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Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (With Recipes) (2009)

by Nancy Spiller(Favorite Author)

2.45 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1582434514 (ISBN13: 9781582434513)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Counterpoint

review 1: I picked this up at the library without knowing anything about it or its author and was pleasantly surprised. I love being surprised by a good book. The novel spans only a week, when the narrator, who writes a cooking and entertaining column based mostly on fabricated dinner parties, must finally prepare to host a real dinner party. This week of anxieties, reflections, sharp observations and humor, as well as recipes that reflect her subject matter and perspective, is interspersed with flashbacks from her troubled childhood, spent with a schizophrenic mother, who used to be a good cook. The narrator starts cooking for herself as a child to try to achieve a sense of comfort and family, something she is still seeking, even while married to a man she calls "Somebody." So... moreme of it is heartbreaking but it's told bravely and wisely. There's also some feminist commentary, references to "The Yellow Wallpaper," 1950's culture, etc. that added some nice layers to the story. I would recommend it.
review 2: I thought this would be a fun, frothy romp about dinner parties gone awry or something like that but, it turned out to be a fictitious memoir that reads a lot more seriously. The main character is a food writer who has become successful writing about all the fabulous dinner parties she has. The catch is that she really doesn't host these dinner parties at all...they are all creations of her mind. As she finds herself confronted with the task of actually planning and pulling off a real dinner party, she explores all her fears and emotional baggage; most of which is courtesy of the family life she has experienced. There's a lot of self-doubt, pathos, wry humor and downright charm in this book. Not a "must-read" by any stretch of the imagination though a pleasant afternoon's read. less

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