Helpful Score: 5
A heart wrenching roller coaster of emotions from complete sadness to a will to fit for what is right, this book is a journey worth taking. Told from the heart of a young adult woman who has lived with her parents her entire life due to her special "personality" or as we may now call it - Aspergers. A love for learning about the people who live with Asperger's, I am drawn to read books where I can inhabit their mind and learn their thought process.
Ginny, an older sister, yet always treated as special and probably less self suficient, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of her being the older sister, but in a different respect a younger sister too. As a sister, I find the research done on birth order and traits that dominate where you are in the line both intriguing and often times beyond truthful. I am the older sister of the pair and I do feel as though if our parents were to leave us behind that I would be responsible, even though my sister is married and has a family. As the first born it was born into me that I am to always take care of my sister and look out for her - how weird would it be to have our birth order remain the same, but the roles reversed. I can't imagine.
A book for the women readers - those who love to learn about a family's heartbreak and how the pull together to overcome obstacles, this was truly a great read. I can't wait to pass it on to both my sister and mom.
Ginny, an older sister, yet always treated as special and probably less self suficient, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of her being the older sister, but in a different respect a younger sister too. As a sister, I find the research done on birth order and traits that dominate where you are in the line both intriguing and often times beyond truthful. I am the older sister of the pair and I do feel as though if our parents were to leave us behind that I would be responsible, even though my sister is married and has a family. As the first born it was born into me that I am to always take care of my sister and look out for her - how weird would it be to have our birth order remain the same, but the roles reversed. I can't imagine.
A book for the women readers - those who love to learn about a family's heartbreak and how the pull together to overcome obstacles, this was truly a great read. I can't wait to pass it on to both my sister and mom.
Helpful Score: 3
Ginny Selvaggio is twenty-six years old, and she's spent her whole life comforted with food. But not eating food, instead making it. Taking recipes and creating dishes, searching food blogs and trying new things. She is an adventurer in her life by searching the internet and reading new food techniques to try out, but she is an adventurer only inside her house. She's never moved out of her parent's home, and with their recent, unexpected deaths, along with her sister wanting to sell the house and move Ginny into her home, Ginny's feeling a little overwhelmed.
To cooking she goes. The process of caramelizing onions reassures her, the smells of chocolate occupy her during moments of stress, figuring out how the combinations of a spice with something sweet will enhance each. This is how she copes with it all. And right now, the oddest thing is happening. When she makes the recipes of those who have died, they come back to visit, sitting on the stool in the kitchen, only staying long enough while the smell of their food lingers. And because she can interact with them, she asks them questions, putting her on a path to find out who she really is, to find out why she is the way she is.
Ginny is something most people aren't. She's literal. Blunt. If you tell her that she's beating around the bush, she'd probably be confused and, while not looking right at you, respond with something like "I'm not beating around a bush. I'm standing right here." Not surprisingly, this type of personality doesn't win her a lot of friends.
And because this book is about cooking, and especially cooking the recipes from family that mean the most, I want to write a clever post with analogies of Ginny's cooking and Jael McHenry's beautiful writing, because the story is a fulfilling creation that leaves the reader, the one consuming, satisfied and full with happiness. But then I want to stop myself because I think that's what everyone else would do. Then, I think, as long as I share with you this important fact from me, it will be okay: this is a book I loved. I loved the quirkiness of Ginny, the tough outer shell of her sister Amanda, the soft comfort of their housekeeper Gert, and Gert's son, the confused and heartbroken David. I read the last half in two hours, making mental notes of each recipe I'll be cooking in my kitchen this weekend when I get home. I already like to cook, but this story gave me an even deeper, more holistic and appreciative view of it. The creation of equal parts sadness, family, love, and food into one flourishing finish of a story that will be devoured quickly, left me with a craving for Jael McHenry's next book.
If you like a dash of magical realism, along with cooking, recipes thrown into it all, then I'm pretty sure you'll like this book.
To cooking she goes. The process of caramelizing onions reassures her, the smells of chocolate occupy her during moments of stress, figuring out how the combinations of a spice with something sweet will enhance each. This is how she copes with it all. And right now, the oddest thing is happening. When she makes the recipes of those who have died, they come back to visit, sitting on the stool in the kitchen, only staying long enough while the smell of their food lingers. And because she can interact with them, she asks them questions, putting her on a path to find out who she really is, to find out why she is the way she is.
Ginny is something most people aren't. She's literal. Blunt. If you tell her that she's beating around the bush, she'd probably be confused and, while not looking right at you, respond with something like "I'm not beating around a bush. I'm standing right here." Not surprisingly, this type of personality doesn't win her a lot of friends.
And because this book is about cooking, and especially cooking the recipes from family that mean the most, I want to write a clever post with analogies of Ginny's cooking and Jael McHenry's beautiful writing, because the story is a fulfilling creation that leaves the reader, the one consuming, satisfied and full with happiness. But then I want to stop myself because I think that's what everyone else would do. Then, I think, as long as I share with you this important fact from me, it will be okay: this is a book I loved. I loved the quirkiness of Ginny, the tough outer shell of her sister Amanda, the soft comfort of their housekeeper Gert, and Gert's son, the confused and heartbroken David. I read the last half in two hours, making mental notes of each recipe I'll be cooking in my kitchen this weekend when I get home. I already like to cook, but this story gave me an even deeper, more holistic and appreciative view of it. The creation of equal parts sadness, family, love, and food into one flourishing finish of a story that will be devoured quickly, left me with a craving for Jael McHenry's next book.
If you like a dash of magical realism, along with cooking, recipes thrown into it all, then I'm pretty sure you'll like this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I have one word to say....'WOW'.
I normally don't like the more contemporary novels with the exception of Sarah Addison Allen and when I saw the reviews comparing this author to her I had to try it out and i'm so glad I did.
They never really mention what she has but you get an idea from it within the details of the book.
I have to admit that I did shed a few tears at the very end of the book but it wrapped up so nicely and left me wanting to read more from this new author.
I can only hope she writes another book and soon. =)
I normally don't like the more contemporary novels with the exception of Sarah Addison Allen and when I saw the reviews comparing this author to her I had to try it out and i'm so glad I did.
They never really mention what she has but you get an idea from it within the details of the book.
I have to admit that I did shed a few tears at the very end of the book but it wrapped up so nicely and left me wanting to read more from this new author.
I can only hope she writes another book and soon. =)
