Title: The School of Essential Ingredients
Author: Erica Bauermeister
Publisher: New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, c2009
ISBN: 9780399155437
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 240
Quick Review: 4 stars (out of 5)
Why I Read It: Suzanne Issa suggested this book to me.
Where I Obtained the Book: Got it at my local library.
Synopsis: Once a month on Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian’s restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect.
The students come to learn the art behind Lillian’s dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each unknowingly seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. One by one they are transformed into the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create. Over time, the paths of the students mingle and intertwine, and the essence of Lillian’s cooking expands beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of their lives, with results that are often unexpected, and always delicious.
Review: I enjoyed this book, it was short and very sweet. The talk about the recipes made me hungry, but the life of the students in the class was just as interesting. Claire, made me laugh and cry. She's a young mother who just wishes to be left alone at times. She loves her children and husband, but longs for solitude. I completely indentified with her. Little ones are so time consuming and exhausting. The other students had interesting lives and reasons for taking the class.
I would suggest this to anyone. I loved the journey, it is short, but I read it slowly to savor every word.
Author Biography: I was born in Pasadena, California in 1959, a time when that part of the country was both one of the loveliest and smoggiest places you could imagine. I remember the arching branches of the oak tree in our front yard, the center of the patio that formed a private entrance to our lives; I remember leaning over a water faucet to run water across my eyes after a day spent playing outside. It's never too early to learn that there is always more than one side to life.
I have always wanted to write, but when I read Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing" in college, I finally knew what I wanted to write – books that took what many considered to be unimportant bits of life and gave them beauty, shone light upon their meaning.
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