Matt McAllester lost his mother, Ann, long before she died, as mental illness snatched the once-elegant woman away and destroyed his childhood. In ...
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Jan 30, 2010
Catherine
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Mar 28, 2010
Holly
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The subtitle of this book ("lessons from my mother's kitchen") is misleading. This book is not primarily, nor mainly, nor even significantly about cooking. As the subtitle is the reason I chose the book from the library, you can imagine my disappointment.
I also didn't like the way he handled his wife's two (possibly three) failed attempts, through IVF, to have a child: he threw himself into learning about his recently deceased mother's mental illness and into cooking ( More...
I also didn't like the way he handled his wife's two (possibly three) failed attempts, through IVF, to have a child: he threw himself into learning about his recently deceased mother's mental illness and into cooking ( More...
Jul 23, 2009
I love memoirs. This is well written and certainly articulates the emotions one has regarding a loved one suffering from mental instabilities and/or illness. The cooking aspect is terrific.
As I was reading this I thought how wonderfully lucky I am to live in Ann Arbor and have librarians that know how to select great books for me, and the community at large.
Thank you librarians!
As I was reading this I thought how wonderfully lucky I am to live in Ann Arbor and have librarians that know how to select great books for me, and the community at large.
Thank you librarians!
Dec 21, 2009
Liana
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This book was written by a war correspondent, a Pulitzer prize winning war correspondent, I believe. His mother died and in his sorrow and in an attempt to heal the hurt, he turns to the memories of his mother in the kitchen. He learns to cook and learns to come to terms with her mental illness and his relationship with her.
May 05, 2011
Lauren
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I feel a little misled. I thought this would be a novel about food and cooking (since I bought it at the James Beard book sale), but really its the author's out-loud coming-to-terms with his mother's mental illness and eventual death. Not so appetizing.
On the plus side, there is a good recipe for strawberry ice cream hidden in its pages.
On the plus side, there is a good recipe for strawberry ice cream hidden in its pages.
Oct 08, 2011
Sarah
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This book seemed to be more about memories of his mother than cooking. I do understand how cooking played a part in triggering those memories, however, after picking this out of the cooking memoir section, I expected to hear more about cooking and less about a crazy mother. Overall an okay book.
Dec 20, 2009
Sarah
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I forgot I don't really like memoirs because they tend to be about depressing/dysfunctional childhoods. This was one of those. His mom had mental illness compounded with alcoholism. Sad.
Jan 28, 2010
Heather
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I loved the premise of this book--coping with loss by revisiting and remembering the the past, with food as a contributing character.
Jan 15, 2011
Reading
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read this review and others at http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/201...
Jul 21, 2009
Melissa
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Sep 24, 2010
Psirene
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I have a bipolar mom who cooked off and on until I left for college and now has problems remembering what goes in a simple dish. This book was very close to home except that my mother has food addictions vs a drink addiction. I would highly recommend it for lovers of food.
Nov 12, 2009
Traci
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A very good mix of anger and nostalgia that being a child of a mentally ill parent would bring
Jul 20, 2009
Lupine
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Not bad. Does have one of the best descriptions I have ever heard about how it feels to have a parent die on page 9.
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