Rate this book

I Giorni Del Miele E Dello Zenzero (2011)

by Annia Ciezadlo(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

8856620472 (ISBN13: 9788856620474)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Piemme

review 1: I was really looking forward to this book and it was recommended by someone who knows me well. While I don't usually enjoy non-fiction I've made an exception for travel writing from the Middle East since it's such a complicated place. This book is predominantly a personal reflection on her lifestyle and attitudes while in war-torn countries, as illustrated through stories somewhat related to food. I had expected to hear about bonding over food and recipes and scarcity. All three play a significant role, but not the bonding part. Aside from using food to try and connect with (or manipulate) her mother-in-law, it's mostly about how she became the crazy American trying to recreate a difficult meal or find a rare ingredient during a siege. While I will try to find a way to kee... morep the recipes in the back, I doubt I'll miss much of the story.
review 2: I know this is a very well written and very good book. I think it may even be a great book: where else could you find such a gritty, insider's portrait of two world hot spots (Lebanon, Iraq) at the very peak of their political turbulence? Annia paints vivid portraits of dozens, maybe hundreds of individuals in these countries, provides a context for them, and documents the searing toll that war exacts on the individual. On whole cultures. Food (whole recipes, meals and shopping for them) provides a lively and increasingly significant counterpoint to the truly infuriating state of sectarian politics that have enraveled, unravelled these nations (and, oh yes! the U.S.A) for so many decades now.Credit is do to Ciezadlo's journalistic skills that she makes the tense political state of these countries actually interesting to read about rather than merely depressing. It would be wonderful if this book one day could be published to INCLUDE (interlarded preferably through the text) the various articles Annia wrote at the time for the Christian Science Monitor, for the New Republic and other publications: it would be instructive to compare her professional journalism to the complex literary account she has made of her private life, that of her friends and associates, and the wonderful relationships she weaves with her husband, in-laws and myriad associates.At this point I should punctuate my review with heartfelt vignettes from the book--such as her mother-in-law in particular, the looming, brooding, dark figure of Umm Hassane who appears so regularly throughout the text, like a one-woman Greek chorus. Annia's love and admiration for Umm Hassane is manifest, and it's a good thing since this opinionated, domineering and witty old lady could have made her life hell. I particularly loved the scene where Hassane gives the armed Downtown Beirut Shiite Occupiers hell for wasting their time demonstrating. Hassane of course is just the Lebanese manifestation of the Mediterranean mother-goddess, and one gradually comes to realize (as her husband points out) that her svelte, American daughter-in-law is made of similar cloth.Unforgettable characters populate the text, but the real hero is food--the endlessly subtle and delicious Mediterranean Levantine cuisine--crops up repeatedly to save the day and salve the soul. I intend to test some of the sheaf of recipes bundled at the end of the book soon myself. You become convinced that food doesn't just sustain our bodies, but feeds not just our soul, but our very culture and perhaps could be our salvation if we only set our priorities straight.Buy the book: you want this one on your shelf where you can pull it off conveniently to make the those mouth-watering recipes that enliven the text like a moveable feast (remember: kindles are best for kindling).. less

Download links for: I giorni del miele e dello zenzero

Advertising