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Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

by Gabrielle Hamilton

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Flack2flack said: " As far as autobiographies of chefs go, this is a good one. But as the author is also a food writer, I dare say, I raised my expectations bar a bit higher. She cleared the bar, but left it wobbling.

The author started strong, constructing a world of h As far as autobiographies of chefs go, this is a good one. But as the author is also a food writer, I dare say, I raised my expectations bar a bit higher. She cleared the bar, but left it wobbling.

The author started strong, constructing a world of her youth and drawing me in with evocative descriptions of her sense memories of a childhood in which food was a well fleshed-out central character. This character however, seemed to wither to an anemic, one-dimensional shell throughout a majority of the book. Part of this I can appreciate as a reflection (and perhaps device) of her time spent in industrial, corporate kitchens, but one would think her facility with description would improve as age and culinary experience did.

The passion for food waning must be accepted if that’s how it was, but it seemed more a passion in the writing that faded. Some chapters felt as though they droned along with lists of complaints. There were sometimes odd, highly specific descriptions of experiences which I would think were minor in the span of a life spent in the bustle of the restaurant business. Surely she had more worthy events to retell.

I felt as though there were plates of vivid experiences left at the pass that went un-served to the reader in place of the stale bread of self-serving “difficulties.” If delivered differently, I think I would have appreciated her struggles instead of becoming a bit alienated by them, feeling as though they were piling up on the side of self-congratulatory.

Perhaps, though, she should be credited for not penning herself as a sympathetic character (as I’m sure there is always great temptation to do). But as a piece of literature, one wants the heroine to be just that—someone they can root for. I just don’t know if the shortcomings of the book are due to the subject of the book or its author—despite the fact they are one-in-the-same. I could give Ms. Hamilton the person more leeway than Ms. Hamilton the writer.

The overall narrative was a bit disjointed at times. And I’m left with a sense that there was some literary license taken along the way. As a whole, however, the book is well-constructed. It is unapologetic. This is not a book written as a publicity tool. It does not simply stay wading in the safe, shallow waters of a book about a chef‘s life within the four walls of her kitchen. For that alone it should be credited. And if this book does raise the bar for chef biographies, then my opinion of it will become less ambiguous. Future chef-authors take heed; follow Gabrielle Hamilton in pushing your biographies from Twinkie to Tiramisu. ...more "

May 15, 2012 03:25PM · see review