The Cookbook Collector

Novel by Allegra Goodman

Any overeating on my part this week cannot be blamed on this book.  The cookbooks in the title are rare antiques and contain "receipts" for peacocks, crayfish tarts, pickled watermelon, turtle soup... you get the picture. Ick.

But the thing is, it's not really a story about cookbooks. It's a story about so many many different things: the dot com boom, ancestry, philosophy, book dealing and collecting, the environmental movement, changing technology, 9/11, Bialystok Judaism (look that one up), relationships, more relationships... it's complicated. That's not to say it's not a good book. The story is based around two very different sisters in their 20's in California at the turn of the millenium. From 1999 to 2002, they are finding their way through business, school, relationships with men and parents and each other. Some of the other characters get a lot of attention, too, with lots of back story and multiple perspectives. It's almost too much. Like I said, it's complicated. But I like how it ends and that goes a long way for me in how I feel about a book.

One part I'm not so sure about...the treatment of 9/11. I mean, I know it's unavoidable that a story set in that period of years would include the tragedy. And it actually fits very well in the focus on the changing economy and social strata (yeah, it's kind of a deep book). And I know, it's my generation's Pearl Harbor and we need to deal with it in story and song. But, as un-PC as this may sound, I don't like reading about it. It's too much reality, too fresh in many ways. And I really don't like when it sneaks up on me in a story. Another book, The Emperor's Children, did the same thing. At one point I put that book down and said, "Oh. This is about 9/11." And I hated that book (for other reasons as well). I don't hate this one, but it was off-putting for me. So obviously, I won't be reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, despite rave reviews. I know my limits as a reader.