consuming passions

So I've just finished reading this and I kinda have mixed views on this one. I love the authors writing style, It's so chatty and sometimes you feel like your having a very personal chat. I also found myself laughing out loud quite alot.

Stories of her mother being particularly funny, such as a description of her mother swinging from a chandelier because of her family saying the word gumbo one too many times after comparing one more favourably to hers.

Characters are painted so well, you can really believe in their quirky ways and traits whilst they aren't complete characteurs.

What then do I have the mixed feelings about?

It's kinda a terminology issue as the book is presented as a memoir and I feel that this may have been the wrong term to use.

I always think as a memoir as going through a particular period in the authors life, an A to B journey with occasional pit stops along the way. This book whilst definitely being about the authors life, beautifully written and entertaining doesn't fit this criteria.

There are stories about her husband but we don't really get a story about how they met, or about her having her children. Whilst reading these are the sort of details that I was desperate to know about.

For me the book felt more like building a relationship with a new friend. You have conversations and tell each other stories, you find out about each other little by little and not in chronological order, but by what you feel like talking about at that particular moment in time.

With this particular friend you also get alot of food talk, with one chapter being titled "fear of frying" which then goes into detail about the dos, don'ts and why she's so scared of frying.

This is both a strength and a weakness to the book as you sometimes feel like your not really going anywhere, just bouncing along on the authors whim.

To be honest I don't know what they should have presented this book as, essays perhaps? or how about as kitchen tales or stories? that has a nice ring to it.

I only have one other complaint about the book, in some of the recipes she lists specific cake mixes to use. Not living in America this is a major disappointment as I can't get them, particularly as it was for a coconut layer cake I wanted to try.

I can't complain though as the recipe was to with a particular story and it worked within the content of the chapter, I'm just disappointed is all.

Overall I would recommend this book of kitchen tales to others as it is incredibly enjoyable with some lovely recipes included. Just don't expect it to take you from A to B in a straight line, enjoy the twists, turns and pit stops in the writing.

A food obsessed life indeed.