Nice straightforward format--an appealing narrator reading aloud a letter to her cousin in which a shared cake recipe leads to deeper questions of family history. Using food as a starting point is a good basis for a series (of which this is just one piece). I'll definitely check out the other offerings.
This piece pulled me right in. I haven't yet listened to other installments in (what appears to be) the series, but if they are of this style, then I look forward to them.
Very simple, straightforward delivery. We eavesdrop on a personal email/note to a distant relative containing equal parts social/familial niceties and bittersweet questions that will never be answered.
Family history, why things happen as they do, and what might be different today if the past were different....universal human ruminations infinitely unanswerable.
Often I don't really like first-person, voice-only pieces -- too self-indulgent, sometimes too whiny, or trying too hard to be witty. But this one is really nice -- it's personal but not myopic, and I like the way she starts with the cake (mmmm...cake...) and uses it to explore her family. A nice linking of food and emotions, which so often go together. It's also undated and not location-specific, which would make it a good drop-in just about anywhere.
Comments for A Cook's Notebook: Sorrow & Joy Cake
This piece belongs to the series "A Cook's Notebook"
Produced by Viki Merrick of APM and WCAI, WNAN & WZAI
Other pieces by Ali Berlow
Rating Summary
3 comments
megan barron
Posted on August 10, 2004 at 06:58 PM | Permalink
Review of A Cook's Notebook: Sorrow & Joy Cake
Nice straightforward format--an appealing narrator reading aloud a letter to her cousin in which a shared cake recipe leads to deeper questions of family history. Using food as a starting point is a good basis for a series (of which this is just one piece). I'll definitely check out the other offerings.
Sean O'Connor
Posted on July 16, 2004 at 06:35 PM | Permalink
Review of A Cook's Notebook: Sorrow & Joy Cake
This piece pulled me right in. I haven't yet listened to other installments in (what appears to be) the series, but if they are of this style, then I look forward to them.
Very simple, straightforward delivery. We eavesdrop on a personal email/note to a distant relative containing equal parts social/familial niceties and bittersweet questions that will never be answered.
Family history, why things happen as they do, and what might be different today if the past were different....universal human ruminations infinitely unanswerable.
Tara Anderson
Posted on July 15, 2004 at 12:44 PM | Permalink
Review of A Cook's Notebook: Sorrow & Joy Cake
Often I don't really like first-person, voice-only pieces -- too self-indulgent, sometimes too whiny, or trying too hard to be witty. But this one is really nice -- it's personal but not myopic, and I like the way she starts with the cake (mmmm...cake...) and uses it to explore her family. A nice linking of food and emotions, which so often go together. It's also undated and not location-specific, which would make it a good drop-in just about anywhere.