34-year-old Rachel Goldman has decided to take a year off to "find herself" in the wake of her divorce. She starts a blog, in which she chronicles her adventures in the kitchen (she's learning to cook since she can't afford to eat out anymore) and struggles navigating life on her own.ETA (13 April 2012): A commenter on GoodReads expressed concern about spoiler information in my review so I thought it'd be best for me to add a warning. There is one questionable bit in here, but when I was writing the review I honestly didn't think of that comment as being a spoiler.
I saw Life from Scratch in my review queue last time I loaded up my Nook, but I didn't remember requesting it. I'm glad that I had it because it's exactly the kind of book I need right now. Life from Scratch doesn't require a lot from its reader. It provided a wonderful distraction and its ending was unexpectedly satisfying.
Rachel is both protagonist and narrator. Straightforward first-person narration is interspersed with the text of Rachel's blog posts, which are mostly vignettes about cooking. Rachel is self-involved (to the point that she completely missed out on the fact that her best friend was dating someone for the first time in years), but likable enough that you'll forgive her for it. Rachel's unintentional obtuseness is emphasized by the fact that the novel's plot twists are (intentionally?) fairly obvious.
A nice, light read, perfect for summer reading.
disclosure: I received a review copy of Life from Scratch from Bell Bridge Books via NetGalley.
I need one more book for the Foodies Challenge -this sounds perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review
Sounds like a nice, relaxing fun read. Thanks for the recommendation :)
ReplyDeleteIf either of you do end up reading it, I'd love to know what you think of it.
ReplyDelete