I was confused by this book. It seemed false - too perfect. A cookbook should showcase amazing food, and if it delves into memoir territory, I'm looking for authenticity; I want to like and trust the narrator.
This book features a woman too beautiful for her age, successful sons, lovely daughters-in-law, perfectly staged photos, gorgeous homestead… everything seemed too flawless to be real or relatable. Then I looked up the author. Ah ha. I understand. This is a woman who has suffered.
The book shows life as she wants it to be. This is how she wants to see herself - it's the woman she is choosing to be after living through a lot of darkness and difficulty.
Now, instead of feeling irritated as I flip through the pages, I feel compassion. The book is beautiful and I hope that, in the last half of her life, the author finds peace.