Recipes from the Dump

by Abigail Stone

Her family shattered by more than one father-figure desertion, Gabby Fulbriten tries to make a life for herself with her mother and siblings while longing to lose weight and find the man of her dreams. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

271 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't explain why I liked this quirky book. I really didn't know what to expect especially with such a strange title. It was almost like reading a diary.

[Bianca Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An AMAZING book that balances humor with longing. The language is poetic, and the quick, natural wit of Stone's work continues to astound me. Here we have a true master of story telling, a writer who fearlessly explores the trials and tribulations of being a single woman trying to raise three children, without ever feeling preachy or sentimental. I've never read a book like this. Highly, highly recommended.

[Maura Alia Badji · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. it was given to me by one of my best friends on my birthday during a difficult year. The many bad reviews here make me smile and shake my head. I found this story of a single mother of three trying to make sense of life in the 1990s full of quirky humor, warmth, and humanity. Go figure.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is even too much stream of thought even for me, but I liked it somewhat. and it is short.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative and a roller coaster of emotions

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recipes from the Dump delivers a full serving of humor, insight, hope, with a dash of woe. I was searching for something to read that was not “damsel in distress is saved by handsome brute of a man”. This book was on target for me. Gabby Fulbriten shares her relatable hopes and her worries with wit and honesty. The author, Abigail Stone, gives Gabby a real life voice and real life problems with some solutions and musings in her satirical recipes.

[Trudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a ramble. Gabby is well-named. Desperate for a man, battling her weight and her children, Gabby’s story doesn’t move toward a specific end. It just kind of ended. The recipes aren’t actually recipes for cooking, but more recipes for life that Gabby has figured out. There was humor, but I’m not clear on what the point was.

[Emma Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and zany book. I enjoyed reading the inner thoughts of a woman raising her children and longing for things she doesn’t have. Her loneliness broke my heart at times, pointing to her deeper desire for community & connection that went unfulfilled.

[Millie · Rating 2 out of 5]

anxious, a bit formless, the recipes were not as poetic as I think they hoped to be.

[Rhonda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sad to say that I couldn't get into the story. I'm sure there is a reader out there that would appreciate Ms. Stone's method of delivering the story, but sadly it wasn't me.

[Sonja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very quirky, I just never "needed" to turn the page.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to write that I know the author or rather I know who she is. We did a theater production many years ago. I've been wanting to read her book and the timing was perfect. What a read! Once I became familiar with Abigail's voice I related to her character, Gabby who could make me laugh out loud as well as think and look at everyday things and situations with a different perspective.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok. I lied on my status. I marked it as finished. Well, I did not finish reading the book, but I was finished trying.

Everything about this book called my name. The title...quirky, suggesting laughter and wisdom and down-home charm. The cover....depicting quirky down-home, country living. The reviews...promising laughter and charm. The inside cover....a single mother struggling to raise her children and to make sense of her life.

There was one recipe for Amish Friendship Bread which could be useable, but the other "recipes for life" which I could have found intriguing were downright strange and depressing...such as Earthling Junket and Horror Tostadas.

Main character Gabby Fulbriten is living in Leadbelly, Vermont. I never got a visual image of her; only a chalky outline. Her three children were mentioned from time to time but I have no idea where they were while Gabby is beating up life. She had no interaction with them as a mother and what interactions she had with her neighbors was impersonal and remote. Clearly, the woman was depressed. Like Gabby, the plot of this book never took more than a shadowy image for me. It was not a story, but Gabby's own rantings and ramblings that, covered Shakespeare, hair loss, McDonald's and religious fanatics.

I gave up trying to understand this book. I had better luck with Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar, and this book was just as dark and disturbing to me. But at least I knew what to expect from Plath and I was prepared. Gabby just boggled my mind. Sorry. Some of you just may like this one. It just wasn't the recipe for a good story for my taste.

[Dox · Rating 1 out of 5]

The recipes were generally more metaphoric than real, along the lines of taking one man, one woman, hope, love and stirring, etc.

While not completely unentertaining--it was interesting to piece together the bits of information on how the narrator came to be in her position--there was a lot of repetition, and the themes were vague, and not well formed as components of the story. Also, I grew tired of the narrator's constant return to some of the same topics within the story. This could have been a strong female character--she had 3 kids to raise on her own and was struggling with money--but instead, she's constantly trying to loose weight so she can attract a man, because having a husband seems to be her only true goal.

[Tiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was well meaning but took a few wrong turns. It had potential but I really couldn't connect to the characters. Toward the end of the book, the last 50 pages or so I really didn't want to go on, I couldn't see the plot landing in a place that would be satisfactory to me. Some of the "recipes" were cute and others tried too hard to be amusing and failed. Overall there was just something about the book that made me uncomfortable, it simply wasn't an enjoyable read nor was there really anything to gain from it. There are some good things about the book and the writing but overall it was a miss.

[Janice]

This is the book that might have taught me, as a reader, to put a book down - that I do not have to finish every book I pick up!

I struggled through this whole book! I forced myself to read it. It depressed me. This woman was depressing on many levels. Although she owned being depresses as a reason for her moods and life style, but as a single woman, she made me mad, too -

Thank God I finished it!

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book drove me crazy. I didn't even finish it. It was depressing and pointless even though raves on the cover made it look charming and funny. All the books I really wanted to get from the library were checked out the day I was there so I just grabbed this off the shelf. Note to self--don't do that. Plan ahead and put books on hold...

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm. Supposedly the purpose of my personal book journal dating from '06 is to prevent me from re-reading a book. Didn't seem to work here. In '07 I gave this novel 4 stars; can manage only 3 this time around. It's a quirky, stream-of-consciousness type book, which was occasionally hard to follow so I was merely reading the words without them sinking in.

[Jessica (booneybear) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ummm...I don't quite know what to make of this book. The author was witty and I enjoyed her take on creating 'recipes' out of life situations, but her constant whining about being single at the age of 36 just killed me. There is more to life than wanting a man.

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably one of the worst books we read for our book club. Depressing. Reviews said this was 'funny, delightful, endearing...' We didn't get it. Recipes didn't work - directions for recipes were bad. Shallow character - could have gone into some depth of character. Things didn't add up.

[Heav · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated it! The only reason I read it was the fact that it was the only book left in the car that I hadn't read, and I still had hours left to wait. The woman seemed very yes lonely, but also shallow, lazy and unworthy of the children .

[Jesska · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was quite hilarious. It's meant to be light and funny by poking fun at the reality of herself, the place in which she lives, and our world today. Surely it could be viewed as depressing, but maybe it's because it's based in Vermont, where I am from, that I just "get it."

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVED the mock personal ads, but outside of that I just couldn't get into this book!

[Hanje Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. I would certainly read something else by this author.

[Sandy Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd little book...So forgetable that I read it again 4/29/11 because none of it was familiar! Don't think I finished it before. Kind of an interesting rambling.

[Becky Marietta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, easy to get through, and vastly quirky. The story was a little choppy, but not too much to enjoy.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty humorous at times, but there was also a lot of negativity in it as well.
Enjoyable though.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is rambles from one thought to another and never quite gets to the point.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up partway through. 109 pages of the narrator doing little else than whine about not having a husband was 109 pages too much.

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of a downer; lonely, poor single mom, no upside.