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The Language of Baklava
Diana Abu-Jaber’s vibrant, humorous memoir weaves together stories of being raised by a food-obsessed Jordanian father with tales of Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts and goat stew feasts under Bedouin tents in the desert. These sensuously evoked repasts, complete with recipes, in turn illuminate the two cultures of Diana's childhood–American and Jordanian–while helping to...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Anchor
(first published March 15th 2005)
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I'd never even considered making my own pita bread until I read the seemingly simple recipe in Diana Abu-Jaber's wonderful memoir The Language of Baklava. In beautiful, resonant language, and delicious-sounding recipes (well, maybe not the Velveeta grilled-cheese sandwich one!) Abu-Jaber explores growing up between the culture of her expansive Jordanian father and that of her reserved and calm Irish-German-American mother. I too grew up in a multicultural household (not Arab in my case, but Sou...more
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I finished Diana Abu-Jaber's memoir The Language of Baklava, which I checked out from the library, and I may have to get a copy of this book. It's a wonderfully written memoir filled with memories and food recipes, much of which hailing from Abu-Jaber's Jordanian heritage from her father's side, but some others that are pulled from other places.
Much like Kim Sunée's Trail of Crumbs, which is another memoir mixed with recipes, Diana Abu-Jaber's recollections place a major focal point...more
Much like Kim Sunée's Trail of Crumbs, which is another memoir mixed with recipes, Diana Abu-Jaber's recollections place a major focal point...more
Barky
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Shelves:
america,
autobiography-memoir,
biography,
multicultural,
nonfiction,
food,
travel,
jordan,
borrowed-from-the-library
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Ashland Mystery Oregon
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Shelves:
culinary-narratives,
mystery-middle-east
Diana Abu-Jaber's narrative, The Language of Baklava, is a love affair with Jordanian food, and the story of her extended Jordanian family's roots in the desert tents of Jordan and now re-settled in upstate New York. It's a mash up of American and Arabic memories as Diana's fertile imagination ranges between the extremes of a father who can't quite settle down in either country and her American born mother who's patient, long-legged beauty anchors the family. While her father's frenetic storytel...more
I loved this book. It was both hilarious and moving. It made me laugh and cry and better understand feelings of homesickness, loss, love, and all sorts of other touchy-feely things. Abu-Jaber draws her characters vividly and paints a very full and rich characterization of her childhood and young-adulthood. The only thing is that I felt that it was almost a little too full and rich. Is that possible? Finishing this book make me feel almost like I had finished a Thanksgiving dinner where I ov...more
I don't often read memoir -- in fact I rarely read memoir -- but this book was recommended to me by a friend whose taste I respect and I was not disappointed. For all that she doesn't soft-pedal the darkness in being the child of a Bedouin father and an American mother, I found Abu-Jaber a joyous writer. I also rarely read food writers, but the device of centering the story on food -- a passion she shared with/learned from her father -- works here, and the notion of food as a cultural meeting po...more
If I didn't know better, I would think that this book was actually an inside joke between myself and the author! It's not so much that it is a funny book (although there are some humorous scenes) - it's about the "AHA-- FINALLY there is someone who knows how it is!" It's all about eating the amazing food that everyone else thinks is "weird" and not knowing where exactly you belong. Finally, someone else who knows that eating shouldn't be about plain sustenance, but about bein...more
"Laugh out loud" funny may be a cliche but I started smiling on page 1 and by page 23, I was laughing out loud. It may just be me ... see for yourself:
"I am a hapless kid. My shirts are covered in food. I lose myself searching for four-leaf clovers and get left behind when recess ends. I look up from my hunting to find myself sprawled alone in a cloer field, a sunny sky full of white sailing clouds. I get lost on the way to school. I get lost on the way to the w...more
"I am a hapless kid. My shirts are covered in food. I lose myself searching for four-leaf clovers and get left behind when recess ends. I look up from my hunting to find myself sprawled alone in a cloer field, a sunny sky full of white sailing clouds. I get lost on the way to school. I get lost on the way to the w...more
i liked this book more than her other book "crescent" maybe because this one is a memoir and realistic not like "crescent" which was a fiction.
Diana talked alot about her father Bud and his attachement to his route.
The description of food was amazing. it made me want to taste everything she wrote about. i felt when Diana was growing up she was alaways surrounded by food and the love of eating. for instance they so often have family gathering which is always full o...more
Diana talked alot about her father Bud and his attachement to his route.
The description of food was amazing. it made me want to taste everything she wrote about. i felt when Diana was growing up she was alaways surrounded by food and the love of eating. for instance they so often have family gathering which is always full o...more
Fascinating for many reasons:
- For Syracusans, it is fun to read mentions of several local places and restaurants
- For foodies, the recipes and descriptions of middle eastern dishes are sumptuous
- For those in multicultural families, an accurate depiction of the draw of two very different worlds that are both a lot like "home" and the difficulty of feeling like you never fully belong in either one.
As someone who falls into all three of the above categorie...more
- For Syracusans, it is fun to read mentions of several local places and restaurants
- For foodies, the recipes and descriptions of middle eastern dishes are sumptuous
- For those in multicultural families, an accurate depiction of the draw of two very different worlds that are both a lot like "home" and the difficulty of feeling like you never fully belong in either one.
As someone who falls into all three of the above categorie...more
Several years ago, I read two novels by Diana Abu-Jaber: Arabian Jazz and Crescent. I really enjoyed both books and found them unique from other novels that were out at the time since they focused on the Arab-American experience. Both books were big hits in the book clubs that I read them in. My friend Amanda still cites Crescent as one of her all-time favorite book club books. In her memoir, The Language of Baklava, Abu-Jaber share her memories of food and family and growing up between culture...more
I just wrote a review of a book in which an extraordinary story was written in a way that made it less than completely involving. This book happily does the opposite! Ms. Abu-Jaber makes the ordinary events of her childhood extraordinary through her warm and shining writing and her empathy with her family member characters. And of course not all of her childhood is ordinary! With an American mother and Jordanian immigrant father, & a large extended family of her dad's relatives surrounding her, ...more
From the Publisher: From the acclaimed author of Crescent, called "radiant, wise, and passionate" by the Chicago Tribune, here is a vibrant, humorous memoir of growing up with a gregarious Jordanian father who loved to cook. Diana Abu-Jaber weaves the story of her life in upstate New York and in Jordan around vividly remembered meals: everything from Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts with her Arab-American cousins to goat stew feasts under a Bedouin tent in the desert. These sensuously...more
An interesting memoir by a woman who grew up in upstate NY with a Jordanian immigrant father & American mother. "Bud" (the dad) dragged the family back to Jordan several times, giving Diana a good case of culture shock in both places, but also giving her an appreciation for middle eastern culture and food.
Each chapter ends with a recipe, and the descriptions of food are wonderful. The sense of family and how important it is, even when you constantly fight with them, really ...more
Each chapter ends with a recipe, and the descriptions of food are wonderful. The sense of family and how important it is, even when you constantly fight with them, really ...more
I will re-read this book. This is a great summer read- I know it's cliche but this book just evokes a feeling that I want to return to, and the only proper adjective I can think of is "rich"... in taste and quality context. The family stories are hilarious, the description of life in different places is intriguing, and I literally drooled over the description of food throughout the entire book. I felt transported to Diana's family dinner. This book reinforced the love that I have f...more
I started this book back in November, but put it on hold often as I read other books. It started slowly or maybe it just wasn't the right book for that time. The second half of this book is 4 star quality. It's a memoir about a young girl whose father is Jordanian and mother is American. It's a struggle for identity w/residence set in both countries. Food is such an integral part of her life and recipes are sprinkled into her story. The descripions of Jordan (and her Jordanian relatives) ar...more
Jess
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in food, immigrants, or rich description
Shelves:
2010
Abu-Jaber's memoir is like velvet with its descriptions; the way she writes is (not to be cliche) captivating. You feel yourself transported to different times, different locations, and different emotions. In my mind I can imagine the people she grew up with, the experiences she had, and the people she encountered.
A good book transports you to a different time and place.
The recipes in here sound delicious, like better versions of some of the heavy Egyptian fare I had whil...more
A good book transports you to a different time and place.
The recipes in here sound delicious, like better versions of some of the heavy Egyptian fare I had whil...more
I loved this book. So rich with details of her family, so lovely in its description of Jordan and Jordanian food, family and friends. I especially enjoy her descriptions of her emotional and passionate father. He is an enigma to be sure. Loving and giving one moment, ready for a fight the next and dreams of fancy in yet others.
One favorite quote:"My father and his brothers fly back and forth, back and forth, whisking over the oceans and continents. They live their lives in th...more
One favorite quote:"My father and his brothers fly back and forth, back and forth, whisking over the oceans and continents. They live their lives in th...more
a Fabulous memoir. Helps that it takes place in an area I am familiar with but not at all necessary for the read. Great character development. Here descriptions of her father are totally outrageous but told with such love it is all OK. I would like to be friends with the author, or at the very least take a class from her. Crescent was one of my favorite reads a few years ago.
This memoir incorporates recipes. Haven't tried any of the recipes, but the memoir is kind of a yawn. Standard immigrant stuff. Author finds herself between two worlds.
The one thing the book quietly underlines is the lack of difference among the many local peoples of Jordan. All different but the same on some level, especially when it comes to food.
The one thing the book quietly underlines is the lack of difference among the many local peoples of Jordan. All different but the same on some level, especially when it comes to food.
The author's father being a Jordanian and her mother an American made for interesting reading, depending on which country the family was living in. Her father seemed torn between where he wanted to live and was quite the character. The author's great descriptions of a typical day in her life as a child were quite different from one country to the other. I'm amazed that the family did so well making the transitions. Her father had a passion for food and cooking, especially of course the dishe...more
This book is a combination of memoirs/travel/cookbook. Author Diana Abu-Jaber brings the reader into her typical American upbringing- an upbringing that was mixedc with Jordanian food and values that her immigrant father brought to the United States. The recipes that are interspersed throughout the pages mark milestones in Diana Abu-Jaber's life.
Audra (Unabridged Chick)
rated it
A passionate, endearing, and engrossing autobiography. Who doesn't recall food from their childhood with pain and affection? Stories are interspersed with recipes (delicious ones, too, having made a few myself!) and it feels like you're sitting down with Ms Abu-Jaber at her dining table, listening to her chat as she cooks.
Lynn
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who want a fun read, who like food, or are interested in Jordanian culture
Recommended to Lynn by:
Andi Bernard
This book is an autobiographical story of a girl with an American-born mother and a Jordanian-born father. As you may gather from the title, there is somewhat of a focus on food, food as it represents culture. It is the story of her life through food. The story is humorous, fun reading with poignant moments. The story begins in Abu-Jaber's early childhood in New York, continues through a couple of years living in Jordan, a return to New York and through many threats of moving back to Jordan,...more
One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time... I was going to simply photocopy several of the recipes that intersperse the text before returning my library copy, but then I realized that there was so much more to the book that was going to be re-read. So I decided to buy my own copy.
Culinary memoir, eh? Sounds like a winner to me. Actually, so much foodwriting is shamelessly exhibitionist, a shower of sensory description, a contest to see who can worship more lavishly at the alter of the edible. And a lot of memoir is distracted by the need to editorialize on one's journey. So culinary memoir tends to center on The Nostalgically Delicious and Impossibly Meaningful Meal of Yore. This author's story unfolds naturally, her vivid recollections of shared family meals in the US a...more
Took me almost a year to read this. Not because it wasn't good, but it was easy to put down and pick up again. At times the stories/recipes seemed forced, but overall it was a really nice memoir and quite an accurate depiction of Jordanian culture.
I liked this book for the most part there was a lot of funny parts and some parts that are unforgettable but sad. My favorite part is the squash and the lamb. I do think that anyone that is half of two cultures would love this book.
This is one of the best food memoirs I have read. The author does a beautiful job of describing what it was like to grow up as a child of a first-generation American (her mother was American). Plus the recipes are really delicious.
Cute memoir of a girl growing uo with a Jordanian father and American mother and living in both of those places. The food was the element that really made a difference to her father and then to her. Recipes are included.
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Diana Abu-Jaber is the author of Crescent, which was awarded the 2004 PEN Center USA Award for Literary Fiction and the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award and was named one of the twenty best novels of 2003 by The Christian Science Monitor, and Arabian Jazz, which won the 1994 Oregon Book Award and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
She teaches at Portland State Uni...more
More about Diana Abu-Jaber...
She teaches at Portland State Uni...more
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“Marry, don't marry,' Auntie Aya says as we unfold layers of dough to make an apple strudel.
Just don't have your babies unless it's absolutely necessary.'
How do I know if it's necessary?'
She stops and stares ahead, her hands gloved in flour. 'Ask yourself, Do I want a baby or do I want to make a cake? The answer will come to you like bells ringing.' She flickers her fingers in the air by her ear. 'For me, almost always, the answer was cake.”
—
29 people liked it
More quotes…
Just don't have your babies unless it's absolutely necessary.'
How do I know if it's necessary?'
She stops and stares ahead, her hands gloved in flour. 'Ask yourself, Do I want a baby or do I want to make a cake? The answer will come to you like bells ringing.' She flickers her fingers in the air by her ear. 'For me, almost always, the answer was cake.”
