To her it seems like a battle to get the orders out, and her terrific work ethic, and that she is better than anyone else. Never does she mention putting love into her food. of Michigan ("the Harvard of the midwest) where she trashes all her fellow students, mainly because she's not up to speed with the terminology of literature.Īargggh! The only part of the book that remotely touched me was the end, where she realizes her Italian mother in law is aging and may not be around for the annual month in Italy. "reluctant chef"-it's all she ever did, really, except for getting a masters at U. She visits her mother after twenty years only because of the death of her brother, and apparently hates her, even though to me she seems a lot like her mother. Oh, and she's polyamorous, if you can count a green card marriage to a doctor, who she then goes and has two kids with even though they start out living separately. She just goes on and on and on, and really comes off like a self-absorbed, albeit talented, very full of herself type of woman. Self-referential (a word she uses a lot), snobby, totally devoid of any spark of humor. This book pissed me off almost as much as "Eat, Pray, Love". to Agent: "Gee, I've been keeping journals all my life, why not, sure, I'm gonna do it". (I'd still like to visit her restaurant, though.)Īgent to Gabrielle: "Hey, you've had a famous restaurant for a while now and you've never been on the Food Network, Iron Chef, etc., why not hop on the bandwagon and write a memoir?" Sort of like a good meal with an obnoxious dinner companion. Now that I am finished, I am glad I read this memoir, but it was not a wholly enjoyable experience. There were also times when I was so frustrated with the author that I considered abandoning the book. There are some juicy stories here, there are beautiful descriptions of food, there are some thoughtful passages on finding meaning in life and work and relationships. This memoir covers Gabrielle's childhood her lessons in cooking from her French mother her early experiences of working in the food service industry her time in graduate school her adventure of opening up Prune, her restaurant in New York's East Village her love affairs and her marriage to an Italian man. Some stories made her sound so cocky and bitter that it was hard to sympathize when her marriage went south. She comes across as both empathetic and also arrogant. Sometimes Gabrielle explains herself well, other times she is maddeningly vague and obtuse. Some parts were well-written and engaging, and other parts were so tedious that I couldn't wait to be done with the book. I thought Gabrielle Hamilton's memoir was uneven and a bit messy. On my copy of this book, there was a gushing quote from Anthony Bourdain: "Magnificent.
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