Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Cooking with Fire...or not

My friend Michelle dropped off a book for me a few weeks ago that proves that a book can be read in the span of two 1.5 hour flights. I read Girl Cook a couple of weeks ago travelling to and from Washington D.C. Michelle let me know that it was light and fluffy but because we both share a love of cooking, thought I would enjoy it.

Girl Cook is what it is: a very superficial, chick lit piece of fluff. There is little to no character development, a smattering of chef language to give it some authenticity, and the requisite girl meets boy who she initially doesn't like and then starts to get interested in (see my post on chick lit).

This time though, it wasn't for me. I was pretty annoyed with it actually. Mostly because I thought that this had so much potential. It was sort of positioned as a "Bridget Jones" but with cooking. I didn't think that at all. The first Bridget Jones novel was fresh and funny and had good character development and paid more than a fleeting tribute to Jane Austen. Girl Cook missed a huge opportunity. The restaurant world is incredibly mysoginistic. Girl Cook glosses over it with the heroine becoming more of a whiner than a champion. The disastrous, love life, the mother who doesn't understand her....whatever.

That being said, it passed the time for me as I was sitting on a plane that was delayed on the tarmac at Reagan International Airport in Washington D.C. I think that was the best thing about this book in my opinion: it was a quick read.

Girl Cook: A Novel
Hannah McCouch

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