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Cooking for Her Eyes: Transcription of a Sonata
Susan Rakstang recalls her idyllic life as a child of Japanese-American parents and her mother’s cooking lessons of delicious tastes, exquisite fragrances, and the visual art of preparing food, through her fast-paced, frenzied years in battle with time juggling her responsibilities as a wife, mother of two children, and working outside the home as an architect—a pioneering path not often pursued by women in the mid-1970s.
After retirement, life suddenly takes a dark turn when her mother has a stroke and her friend Margaret, a pastry chef, receives a terrifying diagnosis of stage-four cancer of the tongue. With both women’s lives hanging perilously in the balance, Susan spends her days and evenings alternately tending to each. Learning Margaret’s cancer treatment will cause horrific pain and temporary loss of taste, Susan develops a pureed food preparation technique for her friend’s meals, focusing on the natural, visual beauty of food—and cooks for Margaret’s eyes.
Blending the detail and precision of an architect with the color, tempo, and texture of her classical music roots, Susan beckons her reads to embrace their senses as she takes them on her journey of music, food, love, and death. Organizing her story as Beethoven structured his Sonata No. 8, she transcribes her anxiety, passion, joy, sorrow, and resolution as the maestro expressed in his sonata.
After retirement, life suddenly takes a dark turn when her mother has a stroke and her friend Margaret, a pastry chef, receives a terrifying diagnosis of stage-four cancer of the tongue. With both women’s lives hanging perilously in the balance, Susan spends her days and evenings alternately tending to each. Learning Margaret’s cancer treatment will cause horrific pain and temporary loss of taste, Susan develops a pureed food preparation technique for her friend’s meals, focusing on the natural, visual beauty of food—and cooks for Margaret’s eyes.
Blending the detail and precision of an architect with the color, tempo, and texture of her classical music roots, Susan beckons her reads to embrace their senses as she takes them on her journey of music, food, love, and death. Organizing her story as Beethoven structured his Sonata No. 8, she transcribes her anxiety, passion, joy, sorrow, and resolution as the maestro expressed in his sonata.
258 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 8, 2020
Cooking for Her Eyes is a generous invitation, a moving walk through time revealing Susan’s intelligence in terms of character development and attention to the right details. A passionate reading experience is the result: between essential vicissitudes and raw power of the senses, this book is proof of life, undisputably.
Full review available on Slow Culture Magazine.
Full review available on Slow Culture Magazine.
June 24, 2020
A beautiful memoir that touches on many topics—being part of a Japanese-American family; being a woman in a male-dominated field; being a wife, mother, daughter, caretaker, and friend. All of these are blended together through the author's passion for music, food, and art that all follow and affect her in different ways throughout her life.
October 18, 2020
I received an ARC from Netgalley.
Susan tells her story of growing up as a Japanese American living in the Chicago and how food infused her life as she became a female architect in Chicago during the late 70s and early 80s.
Excellent read. It was a memoir of an ordinary person who didn't let gender barriers stop her and learned to become successful in business and in life. She shares stories about life and food.
The structure is odd. It is broken into 3 parts with the first taking up most of the book. It has continuity but there is little time reference as to know what year it is and many years may pass between life segments.
Susan tells her story of growing up as a Japanese American living in the Chicago and how food infused her life as she became a female architect in Chicago during the late 70s and early 80s.
Excellent read. It was a memoir of an ordinary person who didn't let gender barriers stop her and learned to become successful in business and in life. She shares stories about life and food.
The structure is odd. It is broken into 3 parts with the first taking up most of the book. It has continuity but there is little time reference as to know what year it is and many years may pass between life segments.
July 7, 2020
Cooking for Her Eyes tells the story of Susan's life journey. She takes us through her various stages of life where we come to know her Japanese-American family and the mother who cares for them all. She teaches Susan to cook and it is a passion they share for years to come. We follow Susan as she pursues a career in architecture, not common for a woman in the 1970s, and it is after she retires that her life takes a dark turn. Her mother suffers a stroke and her best friend, Margaret--a pastry chef--is diagnosed with stage IV cancer of the tongue and loses her sense of taste. Susan spends her days tending alternately to each. She develops a food puree cooking method using the beauty of simple ingredients and natural colors to appeal to Margaret's sense of sight, cooking for her eyes. A practicing and passionate musician, Susan uses Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 as a guideline for her story filled with family, life, music, food, joy, sorrow, and death.
What caught my interest in this book at first was not only the mix of music and food but the relationship between the novel and a sonata. I don't normally read such emotional novels but I felt this was one I could really delve into. It was a bit of a slow build as we traveled through Susan's life to reach the point she begins to "cook for someone's eyes" but I believe there was a reason for that: to highlight the relationship she had with her mother. In the end of the novel, when all the ends began to meet, I felt that I had been on a bit of a spiritual journey. It was enlightening, joyous, sad, and even triumphant. The author includes the sonata form at the end of the novel and explains how she used it to format her work, which I personally found very interesting and greatly appreciated.
I feel the cover could have been made more inviting, though I do appreciate how the black and white speaks to a loss of taste by the absence of color. The dialogue also felt a little awkward because there were so many sentences that ended in exclamation points, but this is a very minor flaw and could be just a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, this book was a beautiful journey and I do recommend if you enjoy novels that combine music, food, and family.
You can find Susan's cooking blog here:
https://theartandarchitectureofpuree....
Thank you Quarter Rest Publications for providing an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
What caught my interest in this book at first was not only the mix of music and food but the relationship between the novel and a sonata. I don't normally read such emotional novels but I felt this was one I could really delve into. It was a bit of a slow build as we traveled through Susan's life to reach the point she begins to "cook for someone's eyes" but I believe there was a reason for that: to highlight the relationship she had with her mother. In the end of the novel, when all the ends began to meet, I felt that I had been on a bit of a spiritual journey. It was enlightening, joyous, sad, and even triumphant. The author includes the sonata form at the end of the novel and explains how she used it to format her work, which I personally found very interesting and greatly appreciated.
I feel the cover could have been made more inviting, though I do appreciate how the black and white speaks to a loss of taste by the absence of color. The dialogue also felt a little awkward because there were so many sentences that ended in exclamation points, but this is a very minor flaw and could be just a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, this book was a beautiful journey and I do recommend if you enjoy novels that combine music, food, and family.
You can find Susan's cooking blog here:
https://theartandarchitectureofpuree....
Thank you Quarter Rest Publications for providing an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
August 24, 2020
I received a copy of this book as a free Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Content warning: This book includes scenes with grief, the death of a family member, and the story of a person undergoing treatment for cancer. All of these are key to the book.
Cooking for Her Eyes: Transcription of a Sonata is the very gentle memoir of Susan Uehara Rakstang. It’s a story that starts and ends with love, and is a story about Susan as much as it is the story of her family and, in particular, her mother.
Reading the book was like meeting a dear friend for coffee and catching up on their life in bursts. Susan’s story is interesting and her achievements and tenacity impressive.
My biggest challenges in reading this book were understanding when in history each scene was happening, and in the very raw scenes of grief in the second half of the book. I found it difficult to identify when things were happening: while the book follows an almost constantly linear progression through time, it isn’t always upfront about when things are happening and jumps so quickly between scenes that I had some difficulty following what was going on.
The first half of the book provides the context for Rakstang’s story, but I felt that much of Rakstang’s focus was on the second half: it felt both raw and very carefully thought out. The first half of the book rockets through her life, and the second half slows right down to look at her relationships with her mother and her best friend, and the difficulties these very beloved people faced. I had to put the book down several times in order to finish it.
I think I would have gotten a lot more out of this story if I had any familiarity with music and was able to understand the pacing to the sonata. The book is clearly well thought out and seems designed as an experience for the senses.
Content warning: This book includes scenes with grief, the death of a family member, and the story of a person undergoing treatment for cancer. All of these are key to the book.
Cooking for Her Eyes: Transcription of a Sonata is the very gentle memoir of Susan Uehara Rakstang. It’s a story that starts and ends with love, and is a story about Susan as much as it is the story of her family and, in particular, her mother.
Reading the book was like meeting a dear friend for coffee and catching up on their life in bursts. Susan’s story is interesting and her achievements and tenacity impressive.
My biggest challenges in reading this book were understanding when in history each scene was happening, and in the very raw scenes of grief in the second half of the book. I found it difficult to identify when things were happening: while the book follows an almost constantly linear progression through time, it isn’t always upfront about when things are happening and jumps so quickly between scenes that I had some difficulty following what was going on.
The first half of the book provides the context for Rakstang’s story, but I felt that much of Rakstang’s focus was on the second half: it felt both raw and very carefully thought out. The first half of the book rockets through her life, and the second half slows right down to look at her relationships with her mother and her best friend, and the difficulties these very beloved people faced. I had to put the book down several times in order to finish it.
I think I would have gotten a lot more out of this story if I had any familiarity with music and was able to understand the pacing to the sonata. The book is clearly well thought out and seems designed as an experience for the senses.
November 29, 2020
The publisher’s description gives you a good idea of what to expect from this memoir. I enjoyed Susan Uehara Rakstang’s writing style, which is often quite sensuous. Some aspects of her story interested me more than others, and I had trouble keeping track of all of the different people, but I’m glad that I read this.
I particularly enjoyed reading the author’s descriptions of cooking, music, and architecture. I thought that structuring the story based on Beethoven's Sonata No. 8, C minor, Opus 13 (Pathétique) was an interesting idea, but I’m not sure how well it works for those of us who are not very familiar with Beethoven's work. At times when reading the story, I could sense the tempo and emotion of the music it must represent, but at other times, the flow of the story just seemed a bit awkward and choppy. If you’re not familiar with the Sonata Pathétique, I recommend listening to it before you read this book so you have a better sense of what the author is trying to accomplish.
I am glad the author included an appendix with her analysis of the sonata and how it relates to her story, but without any knowledge of music theory, it’s difficult to follow.
Another appendix included descriptions of foods served at a party described in the story. Endnotes explain some of the potentially unfamiliar cultural or technical terms, as well as references.
I would particularly recommend this book to foodies and fans of Classical music, or those who enjoy experimental literature.
I was provided an unproofed ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.
I particularly enjoyed reading the author’s descriptions of cooking, music, and architecture. I thought that structuring the story based on Beethoven's Sonata No. 8, C minor, Opus 13 (Pathétique) was an interesting idea, but I’m not sure how well it works for those of us who are not very familiar with Beethoven's work. At times when reading the story, I could sense the tempo and emotion of the music it must represent, but at other times, the flow of the story just seemed a bit awkward and choppy. If you’re not familiar with the Sonata Pathétique, I recommend listening to it before you read this book so you have a better sense of what the author is trying to accomplish.
I am glad the author included an appendix with her analysis of the sonata and how it relates to her story, but without any knowledge of music theory, it’s difficult to follow.
Another appendix included descriptions of foods served at a party described in the story. Endnotes explain some of the potentially unfamiliar cultural or technical terms, as well as references.
I would particularly recommend this book to foodies and fans of Classical music, or those who enjoy experimental literature.
I was provided an unproofed ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.
not-finished
January 2, 2022Memoirs typically focus on a single time period or event in a person's life and the impact it has on them. This memoir includes stories from the author's Japanese upbringing, favorite foods, parenting struggles, artistic background, career aspirations, and more. Although the story is told in a linear manner, it seemed disjointed at times.
The book is separated into three parts, and the first part is the majority of the book. The author explains that the structure of the memoir mimics that of a sonata, but that is much too high level for me to appreciate and understand.
DNF at 37%
The book is separated into three parts, and the first part is the majority of the book. The author explains that the structure of the memoir mimics that of a sonata, but that is much too high level for me to appreciate and understand.
DNF at 37%
October 19, 2020
This is a very endearing book that touches on a number of subjects that impact the author's life. I didn't understand the sonata part of it until I got to the very end and then I had to admire the cleverness of the author. You can tell she is an architect as you read; she built something with this book.
It's a memoir of a successful woman who has so much energy that it almost defies belief, but it is certainly something to aspire to.
It's a memoir of a successful woman who has so much energy that it almost defies belief, but it is certainly something to aspire to.
October 20, 2020
A memoir with Japanese culinary descriptives throughout. I kept thinking, no one but the author could have shared this story. Love for family, love for career, love for self. It's all in there. Beautiful!
October 1, 2020
A gorgeous and ambitious memoir, written in the style of a sonata. Highly recommended.
October 14, 2020
Beautiful, stunning, unique...I'd never read anything like this book before and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Blends music, food, and prose into the perfect dish. You'll want seconds, trust me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews