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The Woman Who Never Cooked: Stories
Book by Tabor, Mary L.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
175 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2013
About the author
Mary L. Tabor
5 books63 followersMary L. Tabor is the author of Who by Fire: A Novel with a book club:: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8.... Join and discover authors in person. I am also the author of (Re)Making Love: A Memoir, available on Amazon http://amzn.to/nqg0yo. My book The Woman Who Never Cooked won Mid-List Press’s First Series Award. If you want one-on-one help, I offer, for a modest fee, via Zoom, an Eight-"session"-course (each session includes 11 parts and one-on-one attention) with slides and more experiments than in the free chapters. Go here and scroll down for free lessons. For private, via Zoom, email me at mltabor @ me. com . I taught variations of this course at George Washington University, in the undergraduate and graduate MFA/Ph.D. creative writing program at the University of Missouri and at the Smithsonian's Campus-on-the-Mall. My first book of fiction was published after a 16-year career in corporate America, a senior executive, director of public affairs writing for the oil industry’s trade association, landing me in both Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who of American Women. I was a high school English teacher who bridged the gap to the business world, rising on the corporate ladder while also raising two children. I then made a transition from the business world to the creative world, leaving her corporate job to earn an MFA degree in Creative Writing. My experience spans the worlds of journalism, business, education and fiction writing. I was a visiting writer at University of Missouri in Columbia, taught creative writing (fiction and memoir) at George Washington University, the Smithsonian’s Campus-on-the-Mall, and worked with the DC library to reach less-privileged populations on how to begin writing about family, personal history and writing a story—the stuff of life. I am a CIC Visiting Fellow (aka Woodrow Wilson Fellow). I've been interviewed on XM Satellite Radio and Pacifica Radio to discuss Joyce, Shakespeare and others and her lifelong career-journey.
The interview that follows was done by Jason Howell Take a look ...
For reviews and more visit: http://www.maryltabor.com and http://www.midlist.org and
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8...
The interview that follows was done by Jason Howell Take a look ...
For reviews and more visit: http://www.maryltabor.com and http://www.midlist.org and
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 8, 2008
The first time I read these stories, a few years ago, I went through quickly in order to finish them in time for a reading the author was giving. In revisiting them, I was struck by how familiar some of them seemed. Those stories had an emotional resonance for me, which seemed even more intense the second time around.
Many of the characters in these stories are dealing, literally, with life and death--their own aging, the illness and death of siblings and parents, the fragile nature of any human connection. Nothing makes sense, and some of them attempt to use danger, deception, adultery, betrayal, desperate acts of sorrow and anger, as a substitute for the loss that threatens their sense of the safety of their lives. Am I loved/can I love? Do I know what love is? Am I getting old? Have I changed too much/too little? Do I exist? Instead of confronting or answering these questions they try to fill any space they can find, even a negative one. Life's ambiguities become intolerable.
Characters move in and out of stories from different viewpoints and time frames, and the women often turn to cooking as a way to hold on to what has been lost, to provide a continuity they hope will keep things from disappearing or changing. "Rugalach", a bittersweet elegy to a mother and grandmother through memories of, and attempts to recreate, their cooking, brought tears to my eyes. "The Woman Who Never Cooked" is similarly moving.
Other favorites: "The Burglar" approaches loss from both sides of the stolen goods, and "Sine Die" uses mathematical equations and role-playing to explore the complications of family dynamics that in the end defy quantification.
The language is rich, yet delicate. The world is always almost falling apart, yet a small thing, unexpected--a word, a touch, a sound, a recipe--can provide just enough glue sometimes to pull a character back from the abyss. "The circumstances are extenuating". Still one can choose to drink the water, to move on, to struggle with existence, "however far it goes".
Many of the characters in these stories are dealing, literally, with life and death--their own aging, the illness and death of siblings and parents, the fragile nature of any human connection. Nothing makes sense, and some of them attempt to use danger, deception, adultery, betrayal, desperate acts of sorrow and anger, as a substitute for the loss that threatens their sense of the safety of their lives. Am I loved/can I love? Do I know what love is? Am I getting old? Have I changed too much/too little? Do I exist? Instead of confronting or answering these questions they try to fill any space they can find, even a negative one. Life's ambiguities become intolerable.
Characters move in and out of stories from different viewpoints and time frames, and the women often turn to cooking as a way to hold on to what has been lost, to provide a continuity they hope will keep things from disappearing or changing. "Rugalach", a bittersweet elegy to a mother and grandmother through memories of, and attempts to recreate, their cooking, brought tears to my eyes. "The Woman Who Never Cooked" is similarly moving.
Other favorites: "The Burglar" approaches loss from both sides of the stolen goods, and "Sine Die" uses mathematical equations and role-playing to explore the complications of family dynamics that in the end defy quantification.
The language is rich, yet delicate. The world is always almost falling apart, yet a small thing, unexpected--a word, a touch, a sound, a recipe--can provide just enough glue sometimes to pull a character back from the abyss. "The circumstances are extenuating". Still one can choose to drink the water, to move on, to struggle with existence, "however far it goes".
March 28, 2008
The life and love of the Chekhovian short story live with this writer's work. Each sentence is a delight, although some of her sentences are puzzling and demand rereading. Compact, nearly perfect stories full of loss, betrayal, and humor. What a joy it is to read something really real and really wonderful.
December 20, 2008
I loved this book, which moved me deeply. It is groundbreaking work. Too bad Barnes & Noble used the only wrong choice (Kirkus) for a review to post. Here's what others have had to say:
From Booklist
The American adult woman is featured in this debut collection of stories about love, adultery, marriage, passion, death, and family. There is a subtle humor here, and an innate wisdom about everyday life as women find solace in cooking, work, and chores. Tabor reveals the thoughts of her working professional women who stream into Washington, D.C., from the outer suburbs, the men they date or marry, and the attractive if harried commuters they meet. One woman fantasizes about the burglar who escaped with her deceased mother's jewelry. In another story, the protagonist uncovers her husband's secret: his pocket mirror and concealer do not belong, as she had feared, to a mistress but rather are items he uses to hide his growing bald spot. Revealed here are the hidden layers of lives that seem predictable but never are. Reading Tabor's wry tales, one has the sense of entering the private lives of the women you see everyday on your way to work. Emily Cook
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Frederick Busch, author:
This book has an adult sense of wisdom earned through pain, a combination of compassion and narrowed, cold eye, and a clarity of understanding of sexuality I find unique. I loved reading about these women: grown-ups written well are rare. I found the collection richly made, unafraid, full of woundedness and strength.
From Melanie Rae Thon, author:
Mary Tabor writes with astonishing grace, endless passion, and subtle humor. She moves fearlessly into the troubled hearts of her people to explore the territory of loss and betrayal with unparalleled fervor. She is a magician and an inventor, a master of form whose brilliant sleight of hand leaves the reader joyfully bedazzled. Through the power of her vision and the daring agility of her prose, Mary Tabor dances us to the edge of despair only to spin us tenderly toward the light and the radiant transcendence of love.
From Lee K. Abbott, author:
Mary Tabor writes the “new” story—witty, edgy, discontent with shopworn wisdom, passionate about the minutiae that reveal the whole of our crooked character, impatient with the easy answer, and fiercely intolerant of the slop and indifference of writers unconcerned with a decidedly moral universe.
From Image Journal:
“To get to know the heroines of Mary L. Tabor’s The Woman Who Never Cooked, you’ll have to head to the kitchen. Navigating family life, they savor foods that celebrate Jewish culture and identity, like the lemon meringue pie whose riddle of a recipe “The Woman Who Never Cooked” solves in her Talmudic musing, or the challah bread whose family recipe she discovers “under S for Sonya,” a fabled pogrom survivor. The women concoct meals to make peace with their pasts: a hidden pie that might spark infidelity, hot peppered fish to entice an alliance between an aunt and her motherless niece. In these still, witty stories, Tabor sets a rich table.”
From The Mid-American Review:
“It’s the absences that Tabor relies upon—the subject too painful to broach, the person on the bus one sees each day but is afraid to approach—that make these stories stand out. The emotions beleaguering the characters are not secrets, but the ways they cope with the emptiness in their lives are well wrought, unique, and surprising. It’s definitely a challenging recipe for a writer’s debut, one that Mary Tabor accomplishes with the expertise of a more experienced master chef.”
From Booklist
The American adult woman is featured in this debut collection of stories about love, adultery, marriage, passion, death, and family. There is a subtle humor here, and an innate wisdom about everyday life as women find solace in cooking, work, and chores. Tabor reveals the thoughts of her working professional women who stream into Washington, D.C., from the outer suburbs, the men they date or marry, and the attractive if harried commuters they meet. One woman fantasizes about the burglar who escaped with her deceased mother's jewelry. In another story, the protagonist uncovers her husband's secret: his pocket mirror and concealer do not belong, as she had feared, to a mistress but rather are items he uses to hide his growing bald spot. Revealed here are the hidden layers of lives that seem predictable but never are. Reading Tabor's wry tales, one has the sense of entering the private lives of the women you see everyday on your way to work. Emily Cook
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Frederick Busch, author:
This book has an adult sense of wisdom earned through pain, a combination of compassion and narrowed, cold eye, and a clarity of understanding of sexuality I find unique. I loved reading about these women: grown-ups written well are rare. I found the collection richly made, unafraid, full of woundedness and strength.
From Melanie Rae Thon, author:
Mary Tabor writes with astonishing grace, endless passion, and subtle humor. She moves fearlessly into the troubled hearts of her people to explore the territory of loss and betrayal with unparalleled fervor. She is a magician and an inventor, a master of form whose brilliant sleight of hand leaves the reader joyfully bedazzled. Through the power of her vision and the daring agility of her prose, Mary Tabor dances us to the edge of despair only to spin us tenderly toward the light and the radiant transcendence of love.
From Lee K. Abbott, author:
Mary Tabor writes the “new” story—witty, edgy, discontent with shopworn wisdom, passionate about the minutiae that reveal the whole of our crooked character, impatient with the easy answer, and fiercely intolerant of the slop and indifference of writers unconcerned with a decidedly moral universe.
From Image Journal:
“To get to know the heroines of Mary L. Tabor’s The Woman Who Never Cooked, you’ll have to head to the kitchen. Navigating family life, they savor foods that celebrate Jewish culture and identity, like the lemon meringue pie whose riddle of a recipe “The Woman Who Never Cooked” solves in her Talmudic musing, or the challah bread whose family recipe she discovers “under S for Sonya,” a fabled pogrom survivor. The women concoct meals to make peace with their pasts: a hidden pie that might spark infidelity, hot peppered fish to entice an alliance between an aunt and her motherless niece. In these still, witty stories, Tabor sets a rich table.”
From The Mid-American Review:
“It’s the absences that Tabor relies upon—the subject too painful to broach, the person on the bus one sees each day but is afraid to approach—that make these stories stand out. The emotions beleaguering the characters are not secrets, but the ways they cope with the emptiness in their lives are well wrought, unique, and surprising. It’s definitely a challenging recipe for a writer’s debut, one that Mary Tabor accomplishes with the expertise of a more experienced master chef.”
June 6, 2010
This is a book which I would probably never have read if not for the Library Thing Member Giveaways program, in which authors give away books in exchange for reviews. I am very happy that I signed up for this since I really enjoyed this short story collection.
In eleven short stories, we get to follow ordinary people during periods in their lives where events of some kind cause them to reflect upon things that have happened, people they have met, lived with, loved, etc. After a while I noticed that many, if not all, stories are interconnected; minor characters in some of the stories became lead characters in others. This helped me, as a reader, to gain a more in-depth picture of the people I read about, which is always nice. Something else that I really enjoyed with these stories was all the references to food. Food, kitchens and cooking in the book are aids to preserve memories of everything that has happened in these people’s lives, but even more their memories of other people.
This is a book filled with finely-attuned portraits of ordinary people with ordinary problems and joys. Mary L. Tabor is an authorship of which I am very happy and grateful to have made the acquaintance. She has a webpage where one can read more about her and also buy her book.
(This review is also posted on my Library Thing page and a version Swedish is posted on my blog.)
In eleven short stories, we get to follow ordinary people during periods in their lives where events of some kind cause them to reflect upon things that have happened, people they have met, lived with, loved, etc. After a while I noticed that many, if not all, stories are interconnected; minor characters in some of the stories became lead characters in others. This helped me, as a reader, to gain a more in-depth picture of the people I read about, which is always nice. Something else that I really enjoyed with these stories was all the references to food. Food, kitchens and cooking in the book are aids to preserve memories of everything that has happened in these people’s lives, but even more their memories of other people.
This is a book filled with finely-attuned portraits of ordinary people with ordinary problems and joys. Mary L. Tabor is an authorship of which I am very happy and grateful to have made the acquaintance. She has a webpage where one can read more about her and also buy her book.
(This review is also posted on my Library Thing page and a version Swedish is posted on my blog.)
July 5, 2018
I place Mary at the same level as Alice Munro in English and as Dacia Maraini in Italian. Books that are hard to put down. Strong, solid women characters that are down but certainly not out. Their struggle is one of hope and survival. With this particular book, Sine Dine has to be my favourite. Take right angles, abandonment, disease, love affairs and pretending. At first sight, it’s hard to imagine how to weave a story out of those elements, but it’s possible. Rare, though, is the writer that can bring those elements together eloquently and pull heart strings along the reader’s journey. I was captivated by the sisters at once. I knew a third person would disrupt the comfort zone or crush the barriers that were beginning to wobble. The men in this story are equally intriguing - how they behave - and maybe they are just as complex and confused about love, life and desire as the female characters are. The theme of death is delicately described, moving and harrowing.
In Rugalach, food, tradition and family are the major themes. Tradition passed down from generation to generation. Evokes warmth, love and celebration of all that is good in life.
In The Burglar, themes of love, loss, objects and relationships are explored beautifully and unpredictably. Meaning, there is much more to the thief who steals Ruth’s jewels than meets the eye. I have said this before, it’s a story that Sigmund Freud would have wanted on his shelf. On page 47, what Ruth is thinking is totally different to what I would have thought had I been in her situation. There are serendipity moments throughout – not just in The Burglar – bit in all the short stories.
Highly recommended for both female and male readers who want writing of a high standard, that makes you think hours, days after the first read. I was drawn to the characters – found myself cheering for some and frowning on others. It won’t disappoint."
In Rugalach, food, tradition and family are the major themes. Tradition passed down from generation to generation. Evokes warmth, love and celebration of all that is good in life.
In The Burglar, themes of love, loss, objects and relationships are explored beautifully and unpredictably. Meaning, there is much more to the thief who steals Ruth’s jewels than meets the eye. I have said this before, it’s a story that Sigmund Freud would have wanted on his shelf. On page 47, what Ruth is thinking is totally different to what I would have thought had I been in her situation. There are serendipity moments throughout – not just in The Burglar – bit in all the short stories.
Highly recommended for both female and male readers who want writing of a high standard, that makes you think hours, days after the first read. I was drawn to the characters – found myself cheering for some and frowning on others. It won’t disappoint."
June 26, 2019
Elegant, well-crafted, and beautiful short stories.
February 25, 2022
I enjoy stories that are loosely tied.
June 26, 2010
This is a collection of short stories. Through these stories, we meet a collection of people, and though the connection is never made obvious, the people featured in these stories are connected, appearing in passing in the other stories.
The stories focus heavily on memories, and frequently food is a catalyst for the memories. People reflect on family members who have passed away. Many characters also seem to be at a crossroads of their life. Dissatisfied with relationships or jobs try to make sense of it all.
The prose is beautiful, but ultimately, I was left wanting more. I wanted to know more about how the characters were connected, I wanted to know what happens next.
The stories focus heavily on memories, and frequently food is a catalyst for the memories. People reflect on family members who have passed away. Many characters also seem to be at a crossroads of their life. Dissatisfied with relationships or jobs try to make sense of it all.
The prose is beautiful, but ultimately, I was left wanting more. I wanted to know more about how the characters were connected, I wanted to know what happens next.
May 29, 2015
This is a remarkable collection of short stories. Sine Die is one of the best short stories I've ever encountered, it belongs in Best American Short Stories of the Century. Tabor's characters don't just stay with you after you've finished reading, the mark of any good work, they become a framework for how you interpret your own life experiences. So thoughtfully written and deeply touching, this is a book I'll always keep and continue to read over the years.
December 30, 2019
I have read and reviewed the first edition of The Woman Who Never Cooked which I loved. Beautiful, heartfelt and thought-provoking writing. The stories blend skilfully with one another and I loved the cover art for this which is by the author.
March 9, 2010
The book is a collection of short stories
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews