Play Book Tag discussion

Blood, Bones and Butter - Gabrielle Hamilton
Book on CD read by the author
3***

Subtitle: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

From the book jacket: Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. … Hamilton’s ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than one hundred friends and neighbors. The smells of spit-roasted lamb, apple wood smoke, and rosemary garlic marinade became as necessary to her as her own skin.

My reactions
I’ll say this for Hamilton – she can definitely write. I was fascinated by the stories of her upbringing, and her “wild-child” phase. I was interested in (and horrified by) her journey through the bars and joints of New York, and her multiple attempts at college. I laughed, cheered and gasped at the anecdotes of her years working for the big catering companies, and the summer camp. But she kind of lost me when she got to her marriage. She is open about marrying so that her husband – an Italian physician – could secure his Green Card, but then she seems to also demand that he be the idyllic spouse. They keep separate apartments and she’s angry that he’s not “there for her” more. On the other hand, she has a great relationship with her mother-in-law.

But what really shines in this memoir is her relationship with food. I relished in the descriptions of both simple (vegetables and cheese for lunch) and elegantly complicated meals.

Hamilton narrates the audiobook herself, and she does a very fine job.


LINK to my review