Book Review: Life from Scratch

'Life from Scratch'
Author: Melissa Ford


Format: Paperback
Published: Bell Bridge Books; Nov. 2010
Pages: 208
Genre: Women's fiction
Grade: B
Source: LibraryThing EarlyReviewers


Synopsis: Her life's a mess. And so is her kitchen. Divorced, heartbroken and living in a lonely New York apartment with a tiny kitchen, Rachel Goldman realizes she doesn't even know how to cook the simplest meal for herself. Can learning to fry an egg help her understand where her life went wrong? She dives into the culinary basics. Then she launches a blog to vent her misery about life, love and her goal of an unburnt casserole.To her amazement, the blog's a hit. She becomes a minor celebrity. Next, a sexy Spaniard enters her life. Will her souffles stop falling? Will she finally forget about the husband she still loves? And how can she explain to her readers that she still hasn't learned how to cook up a happy life from scratch?


My Take: There was a lot about this book that I was looking forward to. I love reading books about cooking. I can't get enough of them! So a woman who learns how to cook definitely got me excited. A woman who blogged, there's something I could definitely relate to. I think the only other book I've read like that is Julie and Julia (pre-blogging) and oh, wait that was also about a cooking blog! I guess if I wanted to find true success in blogging I needed to start a cooking blog. Oh well, too late now, I really like blogging about books! Finally, and maybe a little selfishly, I liked the size of the book. At just a hare over 200 pages, I was looking forward to sitting down to a tiny book because lately the books I have been reading could stand to be more succinct so I figured this one would be.


Within it's sparse pages, you have a full story. Nothing is really missing. We meet Rachel, our resident cook, blogger, and struggling divorcee. When we meet her she has been divorced for nine months, is living in New York and is taking a year off from her life to find herself. This appears to mainly involve learning to cook, blogging, and wallowing in self pity. I could have done without so much of the latter although I have seen many divorces and I realize that they are not pretty (and something I will do everything to avoid!). 


I am going to say this: there were many things that I really enjoyed about this book and a few things that I didn't. By the end the things that I didn't really started to color the things that I did enjoy and it started to become an issue so it was probably for the best that the book was short. What I loved: how Rachel challenged herself to learn to cook. The descriptions of the food were wonderful and you could see her growth from learning how to cook an egg, to a cake, to something more complicated like a full roasted chicken or a dinner party. It was fun to read. The blogging parts were great for me too and totally relatable. I felt that they were more in depth than they were in Julie and Julia or perhaps because I am a blogger now and wasn't then I just skimmed over them back in the day. Regardless, I liked it and could root along with her successes.


What I didn't like: it was really just one big thing that started to grow on me throughout the book. Rachel's total and complete self-involvement. As her distance from her divorce grew with time she only became more selfish, not less. Wanting to talk about herself, her problems, her successes, her every waking moment with her friends and family over everyone else's needs, wants, desires and feelings. Grow up. 


Bottom line, if you are looking for a quick read for those budding chefs out there, this is one that many people will find delicious.

Cover Lust: They could have done more with it, but it's pretty cute!