Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel


Copyright:2009
Publisher: Polhemus Press
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 358
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website



Simple Description:
This is a tale of friendship had, friendship lost, and, well, repeat. It's told in the format of letters and then emails. Mixed in are recipes that sounds yummy.

The story starts when Valerie and Lilly are adults and have been estranged for awhile. Then it goes back in time to the early 1960's when they were young girls. Through their emails you learn about their friendship, how each had their own demons at home and took different paths in life. Valerie is incredibly smart. Her father is an inventor, or at least he tries, but her mother suffers from psychological issues and doesn't leave the house. Lilly doesn't care much for school. Her mom is an actor and a free bird. Her father is a psychologist. Lilly's father actually studies Valerie's Mom and treats her and also becomes Valerie's tutor. This ends up causing major issues between the girls. Lilly goes on to doing the normal thing you expect from somebody growing up in the 60's and 70's (according to tv/movies anyway). She gets into the drugs, sex, and protest scene and stays there. Valerie kinda goes around all of that and actually goes to college, which Lilly's dad pays for.

Soon things become strained for the two girls and it isn't until 2000 that the reconnect, have another falling out, and then finally reconnect again.



Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I thought this was a great book. I found it interesting to get the story from both sides. It was interesting to see how to girls who were so close when they were younger took such different paths in life and where the ended up. I love the letter/email format too..I think it makes for a quick read.

I definitely recommend this book to others, I think a lot will enjoy this story of friendship.


Thanks to Caitlin at FSB for providing this book for review.

1 comment:

bermudaonion said...

I'm glad you liked this one! I can't wait to read it.