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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White 336 pages




This is a well written book with lots of juicy descriptions of food, food preparation, food consumption, etc.  There are three main characters, Alice, Bobby and Amelia and yes, their stories are connected and interweave with each other, but I was disappointed with the choppy way the author made this happen.  All three of these characters finds themselves at odds with some part of where they came from and who they were expected to become.  All three of them eventually settle in New York City and food eventually brings them together.

The story begins with Alice and is set in the 1920s in North Carolina.  From there it jumps to another era and we follow Bobby for a good part of the book.  He eventually ends up in New York City and the story concludes in the 1980s.  Amelia has a very minor role in Bobby's story and then the last small part of the book follows her and her troubled marriage.

I would still recommend this book because the writing is good and there is a lot of good descriptive narrative, but I felt that the transitions made by the author were disruptive rather than seamless.

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