Tuesday, December 03, 2013

A PLACE AT THE TABLE

Author:  Susan Rebecca White
Genre:  Fiction, Standalone
Published:  2013
Personal Rating:  3/5 (just okay)
Format:  eBook
Yearly Count:  98


From NetGalley:
Celebrating the healing power of food and the magic of New York City, A Place at the Table follows the lives of three seekers who come together in the understanding that when you embrace the thing that makes you different, you become whole. A Place at the Table tells the story of three unforgettable characters whose paths converge in a storied Manhattan café: Bobby, a young gay man from Georgia who has been ostracized by his family; Amelia, a wealthy Connecticut woman whose life is upended when a family secret comes to light; and Alice, an African-American chef from North Carolina whose heritage is the basis of a renowned cookbook but whose past is a mystery to those who know her. These characters are exiles—from homeland, from marriage, from family. While they all find companionship and careers through cooking, they hunger for the deeper nourishment of communion. As the narrative sweeps from a freed-slave settlement in 1920s North Carolina to Manhattan during the deadly AIDS epidemic of the 1980s to the well-heeled hamlet of contemporary Old Greenwich, Connecticut, Bobby, Amelia, and Alice are asked to sacrifice everything they ever knew or cared about to find authenticity and fulfillment.

 Hmmm.  I was very engaged and looked forward to picking up this book for approximately the first half.  After that, it lost its spark and gradually became more of a chore to finish.  :(   I think, ultimately, I didn't like the change in characters.  If the story had been strictly about Bobby, I believe I would have remained engaged.  


     



My thanks go to Touchstone and NetGalley for providing me with this eGalley.

6 comments:

  1. I listened to this one and loved it. Of course, the narrators were terrific.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bermudaonion ~ I wonder if I would have liked it more had I listened to it. One will never know. :)

      Delete
  2. I have the ARC, but maybe I should listen to the audio. Hmmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, bummer. It's no fun when a book loses steam halfway!

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