Review: All Gone, by Alex Witchel

All Gone is a poignant and heartfelt memoir about a parent's decline into dementia. The descriptions of Witchel's mother's increasing forgetfulness and depression are described with wonderful depth and emotion.


Alex Witchel is an accomplished writer (despite what her horrorshow of a father thought), but this book could have used stronger editing and a greater author commitment.


The refreshments mentioned in the subtitle are recipes at the end of each chapter, and are nostalgic but sometimes nasty -- frankfurter golash (shudder)? The book would have been better without them, as most are only tangentially mentioned in the memoir.

Witchel occasionally prattles on about her professional life rather than focusing on the painful reality of her mother's decline, and that feels like filler. In the end I wanted more, but it felt like Witchel was too exhausted to give it.

Rating: three and one half celery sticks

Review: A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins

I am a sucker for books about long distance walking, but this is one I could not finish. Written in 1979, it is dated and poorly written. Some sections were compelling (Homer's Mountain) but I would not recommend it to anyone.

Rating: one celery stick

Review: My Hollywood, by Mona Simpson

In this novel absent husbands try to make it in Hollywood, anxious wives balance guilt with professional desires, and Philippino nannies quietly raise their children. One of the narrators, Claire, is a composer, and the book faintly thrums with a musical feel. It's full of pithy insights about marriage, motherhood, and friendship, a book that mothers will likely nod their heads to frequently.

Rating: four celery sticks

Review: Following Ezra, by Tom Fields-Meyer

I've read many memoirs about autism; Following Ezra is one of the best. What a nice change to read about parents who intuitively know their son and help him successfully.

"It wasn't about finding the right expert for my child; it was about learning to be the right parent."
"Ezra has a different kind of mind. The rules that make sense with other children simply don't work for him."

Fields-Meyer's creativity and compassion make this book a must-read for parents facing the challenges of autism.

Rating: four and one half celery sticks

Review: Blue Genes, by Christopher Lukas

Lukas tackles a high-charged, emotional issue, but the book comes across like a firecracker with a really long detonation cord, that eventually just fizzles rather than explodes. It's a strangely flat memoir with which I could not connect.

Rating: two celery sticks

Review: I'm Sorry You Feel That Way, by Diana Joseph

This collection of essays really raised my mom hackles. It made me uncomfortable to read the author describe how she sat her son in front of a television all day, every day, when he was a toddler. She later wonders why he grows up to prefer a sedentary life playing video games. She complains about him eating junk food, but who buys that food? Perhaps the irony is assumed, but I just never felt it.

There are passages in this book that are very reflective and profound. In a chapter about an ex-husband she writes, "He wants to know did I really love him or did I just hate myself." So it's a mixed bag kind of book, readable enough that I finished it, but not good enough to recommend.

Rating: two and one half celery sticks

Review: Dinner, a Love Story, by Jenny Rosenstrach

This charming book would make a great baby shower gift -- it's full of tasty-sounding recipes and friendly advice about feeding a family. There's nothing new or earth-shattering here, but it was a fun read.

Rating: three celery sticks

Review: The Devil all the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock

The Devil all the Time is terribly dark but fantastically written and completely unforgettable. The dichotomy caused some trouble for me; how could I enjoy a book that has so much pain and blood? When I thought about reviewing it, I actually felt guilty, like it was something I could only read in secret and not acknowledge.

Pollock's gritty story is set in the rural semi-south (West Virginia and southern Ohio) and it has a Jim Thompson-noir feel to it. It's not tough to imagine the book as a film, as the imagery is vivid and the characters are quirky.

All in all, it's a read it if you dare kind of book.

Rating: three celery sticks

Review: Confections of a Closet Master Baker, by Gesine Bullock-Prado

I adore baking and reading about it, so I started this book with considerable enthusiasm.  Bullock-Prado left a job with her sister's production company and moved to Vermont, where she started a bakery, Gesine's. Most of the book is a description of life in the bakery, mixed with memories of Bullock-Prado's late mother. A recipe completes each chapter. When I realized Bullock-Prado is Sandra Bullock's sister, my heart sunk a bit, but I continued.

Normally complaining in memoirs doesn't put me off , but something about Bullock-Prado's tone is incredibly irritating. She whines about Hollywood, the habits of dishwashers, and folks who order a cake and then expect it to (gasp) be ready. Americans are too fat because they eat excessive amounts of crappy sweets, but bakeries like hers don't encourage gluttony. Everyone wants a piece of her to be close to her sister. Her world is bittersweet, but more bitter than sweet.

The sections where Bullock-Prado writes about her family are by far the best.  Confections of a Closet Master Baker would have been more successful (and less annoying) as a straight-up family memoir with recipes.

Rating: two celery stalks