Not Even Worth the Recipes
Written: Jul 16 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some humor, some fun recipes, good story to start
Cons: Everything fell flat and the recipes became annoying
The Bottom Line: This started out an interesting and fun chick-lit style novel with some depth and ended up frustrating. Pass.
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| fishifishi's Full Review: Brooke Parkhurst - Belle in the Big Apple: A Novel... |
I fell sucker once again to a fun cover-this time it was the colors that drew me-bright pinks and greens. Belle in The Big Apple locked in my interest with use of the name of my dog (Belle) and I scanned the inner cover to find a sort of ‘coming of age in the big city by a mid-twenties southerner’ type of story; it indicated a mystery/scandal type of twist, so I checked it out of the library.
Brooke Parkhurst apparently has a background in both journalism and food, which likely brought about her inspiration for young Belle’s tale of taking on the city, complete with recipes. I have to admit, I have read books that included recipes, wine pairing, etc., but they always tied into the character a bit more-a chef, a waitress-something like that. Not from a journalist. The recipes (30 in total) are usually in relation to a dish prepared or mentioned by Belle in the story.
We meet Belle as she moved from Alabama to NYC, in search for a literary journalism position that would change her life. Funded by her grandfather, she moved into a shockingly large and expensive apartment in the city, complete with family furniture. I admit, this did not win me over as a fan-it’s hard for me to connect with a character that, within the first six pages, complains of being unable to afford fresh fruit yet has so many other creature comforts supplied to her.
After hitting the streets with resumes in her one impressive suit, Belle finally gives in and accepts a contact for a family friend and winds up as a production assistant for a TV news channel that is little more than a gossip network. Nonetheless, a huge focus of the station is politics, and an upcoming presidential election, so Belle digs right in and tries to keep up. The recipes tie in as Belle comforts herself after a rough day, or attempt to make friends with her co-workers using baked goods. Sometimes just a Southern euphemism related to food can prompt one. I skipped past most of them. I was more interested in seeing how a potential scandal related to the news company Belle worked for in relation to an upcoming presidential election was going to play out.
It didn’t.
This book turned incredibly frustrating for me; halfway through the story Belle discovers information that could either make her journalism career, or wreck it, and when she decides how to act, it is so anticlimactic that I wanted to throw the book across the room. Parkhurst had really built up an interesting plot, but didn’t turn out a great explosion for it. Essentially it seemed back burner for Belle’s desire to be accepted, her nervousness at surviving in the city, and not failing at her goals for all her family to see. All wonderful storylines, but it turns the scandal plot into a tease, and frankly that was what had me interested in reading this in the first place. I won’t even get into the romantic subplot, which lasts all of the final 20 pages and again is frustratingly un-explored, unrealistically quick, and frankly as unbelievable as the direction the ‘scandal’ plot took.
I felt like I went out to a lazy dinner and was rushed through dessert. Everything provided build up, anticipation, and promise; however fun and interesting the final third of the book could have been, it was rushed, unsatisfying, and in general a letdown.
Published by Scribner Sept. 2008
Hardcover 223pgs.
Recommended:
No
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