Last month, I mentioned joining Huffington Post's book club. Their second selection is a memoir by Gabrielle Hamilton titled Blood, Bones & Butter. I was kind of excited to read this one since I usually enjoy memoirs, and to have one about a chef was an added bonus. However, by the end of this one, I was pretty disappointed.
It starts out well. The first third of the book describes Ms. Hamilton rather unconventional childhood. Her parents divorce when she is about 10 and more or less leave her and her siblings to their own devices. She begins working in restaurants soon after, and when she is old enough, takes off to New York City where she works as a waitress and gets involved in drugs and some criminal activity.
The second third describes her escape to Europe, college experiences, and various catering jobs before finally opening her own restaurant in New York City, which quickly becomes successful .
Up until this point, the book is decent. Hamilton gets points for being an excellent writer - some of her descriptive passages about food are quite lovely. But, I really think she should have ended the book here.
The last third takes place outside the realm of the restaurant and cooking and deals instead with her personal life. To be frank, it's not pretty. Most of her relationships are toxic and dysfunctional - a fact of which she almost seems proud. And her personality comes across as being pretty caustic and selfish. Honestly, I'd rather not have read about it.
Read this one at your own risk. A lot of people really love it. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.
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