A review by karenchase
Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen
3.0
I almost stopped reading this memoir several times, but something kept compelling me forward. The woman depicted here, though real, almost seems like a character from a novel (and indeed, though I have never read anything else by this author, her descriptions of her own fiction protagonists seem modeled on aspects of herself). Careening from adversity to
adventure and back again, at an almost dizzying pace, Kate Christensen's life seems like a whirlwind, informed by her relationships with food and the place eating has in her life. The book is punctuated by recipes for dishes that hold a particularly important place in her life. The straightforward manner of her prose is almost a little off-putting, as if she wants to recount as much of her roller-coaster life and intimate relationships while still keeping the reader at arm's length; an odd voice for such a tale.
adventure and back again, at an almost dizzying pace, Kate Christensen's life seems like a whirlwind, informed by her relationships with food and the place eating has in her life. The book is punctuated by recipes for dishes that hold a particularly important place in her life. The straightforward manner of her prose is almost a little off-putting, as if she wants to recount as much of her roller-coaster life and intimate relationships while still keeping the reader at arm's length; an odd voice for such a tale.