I'm not much into the memoir genre, least of all food memoirs, but this book hooked me in the first chapter about the author's semiferal childhood in a crumbling Pennsylvania mill with her stage designer father and French ballerina mother. As it went on, I appreciated the author's ruminations about feminism, being a mother and also a leading figure in a male-dominated profession, about the arcane world of advanced degrees in writing--but I kept reading for the glimmers of magic as the author forced a restaurant, a marriage, and a book into being through sheer force of will.

Fractured and fragmented. Though I think it was an artistic choice, I would have enjoyed it more if it had been more linear.

Gabrielle Hamilton tell the story of her drift into being a chef. I don't think that she ever planned to end up as a chef, but she did. This tells part of her story, there are pieces left unsaid and nothing is examined in any great detail in the text, the bare bones are illustrated and it left me with questions. Bisexual, she cheated on a long-term lesbian partner to marry a man so he could get a green card and then fell in love with his family and their food traditions in Italy, and had two kids with him. Still you can see the disintegration of her marriage was going to happen (confirmed here: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2011/05/gabrielle-hamilton-family-meal?currentPage=1 and I'm glad she was still accepted by his family). She saw her parent's marriage break up when she was young, she dropped out and made choices that weren't always the best (it seems that along with parting, her parents forgot to make plans for the children or watch them in a meaningful way after the divorce) I wanted more, I wanted to know what her mum did to earn the hatred, what happened to all her siblings, what happened to her dad, more, dammit. It was an interesting read but it just felt like there was more there not discussed or examined.

Gabrielle Hamilton tell the story of her drift into being a chef. I don't think that she ever planned to end up as a chef, but she did. This tells part of her story, there are pieces left unsaid and nothing is examined in any great detail in the text, the bare bones are illustrated and it left me with questions.Bisexual, she cheated on a long-term lesbian partner to marry a man so he could get a green card and then fell in love with his family and their food traditions in Italy, and had two kids with him. Still you can see the disintegration of her marriage was going to happen (confirmed here: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2011/05/gabrielle-hamilton-family-meal?curren... and I'm glad she was still accepted by his family). She saw her parent's marriage break up when she was young, she dropped out and made choices that weren't always the best (it seems that along with parting, her parents forgot to make plans for the children or watch them in a meaningful way after the divorce)I wanted more, I wanted to know what her mum did to earn the hatred, what happened to all her siblings, what happened to her dad, more, dammit.It was an interesting read but it just felt like there was more there not discussed or examined.

It's well-written, no doubt, and I liked the change from the other foodie-memoirs in that we didn't have to see the slow, painful acquisition of skills in an apprenticeship. Instead, we get vivid writing about delicious, simple food. But Hamilton strangely seems to elide key points in her personal life, or only give half-explanations. Exactly when and why did she become estranged from her mother? And four of her five siblings? What about coming out/coming of age as a lesbian in the 70's and 80's in rural PA, or in New York City? I would be interested to read that. And while she spent plenty of time on her relationship with her husband, I still don't see why they stayed married, except that she loves his mother. I've never read such hostile writing about a relationship that was ongoing at the time. It's startling to read what she writes about her husband and then to realize that they were still married when it was published. In any case, it's no surprise they're no longer married, and as to that last sibling she was still in touch with? Not so much anymore, I'm guessing.