Reviews

Wine Girl: The Obstacles, Humiliations, and Triumphs of America's Youngest Sommelier by Victoria James

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kmartin224's review

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3.0

3 Stars. Audio book.

ohemgee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

3.5

I had been excited to read this one, mostly because I had loved reading [b:Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste|31580409|Cork Dork A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste|Bianca Bosker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1485931856l/31580409._SY75_.jpg|52271295] and wanted more of the same kind of content.

So at first, when I saw the TOC was organized as a straightforward memoir, I was a little worried I would find a plodding recount of James' wine studies. Instead, I found an engaging and hair-raising story of a brave young woman who overcame incredible misogyny, a childhood full of neglect and abuse, and considerable pushback from a male-dominated world. With her youth, social class, and gender counting against her, she worked harder, cared more deeply, and relied on a steely determination to help her younger siblings.

Along the way I learned a lot, if not exactly about wine or wine tasting, but certainly about the fine dining and wine industry!

snwsandy's review against another edition

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3.0

It was interesting to read a book of the challenges and struggles of being a sommelier in a harsh and demanding restaurant world, especially at such a young age. It sounds brutal and very masochistic. However, I did struggle with a sense of feeling that some of the stories are exaggerated, particularly the negative parts. The negative parts were long, drawn out, and venomous, while the more joyful parts were glossed over...like how she continues to enter competitions and win, consistently, or the part where she received praise from reviewers was actually paraphrased about how terrible it was to serve the reviewers.n I did like learning about the wine and what drove her to the career, but it was so negative that it became a struggle to finish.

After I finished this part, I read the review her sister provided on this book. Although, a very negative review, it more confirmed my suspicions of the exaggerated story to sell the book than about being a sommelier. The picture I painted in my mind about Victoria James story truly may not wholly real, which is disappointing. However, when she does talk about wine I do feel this part is genuine and really is the part I was interested so I gave it a 3 star.