Friday, July 30, 2010

2010 book 194

Allegra Goodman's The Cookbook Collector
I've loved pretty much all of Goodman's previous books, but for some reason this one just didn't do it for me. I liked the two main characters, sisters (who, of course, are total opposites, with one being practical and one flighty, as fictional sisters always are), and I liked the explorations of Hasidism, and all the cookbooks, but I found most of their romantic foibles to be annoying, wasn't very interested in the late-90s dot-com-boom setting, and thought the end was a little predictable. It's getting great reviews, though, and certainly Goodman writes very well, so don't take my word for it. Weirdly, I have seen a few reviews call it "a modern Sense and Sensibility"--maybe because of the two sisters?--but didn't see many overt parallels. I don't know how to grade this. It just made me tired. B?

1 comment:

Christina said...

I just finished this and I have to say I agree with your assessment - the 9/11 twist was just kind of lame. It would have been more interesting if the older sister could have told Jonathan to shove it for being a dishonest jerkface.

I did love George, though, even if he was old & kinda creepy. And I totally wanted to read those cookbooks!

The Jane Austen comparison confuses and horrifies me, though.

I will take your recommendation and go read something else by Allegra Goodman.