From Scratch

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Food and Finding Home in the Sicilian Countryside by Tembi Locke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. It has everything I like from a love story to travel to delicious food. Somehow though, I was too caught up in the good title and the cute cover photo, and totally missed that this book is about Tembi's life after she loses her husband. Perhaps not anticipating that subject matter is what left me a little cold considering that I was experiencing the stress of my baby being in the NICU when I started the book. That said, it has the potential to be a compelling story and Locke does a good job setting the respective scenes. She certainly helps you fall in love with her Saro and makes you crave Italy in a major way. This is not, however, a book like Joan Didion's and many others that are eloquent explorations of grief. It's just a Texas girl who fell in love with a Sicilian boy, and how she navigated her own experiences after he went away.

I'd say read it or don't read it. It's probably more of a 3.5 star book, but not as essential as others I've read this year. Happy reading--