a review
by me, recently posted at hclibrary.org
I don’t usually read memoirs, especially ones about recovery. I don’t watch docudramas about medical or emotional trauma either. I tend to become horrified and depressed, instead of edified and entertained. However, Cooking & Screaming: Finding My Own Recipe for Recovery by Adrienne Kane found its way onto my reading stack. This fascinating and honest book might even have converted me into reading other memoirs (but not watching them).
Just before graduating from UC Berkeley at age 21, author Adrienne Kane suffered a major stroke. In this memoir, Kane recounts the frustrations of physical therapy and her gradual reintroduction to independence. As she takes the reader through her road to recovery, she mixes family anecdotes, California atmosphere, and medical prognoses into an upbeat concoction, all about a strong-willed woman facing life’s challenges.
Each chapter begins with a recipe, which relates somehow to the chapter’s theme. The first chapter opens with a pasta and zucchini dish (which I have copied to try myself) from Kane’s college days. Throughout the book, recipes vary in complexity from basic spaghetti sauce to a duck dinner made in memory of Julia Child. It was fascinating to see how each recipe reflected an important chapter in the author’s recovery.
Kane discovers her passion for food and feeding people as she copes with her disabilities. Cooking and sharing her thoughts about food come to define her vocation, almost by accident. This was a delightful read…the author’s voice is highly personal, the topic astounding on many levels, and the meals mouthwatering-ly inspiring.
I don’t usually read memoirs, especially ones about recovery. I don’t watch docudramas about medical or emotional trauma either. I tend to become horrified and depressed, instead of edified and entertained. However, Cooking & Screaming: Finding My Own Recipe for Recovery by Adrienne Kane found its way onto my reading stack. This fascinating and honest book might even have converted me into reading other memoirs (but not watching them).
Just before graduating from UC Berkeley at age 21, author Adrienne Kane suffered a major stroke. In this memoir, Kane recounts the frustrations of physical therapy and her gradual reintroduction to independence. As she takes the reader through her road to recovery, she mixes family anecdotes, California atmosphere, and medical prognoses into an upbeat concoction, all about a strong-willed woman facing life’s challenges.
Each chapter begins with a recipe, which relates somehow to the chapter’s theme. The first chapter opens with a pasta and zucchini dish (which I have copied to try myself) from Kane’s college days. Throughout the book, recipes vary in complexity from basic spaghetti sauce to a duck dinner made in memory of Julia Child. It was fascinating to see how each recipe reflected an important chapter in the author’s recovery.
Kane discovers her passion for food and feeding people as she copes with her disabilities. Cooking and sharing her thoughts about food come to define her vocation, almost by accident. This was a delightful read…the author’s voice is highly personal, the topic astounding on many levels, and the meals mouthwatering-ly inspiring.