Book Report: Heartburn

Heartburn Book Cover From Renee Thompson's blog

When I picked up a copy of Nora Ephron's Heartburn at Kona Bay Books, (the BEST bookstore in town, hands down) the wonderful owner, herself a tiny little thing with a chic bob of silver hair, said, "You know, I remember when this book came out in the eighties. It was a game changer for women's lit." That seems like a pretty marvelous complement to me, because Chick Lit is an area in constant need of improvement.  

Though I usually avoid fiction, this story grabbed me right away. It's about a cookbook author Rachel Samstat, who has just discovered her husband's infidelity after eight years of marriage. They have one child already, and she just happens to be seven months pregnant. She's crazy about this man, but not sure what to do when he steadfastly refuses to stop seeing his mistress. They live in Washington D.C and since gossip is the city's favorite past time, she is certain it will all come leaking out, adding public humiliation to private heartbreak. Loosely based on Ms. Ephron's real life break up with Carl Bernstein, the book feels raw and painful, but with enough distance and grace to make us laugh and cry right along with her.

Since the protagonist is a food professional, the book is sprinkled with recipes for things you'd want to eat in dark moments like this- crispy crunchy potatoes Anna, the perfect pot roast, and a gooey bread pudding. Delicious, buttery comfort food. There are lots of stories of food too- wonderful meals they shared with their best friends, another married couple who they "went steady" with. There is also a very dramatic moment with a frozen key lime pie, but I don't want to spoil the ending for you.


If you love great food, crisp writing, and a tale of a broken heart finding the strength to soldier on, make this your last read of the summer.

Book Report: The Namesake

I've just finished reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'd seen the film ages ago, but wanted to read the novel that inspired it. In this case, the story was quite faithfully adapted from the book, but of course, the book had even more richness of detail and characterization. Why does this story move me so much?

It moves me because Gogol has been given something so rare and precious by his parents- a chance at an incredible life full of wealth, success, power. And yet. This life feels like a burden, not a gift. He resents them. He is ashamed of them. He abandons them. Denies them. Pretends they are not part of him. He cannot feel gratitude towards them. He does not see their sacrifices, only their failings and formality.

But his parents never stop loving him.

There is a beautiful scene after Ashoke dies, when Gogol is remembering a long walk he took on a beach with his father. Ashoke has forgotten the camera and tells the six year old Gogol that he will have to remember it instead.

"Will you remember this day Gogol?" his father had asked, turning back to look at him, his hands pressed like earmuffs to either side of his head. "How long will I have to remember it?" Over the rise and fall of the wind, he could hear his father's laughter. He was standing there, waiting for Gogol to catch up, putting out a hand as Gogol drew near. "Try to remember it always," he said once Gogol had reached him, leading him slowly across the breakwater where his mother and Sonia stood waiting. "Remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go."

This brought tears to my eyes. It captures the essence of the parent child relationship so succinctly. Your lives are bound together so tightly but the child has to cut those ties to go and find his own way, a path the parent can no longer trod with him. There is love, but also something more complicated. Something painful. It can be so difficult to understand each other with so many expectations on either side.

Have you read any wonderful books recently? I'd love to have your suggestions about what I should read next!