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Jane O'keeffe | 2/10/2014
" Good memoir. I know the title tried to tie in both Hamilton's path top becoming a chef and her personal life but the transitions between cooking and personal life were clunky and left me with many questions. "
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Bianca | 2/9/2014
" I feel bad giving this book a rating. How do you rate someone's memoir? I enjoyed reading the book however. And it made me really, really hungry for some really good food :O) "
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Doreen Callahan | 1/29/2014
" If you are a foodie and have worked in the food industry this is the best book ever. "
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Tom | 1/29/2014
" Really great read. Hamilton is a gifted storyteller and really helps the reader experience her story. The challenges of being abandoned by her parents, years of struggling in kitchens (being a chef is not all glamorous), and finally of being a mother and wife and her struggle to feel part of a family. Given her years in 80s NYC and her balance of food as a creative outlet, it felt like I was reading Patti Smith mixed with Anthony Bourdain. Highly recommend. "
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Sandy | 1/27/2014
" Not great, not awful. The author was very unlikeable by the end. "
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Adriennej | 1/20/2014
" Loved this book! Highly recommend it for anyone who loves food... "
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Jen | 1/16/2014
" I like this less the more I read. "
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Stevie | 10/28/2013
" I found the first two-thirds of this absorbing, but she kind of lost me with the Butter section. I wasn't all that interested in how she and her husband were incompatible, and far preferred her reflections on how her unusual upbringing (or lack thereof) influenced her career and cooking style. "
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Jane Dmochowski | 10/1/2013
" I really enjoyed this book. Gabrielle, in my estimation, is clearly a narcissistic and deeply flawed person, but she definitely knows how to write and cook! "
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Carley Cianciolo | 9/29/2013
" I can't put this book down. Beautifully written memoir about being a chef and running her own restaurant in New York. "
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Maggie | 7/14/2013
" Excellent. Great story and very well written. Reminded me a lot of Mary Karr's memoir "Cherry." While it might not resonate as much with those who aren't in love with food and/or have worked in restaurants, I thoroughly enjoyed it "
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Gill | 2/20/2013
" Really enjoyed this book in the beginning. but after 70-80% it went down in a negative spiral... "
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Tama | 1/1/2013
" Great memoir! You'll want to cook and eat while you read this - Ms. Hamilton really has a way with words, wonderfully descriptive stye. She brings the smallest details to life in your mind, and makes you feel every nuance of emotion. Not jsut about food, but about life. "
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Linnea Minnema | 10/24/2012
" Another whiny cook/author who complains about how difficult their lives have been. Not my favorite. "
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Pam | 8/16/2012
" Very well written. Interesting, until the last part of the book that focused on her marriage and trips to Italy to visit his family. She leaves us hanging at the point where they will be returning to the States from Italy. "
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Debra Smagacz | 3/7/2012
" Really enjoyed this book. Gabrielle Hamilton's life deserves a memoir. "
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Susan Ella | 2/4/2012
" Good writing, but narcissistic narrator who was not likable. Really liked Blood section, but it set me up to be very confused as to why she disowned her mother for 20 years. Third section was almost unbearable. Whine, whine, whine. "
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Katy | 12/21/2011
" I loved this book so much I hated to finish it. Now all I want to do is cook! "
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Ally | 9/30/2011
" I had read the first chapter in the New Yorker and thought it was splendid, both as a culinary piece and as a memoir. The rest of the book turned out to be uneven. Loved heating about Prune, one of my favorite places; not interested in her bad marriage. "
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Melanie | 5/22/2011
" This is a romp of a read. I loved it, it was real, gritty, smart and engaging the entire way through.
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Barbara | 5/21/2011
" Okay, she's a more than a little cranky and self-centered, but this was a gorgeously written memoir about food, family and figuring out how to live in the world. Fun that she lived in Ann Arbor for graduate school and credits the chef/owner of Zanzibar as one of her mentors.
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Corinna | 5/21/2011
" not a role model for my kids but fascinating how she evolved from wild child to chef.
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Meredith | 5/19/2011
" I got this book from the library after a long wait, but didn't have a chance to finish it before it was due. It was a good fast read which I will pick up again soon.
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siga | 5/17/2011
" i really enjoyed the book, the writing style and her kookie life. what a story. a female anthony bourdain and that is very refreshing.
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Leighton | 5/16/2011
" I have read many memoirs by chefs who aspire to be writers. This is a memoir by a write who aspires to be a chef. An aspiration which she achieved as shown by her having won this years James Beard award
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Mike | 5/16/2011
" Chefs' memoirs are always a great read, but this one is special. Every feeling is so honest and clear, and so much more than a cook's gushing description of their love affair with produce and meat. It's about wanting and yearning and trying to find the happy center. Loved it.
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Bethany | 5/15/2011
" I finished this book while sitting in the car in the parking lot at work. It's the first time I have done that.
Gabrielle Hamilton has a great story to tell about her life and food. She tells it in a captivating way.
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Joanne | 5/14/2011
" This was a very interesting and enjoyable read! Not only a great cook, but Hamilton is also a good author!!!!!!!! Culinary and Literary delights!
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Megan | 5/14/2011
" Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but it didn't hold my interest for long.
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Kate | 5/13/2011
" An amazing memoir of a chef/writer (could I be more jealous??). Wishing I was in NYC and could go and eat at Prune. Sigh.
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