Tender at The Bone & Comfort Me with Apples (4/5)
by Ruth Reichl
Tender at The Bone is a hilarious, light-hearted account of Ruth Reichl’s living with a manic-depressive mother, dealing with low self-confidence, and getting to know food. It is the first of the series, published in 1999. Comfort Me with Apples, the second installation published in 2002, provides a more honest, open and personal story. Some parts, particularly during her affairs and breakdown of her marriage, are actually so sensually graphic and personal they probably belong more to a harlequin novels than a memoir of a living public person.
Despite being published three years after, the books read like one thick one. I wonder if the books were written together but published separately. Both books are thoroughly enjoyable read. But unlike her Garlic and Sapphires, which mostly talk about her days as the restaurant critic for the New York Times, they are more personal while still very food-oriented. Peeks of her review in LA Times indicates that her style was not as polished but she is a good writer. The recipes are also not as mouthwatering and therefore, the one-less star.
Nevertheless, I am sad that I’ve finished the trilogy. I have to find a new friend now.
