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263rd out of 547 books
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2,809 voters
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Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (With Recipes)
by
Nancy Spiller (Goodreads Author)
In print, FW, the unnamed freelance Food Writer of Nancy Spiller’s sardonic debut novel, Entertaining Disasters, lives high on the food chain in the heady realm of L.A.’s culinary journalism scene. She waxes poetic about her hip home gatherings, thinly veiling the identities of her Hollywood guest list. But in reality, FW’s been inventing the dinner parties she writes abou...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
January 6th 2009
by Counterpoint
(first published January 1st 2009)
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This book surprised me more than anything. Initially I thought it was going to be fairly predictable, however, it ended up being written more like a memoir. Actually, a confessional seems to be the better word. It was witty, raw, and honest. Throughout the novel the narrator comes across as disconnected, especially with her husband, who she refers to as "Somebody" or "Someone." Yet, the farther into the book the reader goes, the more it is shown that her disconnection is mere...more
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I picked this up at the library without knowing anything about it or its author and was pleasantly surprised. I love being surprised by a good book. The novel spans only a week, when the narrator, who writes a cooking and entertaining column based mostly on fabricated dinner parties, must finally prepare to host a real dinner party. This week of anxieties, reflections, sharp observations and humor, as well as recipes that reflect her subject matter and perspective, is interspersed with flashb...more
I loved Nancy Spiller’s novel — a richly-layered tale of food and family, seasoned with recipes. FW, an unnamed LA food writer, is famous for her descriptions of intimate and coveted dinner parties, but these fetes are imaginary: She makes them up. When a visiting food critic invites himself to one of these parties, cracks appear in FW’s tenuous façade. As she prepares for what promises to be a disaster, she is forced to dip into a past that threatens to consume her. FW’s mother, once a great c...more
I thought this would be a fun, frothy romp about dinner parties gone awry or something like that but, it turned out to be a fictitious memoir that reads a lot more seriously. The main character is a food writer who has become successful writing about all the fabulous dinner parties she has. The catch is that she really doesn't host these dinner parties at all...they are all creations of her mind. As she finds herself confronted with the task of actually planning and pulling off a real dinner p...more
I couldn't finish this book. It took me 11 days to get to page 100 and I thought I would rip my eyes out while reading it. It was so boring. It wasn't bad and it wasn't good; it was just boring. I wasn't interested in the character from the beginning, who by the way doesn't have a name. She's just known as FW (Food Writer) and her husband is known as Somebody. I tried to continue reading b/c the recipes at the end of the chapters were pretty good, but I decided if it didn't get interesting...more
Don't be fooled by the title, this novel is not a superficial story about a foodie's faux pas hosting dinner parties, but a unique creation by the author to weave fiction into memoir. Through creating this memoir, the narrator, who is unnamed, carries the reader along the journey of her life. Paragraphs of the past are interwoven with the present preoccupation of preparing for a dinner party. We are allowed to see how the circumstances of the past, the pain of a mentally ill family memb...more
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Plot Summary: Los Angeles-based freelance food journalist “FW,” who built her career writing stories about her sumptuous but fictional dinner parties, agrees to host a bigwig food editor, setting her into a panic. The novel chronicles the week leading up to the dreaded event, juxtaposed against her dysfunctional family background.
Appeals: fictional memoir; food writing; dysfunctional families; novel with recipes
Appeals: fictional memoir; food writing; dysfunctional families; novel with recipes
Interesting--the story of a magazine columnist for food stories who supposedly holds fancy dinner parties, but as it turns out she doesn't actually do so, just writes about them.
Rose
added it
An interesting combination of "foodie" novel aspects combined with a pretty intense unfolding story of a highly dysfunctional family. Overall,I really liked it.
I read about halfway through this book and had to keep putting it down. It was depressing and finally I just quit for good and took it back to the library.
The main character is annoying, self-centered, so I didn't like the parts about her current day life issues. But I did like the blasts into her childhood and her crazy mother and how the family coped. The recipes at the end of each chapter were fun to connect to the story. But it is a far cry from LIke Water for Chocolate or Glass Castle.
Right. So if someone can explain to me why this is a book. Or what the point is. Or how I can get back the last 309 pages of my life...
To give this one star is generous. I did not like one thing about this book - not the writing, not the story, not the characters, not the main character's life, not the recipes. It was pretty much a waste of time with no point, at least that I could find.
To give this one star is generous. I did not like one thing about this book - not the writing, not the story, not the characters, not the main character's life, not the recipes. It was pretty much a waste of time with no point, at least that I could find.
Self indulgent claptrap. Yet another whiny discourse on alienation, this one from the ignored youngest daughter. Even the recipes are boring.
Okay...I cannot say enought great things about the "fiction with food genre" - I absolutely love reading a novel that combines recipes and soul food into the storyline. Spiller's novel is one of the best yet I have read in this newly discovered genre.
Now, I must read "Julie and Julia" before the movie comes out!
Now, I must read "Julie and Julia" before the movie comes out!
Couldn't get into this book. Browsed the recipes but even they didn't interest me much.
Julia
added it
funny...sort of sad.
Nothing happens in this book. Literally nothing. The unnamed narrator spends the entire novel agonizing over one dinner party as she ricochets through ever more obscure culinary tangents. The recipes are unrelated to the book and unexecutable. Spiller writes a witty sentence, which might sucker you into thinking this will be an entertaining "romp," but don't be fooled. It's one of the most static books I've ever read.
strange
Didn't finish it. Lost interest.
I loved the beginning. Laughed out loud. But when the story got into sounding like a fake memoir with the family history it got so boring for me. I tried to keep reading it but it was so much work to stay with it that I quit after about 100 pages. If she kept to the dinner party story I might have really liked it.
If you have ever been the least bit afraid to entertain you will relate to this story. Whatever can go wrong will. I still think the author should have given specific directions for Opera Cake for those of us wishing to bave he recipe!
I made it to page 25 and returned it to the library. I really thought I would like this, but NOT.SO.MUCH.
This looks like fun, can't wait until it gets here. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I did enjoy it.
so maybe i bought this book because of the cover...
This was okay, I don't suggest it, but it was okay.
I wasn't impressed.
Sarah Hankins
marked it as to-read
Lisa
marked it as to-read
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