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Book Review of Garlic and Sapphires : The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

Garlic and Sapphires : The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Bonnie avatar reviewed on + 420 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


I love this book! This is the third in what I believe is a trilogy of memoirs by this author, and this is the best. Oh, I really did enjoy the other two, or I wouldn't have gotten this one, but by now she is happily married and a mother, so we don't have to read about her sex life anymore. (I know, this really ages me.)
But this is the story of when she takes the job as the NYT's food critic, and before she even begins her picture is plastered in all the restaurants so the staff will know her when she arrives.
Ha! She becomes a master of disguise with the help of this really neat old lady, and a lady with a wig shop who really knows her stuff. What is great about the author's writing is that everyone becomes a character in her books. Everyone. She graces us with the most tempting recipes, and even prints her actual reviews of the places she ate in where usually, she was treated pretty shabbily, until she would arrive as herself. The comparisons were shocking. I was hooked on this book from the first page and not once did my attention wander. This is the kind of book that I carried around, in case I got a free minute here and there.