite, temptation, and fulfillment yet I did not find it so. The author says the book is about hunger for life, love, security, but the characters were superficial at best. Certainly the hunger part of the story was clear with the race between the technology companies to roll out their products first, but this didnt translate to the authors goal to portray dreaming instead of living. There were too many side characters and subplots that were not fleshed out. The only really enjoyable part of the story was about the cookbook collection, which amazingly was not that large a part to the overall story.
So where is the cookbook collector? This part of the story is introduced halfway through the book with a collection that comes up for sale to George (an antique book dealer) after the collectors death. He goes to see the collection which is crammed into every available space in a kitchen, all the cabinets even the oven are full of books. George asks Jess to help him catalog the collection. That part of the book was interesting, with some nice descriptions of actual antique cookbooks and cookbook lore. The story slows for a while, as the author describes the notes left on the books by the original collector. Here the novel comes close to making a statement about savoring life, not just reading about it, in a scene with Jess and a peach. I much would have preferred a full story about the collector, his unrequited love, the search for and acquisition of the antique books, and his thoughts and feelings set down in the notes paper clipped to the pages of the books.
So, did I miss the point of the book? I dont think so. I think that the author became so wrapped up in the technology part of the story that the title story was left behind. The events of the time play a role as well, and that becomes a bit of a sidetrack with the technology boom, and the dot-com bubble burst, along with 9-11. I kept thinking to myself, so when are we going to get to the cookbook collector? It was so far into the book that I began to think that there wasnt going to be one and the title was a metaphor. When the collection finally appears, George does do some dreaming about cooking for Jess, but it is not the entire focus of the story, and shortly after we are back to current events.
The author couldnt seem to decide which story she wanted to tell. There is the technology story with meteoric rises and crashes, the antique book seller described as older yet he is only 36 when the novel begins, the dynamic between two sisters who are opposites in personality and life goals, then with a whole new mystery thrown in at the end as they search for the Jewish roots they never knew they had. It has been said that the author was a modern-day Jane Austin, but the book only has a superficial resemblance to Sense and Sensibility. There are two sisters, and one has a complicated relationship with two men, but thats about it.
So, would I recommend this book? Yes and no. I know a lot of people just loved it, which is why I picked it up in the first place. It didnt meet my expectations, but you might enjoy it. Just go into it knowing that it isnt about a cookbook collector.
So where is the cookbook collector? This part of the story is introduced halfway through the book with a collection that comes up for sale to George (an antique book dealer) after the collectors death. He goes to see the collection which is crammed into every available space in a kitchen, all the cabinets even the oven are full of books. George asks Jess to help him catalog the collection. That part of the book was interesting, with some nice descriptions of actual antique cookbooks and cookbook lore. The story slows for a while, as the author describes the notes left on the books by the original collector. Here the novel comes close to making a statement about savoring life, not just reading about it, in a scene with Jess and a peach. I much would have preferred a full story about the collector, his unrequited love, the search for and acquisition of the antique books, and his thoughts and feelings set down in the notes paper clipped to the pages of the books.
So, did I miss the point of the book? I dont think so. I think that the author became so wrapped up in the technology part of the story that the title story was left behind. The events of the time play a role as well, and that becomes a bit of a sidetrack with the technology boom, and the dot-com bubble burst, along with 9-11. I kept thinking to myself, so when are we going to get to the cookbook collector? It was so far into the book that I began to think that there wasnt going to be one and the title was a metaphor. When the collection finally appears, George does do some dreaming about cooking for Jess, but it is not the entire focus of the story, and shortly after we are back to current events.
The author couldnt seem to decide which story she wanted to tell. There is the technology story with meteoric rises and crashes, the antique book seller described as older yet he is only 36 when the novel begins, the dynamic between two sisters who are opposites in personality and life goals, then with a whole new mystery thrown in at the end as they search for the Jewish roots they never knew they had. It has been said that the author was a modern-day Jane Austin, but the book only has a superficial resemblance to Sense and Sensibility. There are two sisters, and one has a complicated relationship with two men, but thats about it.
So, would I recommend this book? Yes and no. I know a lot of people just loved it, which is why I picked it up in the first place. It didnt meet my expectations, but you might enjoy it. Just go into it knowing that it isnt about a cookbook collector.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a good summer reading where I kept wanting to pick up the book and read it. It flips from different characters and point of view, which I enjoyed because I keep craving to know more about the character before so I keep wanting to read. I found it at Goodwill and picked it up based on the food and titled. I enjoyed the relationships and dynamics. The ending was not what I expected. If you liked this book, I also recently read The Whole World Over by Julia Glass which reminded me of a similar style of flipping from character to character, but I enjoyed Glass' book more. I was a bit shocked to find so many requests for Goodman's book on paperback swap and non for Glass.
