Ginnie S. (gratefulgrama) reviewed Stir: A True Story of Food, Family, and Recovery from a Ruptured Brain Aneurysm on + 9 more book reviews
An interesting memoir, combining past and present events with recipes.
Jessica was a 28-year-old graduate student when a brain aneurysm ruptured as she was running on a treadmill. Had she been running outside as planned, she likely would not have survived. As it was, she required multiple surgeries, experienced multiple setbacks, and worked for many months to rebuild her life.
"Illness takes away plenty of big things. You can't work; you can't play. Worst of all, though, is the way it robs you of your everyday."
In addition to her husband and other family and her graduate studies, Jessica's "everyday" was food. She loved to plan meals, cook them, entertain, and experiment with new recipes. Her love for food and cooking was a major factor in her recovery.
"Food has powers. It picks us up from our lonely corners and sits us back down, together. It pulls us out of ourselves, to the kitchen, to the table, to the diner down the block. At the same time, it draws us inward. Food is the keeper of our memories, connecting us with our pasts and with our people...But there's also something simpler going on, I think, namely that it feels so good to eat. Because we're hungry, yes, but also because food allows us, in some small way, to act out who we are...Food--like art, like music--brings people together, it's true. It begins, though, with a private experience, a single person stirred, moved, and wanting company in that altered state. So we say, 'You have to taste this.' We say, 'Please, take a bite.' It is a pleasure not only to taste, but to have taste, to have our preferences exert themselves. It feels good to know what we like, because that's how we know who we are."
I think that, during Jessica's recovery, she felt she was losing who she was. Her vision was affected. Her sight was affected. Movement was restricted and her thought process confused. As she began to physically recover, however, she could reinvolve herself with food and, as she did that, it boosted her physical recovery.
"Unpacking groceries into the pantry, setting a pot of water to boil and a colander in the sink, toasting a lacy scatter of sesame seeds--that was my life creeping back in."
Jessica is to be praised for sticking to recovery work, despite its difficulties, despite its frustrations, and despite the pits of uncertainty and depression through which she had to come. In the book she dealt only slightly with the medical issues but gave the reader a good understanding of how she felt while dealing with her illness.
Minor negatives:
-I sometimes found the switching of time periods confusing.
-The food Jessica described and prepared sounded wonderful but the recipes were intimidating for this non-cook.
Recommended.
Jessica was a 28-year-old graduate student when a brain aneurysm ruptured as she was running on a treadmill. Had she been running outside as planned, she likely would not have survived. As it was, she required multiple surgeries, experienced multiple setbacks, and worked for many months to rebuild her life.
"Illness takes away plenty of big things. You can't work; you can't play. Worst of all, though, is the way it robs you of your everyday."
In addition to her husband and other family and her graduate studies, Jessica's "everyday" was food. She loved to plan meals, cook them, entertain, and experiment with new recipes. Her love for food and cooking was a major factor in her recovery.
"Food has powers. It picks us up from our lonely corners and sits us back down, together. It pulls us out of ourselves, to the kitchen, to the table, to the diner down the block. At the same time, it draws us inward. Food is the keeper of our memories, connecting us with our pasts and with our people...But there's also something simpler going on, I think, namely that it feels so good to eat. Because we're hungry, yes, but also because food allows us, in some small way, to act out who we are...Food--like art, like music--brings people together, it's true. It begins, though, with a private experience, a single person stirred, moved, and wanting company in that altered state. So we say, 'You have to taste this.' We say, 'Please, take a bite.' It is a pleasure not only to taste, but to have taste, to have our preferences exert themselves. It feels good to know what we like, because that's how we know who we are."
I think that, during Jessica's recovery, she felt she was losing who she was. Her vision was affected. Her sight was affected. Movement was restricted and her thought process confused. As she began to physically recover, however, she could reinvolve herself with food and, as she did that, it boosted her physical recovery.
"Unpacking groceries into the pantry, setting a pot of water to boil and a colander in the sink, toasting a lacy scatter of sesame seeds--that was my life creeping back in."
Jessica is to be praised for sticking to recovery work, despite its difficulties, despite its frustrations, and despite the pits of uncertainty and depression through which she had to come. In the book she dealt only slightly with the medical issues but gave the reader a good understanding of how she felt while dealing with her illness.
Minor negatives:
-I sometimes found the switching of time periods confusing.
-The food Jessica described and prepared sounded wonderful but the recipes were intimidating for this non-cook.
Recommended.
