Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Stuffed
In this wildly funny and charming memoir, Patricia Volk entertains with a memoir of growing up in a New York restaurant family that owned fourteen restaurants including Morgens deli. An evocative portrait of a now vanished New York.
Published
(first published October 2nd 2001)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,538)
Dec 15, 2007
Sarah
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
children of restaurant families
Shelves:
audiobook
I listened to the audio book. It was ok, not because of the subject matter, which was very interesting in the beginning. During my teen years I worked in our family coffee shop so I completely related to so much of what she said. The problem was that the book was completely disjointed and there was no real linear progression. She has so many aunts and uncles that she kept describing both at young and old ages and I didn't know who was who and how old they were and, most importantly, how they fit...more
Jul 05, 2007
Jocelyn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who like memoirs and/or NYC history
This was one of the few remaining books-on-CD left at the library after the summer vacation rush. Obviously, since this is a memoir, it focuses on the fabulous history of the Volk family all the way down to lost cousins, married-in aunts and uncles, hired help, etc. I started out apathetic, but ended up enjoying her portrayal of New York City during her childhood and actually getting attached to the quirky characters on her family tree. I was sorry when the CD ended.
I couldn't stop reading this book. It's one of the best memoirs I've ever read--hilarious, full of memorable characters, and told in short vignettes woven into the longer narrative of the family's life so things never get boring. I highly recommend it.
i know a lot of people -- including my wife -- love this book but i found it boring in the extreme and gave up halfway through. it's all bragging about her family (who are somewhat colorful...at least to her), all snapshots, and absolutely no story. i find it amazing it got so many good reviews. i wanted to throw it across the room...it was so annoying. this book is probably a hoot if you're a member of the author's family but for me, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
I listened to this as an audiobook. Listening to a book, I'm recognizing, is a different experience for me than reading it; I'm curious as to whether my experience is better or worse through the listening. I definitely feel like it's spotty. I'm always sure there are sections I'm missing. This is confirmed when my ipod gets messed up and I'm trying to re-find my place audially and find that there are sections I never remember hearing before sandwiched between sections I know I've heard.
As for th...more
As for th...more
Thank heavens for reviews. If I didn't read reviews about this book I may have been disappointed only because of what I thought I was going to get based on the title. The title of this book seems a bit deceiving. You think you are going to be reading about the life of a restaurant. That is not what this book is about although the restaurant business can be seen as the glue or thread that keeps this family together and you do get glimpses of what it was like to own a restaurant. It is about a fam...more
This book is not about being in the restaurant business. Maybe 10 pages actually discuss the restaurant. Mostly it is a series of vignettes in chapter form (naming the chapters are food does not make for a food book!). Generally, each chapter is about a person. How great they are, how gorgeous, how clever, how nice or mean, how rich or poor, and how great the author herself is for being nice to said person.
A lot of bragging. The author brags about herself, her parents, her aunts/uncles, her mone...more
A lot of bragging. The author brags about herself, her parents, her aunts/uncles, her mone...more
Patricia Volk's memoir of her family and its 100-year history in the restaurant business is as much a history of New York as it is a recounting of her relatives. Touching, funny, sad, quirky -- this book has it all. Volk is a talented writer with the ability to create a vivid character on the page. I finished this book wishing I'd been part of their clan.
Oct 22, 2007
Beth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who loves to eat!
Shelves:
biographies_memoirs,
funnylight
Lots of great stories about multiple generations of a Jewish immigrant family that ran restaurants in New York City from the turn of the twentieth century until the late 80s. Funny, touching, insightful--what you want in a memoir, plus lots of scenes of people eating amazing food, junk food, fancy food, mysterious food, etc.
This book was a surprise for me. Though it is about a restaurant life and loosely organized by food topics, it is much more about family--the good, the bad and the ugly.
Though I sometimes lost track of the relationship of one particular person to her, I loved the deep sense of respect and affection she has for each eccentric member of her enormous family. The writing was beautiful. The story was sad in some places and "laugh out loud" hilariuos in others. I have a wonderful brother, have never...more
Though I sometimes lost track of the relationship of one particular person to her, I loved the deep sense of respect and affection she has for each eccentric member of her enormous family. The writing was beautiful. The story was sad in some places and "laugh out loud" hilariuos in others. I have a wonderful brother, have never...more
Jun 13, 2007
Natalie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
New Yorkers, foodies
Cute family memoir. I love NYC Jewish culture, this book really puts it out there. Also, like the food descriptions. Should eat before reading it for a long time or you'll end craving some strange things, like cucumber salad or fricassee.
Subtitled “Adventures of a Restaurant Family” and classified with the cookbooks in the library, I expected this delightful memoir to be more about the restaurants and the food than about the family itself. The author’s grandfather owned fourteen restaurants over a period of years, and there were Volk family restaurants in New York from 1888 to 1988. The book, however, focuses more on Volk’s quirky relatives and their relationships. Her great-grandfather introduced pastrami to America. Her Uncle...more
Patricia Volk is like Woody Allen minus the trenchant humor. Her family of annoyingly kvetchy and insulting people is constantly displayed as "lovable," but you know that if you spent five minutes in the same room with any one of them someone would be murdered. Why she constantly parades before the reader this collection of obnoxious characters, most of whom insult her in the time-worn manner of hypercritical ethnic parents, is baffling. And, like one of those round-bottomed clown-faced punching...more
You can't read this book without wanting a pastrami sandwich. Really good and funny.
Since I've recently read Kitchen Confidential
and Tender at the Bone, I thought I'd continue
the food-related-memoir theme. But I'd say
this book was less about life in the kitchen
and more about life in a family, albeit an
atypical one. Favorite part: "What she (her
mom) wants for me is an even cleaner, thinner,
happier life than she has. Mom made me and
now she will make me better."
and Tender at the Bone, I thought I'd continue
the food-related-memoir theme. But I'd say
this book was less about life in the kitchen
and more about life in a family, albeit an
atypical one. Favorite part: "What she (her
mom) wants for me is an even cleaner, thinner,
happier life than she has. Mom made me and
now she will make me better."
Not terrible, but I honestly doubt I'd have stayed with it if I had it in print rather than audio. With the subtitle, I guess I thought there'd be more about time spent in the actual restaurants and the running thereof. For most of the book she devotes one chapter to each eccentric Jewish New York relative, mostly great-aunts and great-uncles but also parents, grandparents, sister, and beloved long-term housekeeper. Parts of it are pretty interesting and/or funny, but I think someone who is Jewi...more
#60 - 2010.
Picked this up at random at Half Price Books. I have a vague memory of having read it before but that may be inaccurate. You'd think from the name that this would be chock-full of life at a restaurant, whether from a childhood standpoint or adult looking back. Not so. Volk takes us into the lives of her quirky, fascinating relatives and gives us a look back at when individuality was to be expected of everyone. The restaurant was somewhat incidental and was presented as just another qu...more
Picked this up at random at Half Price Books. I have a vague memory of having read it before but that may be inaccurate. You'd think from the name that this would be chock-full of life at a restaurant, whether from a childhood standpoint or adult looking back. Not so. Volk takes us into the lives of her quirky, fascinating relatives and gives us a look back at when individuality was to be expected of everyone. The restaurant was somewhat incidental and was presented as just another qu...more
The Author is brilliant, she's writing down her family journey (and herself) in a wonderful memoir. Every time she mentioned food (from liverwurst,spaetzle, sturgeon, cucumber salad to herseyettes) I get hungry (*smile*) made me wanting to have restaurant family too !!! Not to mention hidden Mattie's chocolate cake recipe inside the book, a little treasure, I will for sure give it a try.
Normally, I'm against spoiler but for this particular book I want to share my favorite part of the book with a...more
Normally, I'm against spoiler but for this particular book I want to share my favorite part of the book with a...more
This was a lovely book about family. A family in the food business who love food and each other. Each chapter was about a different family member and the food associated with them. By the end of the book, I loved this big, quirkly, extended family (which included some people not even related to them) and wished I could have gone to their restaurant Morgen's before it closed.
My favorite quote from the book: "Family is what we first know of the world. Family is the world, your very own microcosm o...more
My favorite quote from the book: "Family is what we first know of the world. Family is the world, your very own microcosm o...more
Patricia Volk’s delicious memoir lets us into her big, crazy, loving, cheerful, infuriating and wonderful family, where you’re never just hungry–your starving to death, and you’re never just full–you’re stuffed. Volk’s family fed New York City for one hundred years, from 1888 when her great-grandfather introduced pastrami to America until 1988, when her father closed his garment center restaurant. All along, food was pretty much at the center of their lives. But as seductively as Volk evokes the...more
Meh. I'm not sold on the idea that Volk's family was more fascinating than mine or yours. Once you cobble together the achievements of 4 sets of great grandparents, throw in a few Uncles-in-laws, write up some funny stuff your crazy aunt said, it seems that I could grab a random coworker and uncover a family history as rich and interesting as Volks. But she is a New Yorker, and I guess that is supposed to make it more interesting than if your family came from Minnesota or New Mexico.
Lisa M. Kelsey 0
Like some others that have posted here, I expected this book to focus more on cooking, food and the restaurant business, but I really wasn't disappointed. Volk brings to life a bygone New York and tells a wonderful immigrant tale, that of a great family dynasty as well. The next time I'm in Central Park I'm going to look for the bench she bought for her father--the one right next to Madeline Kahn's.
Like some others that have posted here, I expected this book to focus more on cooking, food and the restaurant business, but I really wasn't disappointed. Volk brings to life a bygone New York and tells a wonderful immigrant tale, that of a great family dynasty as well. The next time I'm in Central Park I'm going to look for the bench she bought for her father--the one right next to Madeline Kahn's.
I'm always a fan of good food writing, and this book seems to be part food journal and part memoir of a restaurant family over the generations.
...done.
Not bad. Nothing special, though I am a sucker for books that include:
-food and cooking
-New York lore
-Jewish family life
This book had all three. It turned out to be more of a family memoir than a focus on the author's life within a restauranting family, which was the angle I felt the title was hinting at.
...done.
Not bad. Nothing special, though I am a sucker for books that include:
-food and cooking
-New York lore
-Jewish family life
This book had all three. It turned out to be more of a family memoir than a focus on the author's life within a restauranting family, which was the angle I felt the title was hinting at.
I love books about food and this is a great book about food and family. Volk's family ran a series of restaurants in New York City from 1888 to 1988, but this book is more about her amazing family. I loved it. I laughed and I cried. And I drove my mom crazy by interrupting her book several times to read her the parts that made me laugh out loud.
this was a great quick read. very entertaining and heartwarming. at time i felt like i was reading about my family, which was wonderful. each chapter was rich with stories about food and family and how both were intertwined. the authors family has a great history in the making of new york and deli's, and tells a great story along the way.
Entertaining tales of Volk's childhood, her many quirky relatives, and a hodgepodge of events and people encountered throughout her life. Personally I was expecting more of an emphasis on the restaurant stuff, but still found it enjoyable. A real sense of time and place: mostly mid-century NYC. Barbara Rosenblat seemed the perfect choice to narrate this book.
Written as a memoir, the story of a New York Jewish restaurant family, complete with the patriarch who founded a chain of restaurants and gave them out to various ne'er do well relatives. Sometimes cute and funny, sometimes poignant in describing family relationships good and bad, this isn't great literature but is an enjoyable look at growing up in an upper middle class Jewish family in the 1950s-1980s.
This book was a last minute pickup in the 4/$1.00 pile at a library sale. I really didn't expect much from it, but once I started it, I just had to finish it. What I learned from this book is that Family is, after all is said and done, family. I snickered, I sighed but mostly I remembered stories of exploits of my own colorful family.
I'm not even 1/2 way through this book and I already hate it. I thought there would be stories about growing up in the resteraunt business, but it is just incessant bragging about how funny/great her family is. Book is aimless and has no point, but a bunch of random family memories. I am not going to finish it.
I read this over the long Christmas weekend and it was a nice way to spend time thinking about family. While reading about all the quirky members of the author's family, I found myself recalling stories about and memories of my own family members--an aunt of some sort about whom all I can remember is the hugeness of her ankles; the grandfather who I met two times when he showed up unannounced and uninvited at my house; the family from upstate New York who have all separately moved to Florida. Th...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December Book | 1 | 4 | Nov 07, 2009 10:44am |
Patricia Volk is the author of the memoir Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family and four works of fiction. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and Bennington College, and has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and Playboy. She lives in New York City.
More about Patricia Volk...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Nov 07, 2008 07:15am