The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship

by Andrea Israel, Nancy Garfinkel

book data

110 ratings, 3.27 average rating, 54 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		14%
4		28%
3		32%
2		19%
1		5%

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published

October 1st 2009 by Polhemus Press

details

Hardcover, 400 pages

isbn

0982349203 (isbn13: 9780982349205)

description

Loyalty, loss, and the ties that bind. These are the ingredients of The Recipe Club, a "novel cookbook" that combines an authentic story of …more

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Jan 01, 2010

Michelle Shannon added it (review of isbn 0061992194)

"I had absolutely no expectations about this book when I started, other than I hoped to get a few recipes to try on my family out of the deal. Instead, I found an enjoyable read that kept me turning the page. [return][return][return]I have to admit that the subject matter itself was extremely painful. Who hasn't experienced at least one tumultuous relationship with a girlfriend while growing up? Then I started thinking about Val and Lilly's relationship? Did Lilly truly ever like Val? ...more "I had absolutely no expectations about this book when I started, other than I hoped to get a few recipes to try on my family out of the deal. Instead, I found an enjoyable read that kept me turning the page. [return][return][return]I have to admit that the subject matter itself was extremely painful. Who hasn't experienced at least one tumultuous relationship with a girlfriend while growing up? Then I started thinking about Val and Lilly's relationship? Did Lilly truly ever like Val? Lilly accuses Val of being needy, but is she really? So many questions, so many left unanswered...[return][return][return]I personally related more to Val. I felt she was more down-to-earth and just more me. She seemed more forgiving of the two and tolerant of Lilly's brush-offs and erratic behavior. Because I could relate more to her experiences, this definitely tainted my opinion of Lilly, to the point where I was willing to forgive Val for her faults but not Lilly.[return][return][return]I do feel that the ending appeared a bit contrived. After thirty-plus years of being apart, I have my doubts as to whether any future relationship would be a strong one. In my opinion, there is too much baggage, too much emotional damage from the years apart. [return][return][return]I love how well the letters and the recipes tell the story. It was by far my favorite part of the book. The growth of the characters through their individual letters is poignant and yet extremely realistic. I also enjoyed how that as Val and Lilly age, everything about the story does as well - from the verbiage and sentence structure to the experiences to the moods to their thoughts. The recipes themselves were okay. While there are one or two I want to try, most of them I felt were nothing earth-shattering or ground-breaking on the culinary front. I imagine I could find better recipes online in a thirty-second search. However, as the recipes are only the backdrop to the story, I am okay with generic ones I could find in Betty Crocker. [return][return][return]Overall, I really enjoyed The Recipe Club. It did dredge up some painful memories of childhood friendships, but it is good to reflect on how wise that pain made me today. I have yet to try one of the recipes in the book, but I have my eye on the chocolate cake recipe in there. That one definitely had my mouth watering! Thank you to Caitlin Price from FSB Associates for the opportunity to review this book!"(less)

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Jan 29, 2010

Bookworm rated it:

Read in January, 2010

The Recipe Club is one of those books that grabs your attention and does not let go. If I didn't have to work full time and tend to two children, I would have finished this one in one sitting, instead, I read it in two.

Lilly and Val are lifelong friends who haven't spoken in 26 years due to a falling out. Lilly is outgoing, flirty and dramatic, Val is the shy one, who tends to have her nose in a book and feels insecure most of the time.

In April of 2000, when Val's mothe...more

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Nov 14, 2009

Chocolate & Croissants rated it:

Many cultures focus important events and celebrations around food. The Recipe Club is no exception as readers are introuced to the lives of Val and Lily.

The Recipe Club is a compilation of emails and letters written back and forth between Val and Lily. Friends since their childhood they have not spoken in over 26 years. Both come from dysfunctional families with thier own issues that they struggle with as they come of age during the 60's. Val's mother is neurotic and constantly ...more

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Oct 22, 2009

Katrina rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2009-favorites

This heartwarming book was so creative and fun to read. It begins as emails going back and forth through two former friends. We can tell there is some tension and you immediately want to know why. The book then flashes backwards to the childhood of these friends, through Pen Pal type letters. The letters dont tell you everything like a book does. You never are privy to what happens between each letter or when the girls are together unless they write about it to each other. With the letters they...more

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Sep 15, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

Lilly and Valerie used to be the best of friends. Something happened along the way that shook them both. Neither Valerie nor Lilly could recover after that. It has been years since they have spoken.

Valerie’s mother pasted away last month. She realizes it is about time to put the past behind them. She sends Lilly an email. Lilly responds. When Valerie goes through her mom’s possessions, she finds old letters that she and Lilly wrote each other as well as the recipes they shared w...more

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Jan 08, 2010

Libby rated it:

Read in January, 2010

What a delicious book!! Full of wit and wisdom and some very tasty recipes.... Life as seen through the eyes of Val and Lily, two childhood friends that trip through the sixties and seventies with the background of a recipe club. Woven between delicate measures of love, loss, and all sorts of emotional challenges that represent all of humanity.
The book opens up after twenty-six years of separation, trying to pick up the threads of the ignored relationship. The reader is ushered throu...more

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Feb 11, 2010

Tina DC rated it:

bookshelves: vine

Read in February, 2010

"The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship" by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel was a delight to read, and a unique treat to the eyes. The work was put together like a collection of correspondence, with recipes, illustrations, and visual surprises interspersed sort of scrapbook style.

Except for a few short sections, the novel is penned as an epistolary. It begins with emails exchanged between long estranged friends, then presents the reader with a collection of let...more

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Jan 19, 2010

Denise rated it:

Read in January, 2010

Perhaps it is my passion for cooking that initially drew me to this book, thinking that I would be entertained by the kitchen antics of a hobby cooks. What a delicious surprise, instead, to delve into the passionate and tumultous story of a friendship between two women that defines and connects them over the space of 30 years.

While the story of Val's and Lilly's frienship begins during their childhood, the authors set the reader up for suspense by beginning the tale 26 years after t...more Perhaps it is my passion for cooking that initially drew me to this book, thinking that I would be entertained by the kitchen antics of a hobby cooks. What a delicious surprise, instead, to delve into the passionate and tumultous story of a friendship between two women that defines and connects them over the space of 30 years.

While the story of Val's and Lilly's frienship begins during their childhood, the authors set the reader up for suspense by beginning the tale 26 years after the two women have last spoken with each other. Val and Lilly come together after the death of Val's mother. After an mutual attempt to rekindle the friendship, tension mounts and the frienship once again comes to an end.

We are then transported back in time to when Val and Lilly initially forged their friendship as pen pals connected by their promise to exchange a recipe with each letter. (While they do not live in the same city, they see each other occasionally.) The story unfolds through the exchange of letters and the recipes serve to not only connect the girls but to also provide the reader with a glimpse into their lives. Lovelorn Lasagna,Conspiracy Apple Pie, Wash-Away-the-Blues Berry Cobbler, Wild Girl Mushroom Salad, Forgiveness Tapenade, Double Date Blintzes, First-Kiss Caramel Almond Kisses are among the 100-plus recipes that season the story.

I appreciated the light-heartedness that the recipes brought to the sometimes serious and sad nature of Val's and Lilly's lives. I also felt that the recipes added another dimension to the characters. I found myself looking forward to the next letter not only for the exchange of words, but also for the whimsical recipes.

I also enjoyed the element of suspense and surprise conveyed by the jump in timelines. It was very effective on the authors' part to impart the sense of mystery in the beginning of the story as to why Val's and Lilly's friendship came to an end. One can't help but to forge ahead to find the defining moments.

In the end, I was completely taken by surprise by the turn of events. What a climactic and happy ending.

Ironically, with the surplus of recipes provided, I found only a handful that piqued my interest, but then again, the recipes truly serve as a storytelling tool. What a creative and novel way of telling a story. (less)

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Nov 10, 2009

Lisa rated it:

Read in November, 2009

recommended to Lisa by: Tattered Cover Book Store
recommends it for: Book Clubs and Best Friends

This is more than a novel about friendship - it is a wonderful cook book with more than 80 recipes. It is the story of Val and Lily told in letters. It opens with emails in the current time of Val trying to reconnect with her best friend from childhood. They'd had a terribly argument which ended their friendship in the 70s. As they reconnect, you find out about them as people now and then the second part of the book shares their childhood letters and recipes (that are good and all tried and true...more

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Nov 20, 2009

Leola rated it:

Read in December, 2009

From the time I picked up "The Recipe Club" by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel I never could stop reading without getting the jitters to get back to this book. It's such a powerful book about friendship, family and just plain life. Valerie and Lilly write to each other for years. Included in the letters are wonderful recipes. These recipes seem to fit whatever is happening in their life or whatever they are thinking about at that time or not thinking about at that time. So, there are r...more From the time I picked up "The Recipe Club" by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel I never could stop reading without getting the jitters to get back to this book. It's such a powerful book about friendship, family and just plain life. Valerie and Lilly write to each other for years. Included in the letters are wonderful recipes. These recipes seem to fit whatever is happening in their life or whatever they are thinking about at that time or not thinking about at that time. So, there are recipes named: Conspiracy Apple pie, Chocolate-dipped cookies and Opera cake with more recipes I haven't named.

Val and Lilly are totally different in temperament. In the early years Lilly is anxious to break free and experience life. She doesn't necessarily need a friend's support. She wonders what sex is like. She wants to go all the way and soon, like now. Val isn't in such a hurry. She's willing to wait for an oral report from Lilly about that deeper intimacy. She goes to college while Lillypad, this is what Val sometimes calls Lilly. Lilly fights against going to college.

These girls have way different personalities. I thought friendship was based on our "shared likes." Well, we aren't given a elementary school reader about how to make a friend. We just fall in to sharing our chocolate chip cookie and peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the little girl or boy who stands close to us during a spelling bee or at recess. We hope in our subconscious this person will magically like what we like to eat, what we like to play and what we like to laugh at on television.

I really paid attention when Lilly and Val began to show and speak their differences to one another. Guess what! It is allowable. The friendship won't necessarily fall apart. Friends might grow closer. There are just periods of time out.

It is fascinating to read this long correspondence. Because we also learn about each girl's families. Both girls have interesting mothers and fathers. Lilly's mom is a drama queen, actress, runaway wife. While Val's mom is stuck in a painful mental state not able to do or say much to Val without crying or hiding herself for days on end. Lilly's father, Isaac, is a Psychologist, an extrovert. while Val's father is quiet, gentle, almost invisible. I suppose the behaviors of both mothers and fathers explains the Psychology of both Val and Lilly and Ben, Lilly's brother.

I loved some of the illustrations in the book. One sticks out to me the red "get out of jail" card. While protesting the Viet Nam war two of these people are thrown in jail. Then, there is the big, red question mark. On the dot of the question mark are the words "Who ARE You?" The question mark is all about one of the girl's not feeling she knows or understands the other girl any longer. There is an identity crisis going on between friends.

I could go on and on about "The Recipe Club." I didn't know the olive symbolized patience and peace. Smilingly I admit to not knowing my parents led a life before I entered their world. Have you ever thought about silent trash trucks? When we were small, did we know life could grow so complicated, more complicated than Darwin's Star orchid? Ok, now I can take a deep breath. I already miss Val, Ben and Valerie. Maybe I should write a longhand letter to a friend. That might make me feel better. Oh, in the letter I must include my apple fritter recipe. Great book. (less)

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Nov 04, 2009

Renee rated it:

I was not overly excited by this book once I started reading. I figured out the shocking secret very early on so there was little to which to look forward. When the author finally disclosed the secret, it was like ho-hum, I knew that already and there was no excitement leading up to the discovery.

I enjoyed the recipes and especially like that there is an index to them in the back of the book. I found what I think is a glaring writing and editorial oversight. On page 92, Val says "...more

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Nov 10, 2009

Nely rated it:

bookshelves: for-review

Read in November, 2009

Lilly and Val have been friends their whole lives.

Yet the story starts with an e-mail where you soon learn that they have not talked to each other in over two decades.

Although you are initially introduced to Val and Lilly in the 21st century, you quickly jump to their first letters and the start of their Recipe Club some thirty years earlier when they are young girls. Although the story is told in epistolary fashion - I found it quite unique and entertaining to read it th...more Lilly and Val have been friends their whole lives.

Yet the story starts with an e-mail where you soon learn that they have not talked to each other in over two decades.

Although you are initially introduced to Val and Lilly in the 21st century, you quickly jump to their first letters and the start of their Recipe Club some thirty years earlier when they are young girls. Although the story is told in epistolary fashion - I found it quite unique and entertaining to read it this way. Through their letters and e-mails you learn of Valerie and Lilly's friendship, their parents, school and how each girl grows up to be the woman you first encounter at the beginning of the story. You are taken through a young girl's insecurities, to first sexual encounters, college, drugs, dreams of being famous, etc., and through it all there is a recipe that somehow coincides and goes perfectly with whatever situation or mood they are in.

I loved all the little details - from the doodling on the corners, to the different fonts, titles and colored papers used for the recipes. I love the signatures at the bottom of each letter (ValPal; Lillypad) - just by that you could tell how each girl was growing up as they slowly change throughout the course of the book.

I will forewarn that since it is basically a compilation of e-mails and letters, you are only privy to their lives as they write about it - you only get glimpses as to what happens between each letter, and that includes the times when the girls are together, unless they write about it you don't truly know what goes on. But in the end it really worked for me. I found it engrossing andI couldn't help but want to read more and more in order to get to the heart of their strife.

It is a heartwarming tale of two girls that you can only hope can overcome their differences and make it through stronger in the end. It is a story about friendship, love, loss, forgiveness and hope. This is feel-good chick-lit that I can definitely recommend.(less)

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Oct 09, 2009

Diane rated it:

Read in October, 2009

After falling in love with Julie and Julia, I was thrilled to have received a copy of : The Recipe Club: A Tale of Love and Friendship. (This book was received from Caitlin Price at FSB Associates).

(about the book--from amazon.com)

Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. V...more After falling in love with Julie and Julia, I was thrilled to have received a copy of : The Recipe Club: A Tale of Love and Friendship. (This book was received from Caitlin Price at FSB Associates).

(about the book--from amazon.com)

Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic—and surprisingly ambitious—struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true.

In childhood, “LillyPad” and “Valpal” vow to form an exclusive two-person club. Throughout the decades they write intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets—and recipes, from Lilly’s “Lovelorn Lasagna” to Valerie’s “Forgiveness Tapenade.” Readers can cook along as the girls travel through time, facing the challenges of independence; the joys and heartbreaks of first love; and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred.
But no matter what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart, Lilly and Val always find their way back together through their Recipe Club . . . until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal.

Now, decades later, while trying to recapture the trust they’ve lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more—only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer?

My Thoughts: I generally like epistolary style novels, and I thought this book was very good. I enjoyed the friendship aspect of the story of these gals, polar opposites, who began as pen pals, writing letters, and exchanging recipes at an early age. As the girls entered adulthood, letters turned into emails, and the carefree life and secrets of childhood, became real life problems and stresses of adulthood. I also enjoyed the way some 80 recipes were included, along with photos and illustrations. I actually tried the Starry Night Scampi and the Stuffed Peppers (which we enjoyed), and hope to try the Peanut Butter Blondie bars soon too. If you are looking for something more in a novel than a story about the trials and tribulations of friendship, then this book may be worth a try.
RECOMMENDED(less)

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Jan 27, 2010

Katie O rated it:

Read in January, 2010

Ingredients:

- 2 poorly fleshed out characters, preferably stereotypes that you feel like you've met before. One should be smart and awkward, the other a self centered performer type starved for love and attention (a good example would be CC and Hillary from "Beaches")

- Add a dash of adult characters who all seem to be co-dependent or otherwise mentally unstable.

- 1 incredibly trite "twist" that you see coming from about page 30.

...more

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Feb 10, 2010

Jessica rated it:

Read in February, 2010

This was an interesting book, but the story was a little unbelievable especially at the end and I was a little disappointed. The story follows two friends, Val and Lilly. When the book begins the friends have reconnected after years apart because Val's mother died, but when they try to re-establish their friendship there is too much drama from the past and they end things again. Then the book goes back to their childhood friendship when they created the recipe club where they exchanged letter...more

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Dec 17, 2009

Wanda rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, fiction-and-literature, womens-fiction

Read in December, 2009

I started The Recipe Club today and quite honestly, it is a very fast read; however, it is not a very good book. The book's premise is correspondence between two girls and in those letters, they share a recipe - hence, the Recipe Club. But along the way, life's distractions throw the club to the side and the girls go their separate ways. There is a big, dark secret which is hinted at and finally revealed and guess what? It was not really a big, dark secret - if you are astute enough, you can fig...more

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Nov 19, 2009

Staci rated it:

bookshelves: 2009-reads, book-from-publisher

Read in November, 2009

I found this book to be truly enjoyable. I loved how it started out with Lilly and Val re-connecting via email and then we progress to go back into time and experience the letters and recipes that they exchanged throughout their tumultuous friendship. I liked both of the characters but I seemed to be more drawn to the reserve and quiet Val. The only thing that was a drawback for me were the recipes. They seemed to be too involved and not anything that I would remotely be interested in making. Wi...more

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Jan 24, 2010

Sandra rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Two friends share their childhood through letters to each other always including a recipe. As they pass through school and on to college, their friendship seemingly comes to an end for twenty-six years. A death and the revealing of a shocking secret cause the friends to come together again. Time will only tell whether they can work through the problems that this secret brings. Recipes and an intriguing story of growing up in the 60’s and 70’s will keep the reader satisfied. The twist in...more

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Jan 21, 2010

Barb rated it:

bookshelves: barb-s-50-books-in-2010

Read in January, 2010

I am not sure how I feel about this book. I don't really like it but I don't give up on it either. It is a collection of letters/emails between two friends as they grow up. There are recipes on every other page or so but they aren't recipes that I would think kids would make so it seems kind of unrealistic in that aspect. The letters and emails are kind of "coming of age" sort of stuff. Not sure how I feel about this yet. Hopefully I decide by the time I finish. Well, not that I...more

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Dec 30, 2009

Noelle rated it:

Read in December, 2009

An intimate look at a lifelong friendship told through emails, letters and recipes. It tells the story of two girls who's lives are intertwined yet take them down different paths. Both struggle with dysfunctional families and family secrets which tear them apart and bring them back together.

I enjoyed this book as it was a quick read and we all can relate to certain aspects of their lives. I also liked the format of the book, written as correspondences over the years. The recipes ...more

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