Cherries In Winter: My Family's Recipe For Hope In Hard Times (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
This book is a pretty simple story and this might have been a good book were it not for the muddled story telling and poor continuity. The paragraphs within a story did not even have smooth transitions. Some books do a great job of switching between multiple first person accounts; not this one. Too many characters called Nana, Mathilda, Tilley, Carrie, Mathilde, so on and so forth. The recipes were pretty lame and unhealthy too. Flimsy as most chick lits turn out to be. Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times is written by Suzan Colon, a writer who lost her job in the recent recession and is struggling (well, kind of) to make ends meet. During her newly-found free time, she studied up on her family history and discovered a bunch of recipes her grandmother had typed up.This inspired her to cook more, and in doing this she feels a lot better about her finances, health, and in the connection she is making with the past. I liked the family history aspect of it (her relatives had faced some hard times). The recipes aren't ones I'd make for the most part - they're very meat-heavy and let's face it: a lot of 50-year-old recipes just aren't ones we'd make today.If I'd been Colon, I would have cut way back on the references to the current recession and the pain of the cutbacks she's making (she and her husband had to move from NYC to New Jersey; she had to sell her $250 sneakers on Ebay, her mom had to convince her to spend $600 on a new coat "that was worth $1000!"). While these privations may seem tough to her, it was just interesting to me to see how the "other half" must have been living out there.
What do You think about Cherries In Winter: My Family's Recipe For Hope In Hard Times (2009)?
A good book for hard times. Reminds us to count our blessings and get our priorities straight.
—raiinbowthestar
This book made me feel more anxious rather than less, which I believe was its intent.
—Bailey
Small book large print. Little substance. Read like magazine articles.
—sp787
A feel good book. Makes me want to write a cookbook!
—Brett
