Monday, November 7, 2011

The Inadvertent Education of a Reader of a Chef's Memoirs

Finished Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef (my first e-book!) last night and I'm really wondering why Gabrielle Hamilton ever took the time to write it. She is, unquestionably, a gifted writer and I imagine her cooking is top-notch (I've yet to have the pleasure), but this book goes nowhere. There are holes in the story large enough to drive a truck through and it fizzles to an unsatisfactory end. Her story is 2 stars, but her ability to turn a phrase is 3+ stars, thus, I settle on a rating of 3 stars (out of 5).

I have read all of Anthony Bourdain's books, so when I saw his one sentence review on the cover "Magnificent. Simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever." I thought, "Wow. This has really gotta be good!" Unfortunately, I can't say I disagree with Mr. Bourdain, 'cause honestly, I've never read a chef's memoir before (unless you count his landmark Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly), but if this is as good as a chef memoir can get, I'm afraid I won't be reading any more chef's memoirs.

More from Google Books: link.