Customer Reviews

Blue Jelly: Love Lost & the Lessons of Canning

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Simply stated, one of the best books for healing and growth (and humor) I've ever read...well, to be specific, I've ever read 5 times! It's a simple read, yet keeps your eyes glued to its pages; its voice strikes you right to your core and makes you wonder if it wasn't written solely for you! I've loaned it to friends a million times over, and it's never been received with anything less than pure excitement, relief, pleasure, and appreciation. Great writing, great book, great lessons. It's both practical and spiritual, humorous and poignant, insightful and memorable. It's a book you won't soon forget.

I loved the book. Thought Ms.Bull did a great job of telling us the story combined with the recipes. She can write more along this vein and have a faithful following waiting in the wings. I found her humor along the lines of Erma Bombeck. The only reason I could figure out for this other "reviewer" to say that the book was "whining" is because they just don't "get it." If they did, they'd see how funny the book actually is. The recipes are funny, the way she'd write the ingredients and instructions and then had a quirky comment that related to the lost love. Very cute idea.

This little book offers so much: beautiful packaging of the hardcover (worth the extra dollars), punchy writing, wry sense of humor and canning recipes even! I love this book. It's the cutest-looking book I own. I wasn't going through heartbreak when I read it, but if I was, it would have given me a lift. Support this wonderful writer, and buy her book.

Barbara DeMarco Barrett, writer and host of "Writers on Writing"

I am glad I read it! I started the book and immediately thought this woman was crazy, a looney, a wack job. After getting a feel for the book I realized that although this woman seemed crazy to me, I related SOME things to her. It's been awhile but years ago I remember going through a break up that was hard to let go. Now, I was in high school and that to me is a teenager thing but I could relate. Different phases, different situations but probably all the same feelings. This book jumps around to different things which keeps you interested on her journeys, all the while learning a little about canning. Something I know NOTHING about. In the end it comes together, it's a amazing how all the jumble of stories, times, thoughts come together to show a lesson learned. Now, I have a feeling each reader will take something completely different from this book, a lesson of some sort!

My favorite line was (I think) from page 85 or 86. She talks about her phase of collecting things. All sorts of things. One being wooden birds on sticks for her garden/yard. her neighbor yells at her "your like Martha Stewart on crack!" I loved it. It was a total giggle out loud!

I wish I could write as well as Ms. Bull does. In this quick, yet concise memoir, she manages to capture both the emotions of any 30something woman who goes through a painful break-up, and dead-on characterizations of the personalities whom she meets through her travels. Not many books have made my heart skip a beat, put a smile on my face, and made me want to start reading it all over again. This one did--I highly reccomend it! Can't wait for her next book!

I've been in her shoes, and i know how it feels to search for peace. She does a great, amusing job describing her search. I did not like the ending all that much (too predictable). On another note, i am sure few are going to go to the store and buy a book on canning, yet this book has perfectly good recipes that one can follow. Canning, a lost art, now recovered thanks to DB

This book is a very quick read. But the story is very strong, and the author's desire to clarify what happened, grieve, and keep moving forward continues to haunt me years after reading the book. I have it handy on my book shelf and sometimes just open it to any page. The jelly recipes are accurate, too.

I've recommended this book often to friends who've endured break-ups, and even to widows who are struggling. The book ends on an optimistic note. It refreshes me.

I got this book many years ago used from a library on a whim, because I liked the cover. I think I lost it when I moved out of my parents' house and broke up with my boyfriend of two years, *of course* the time when I needed it most. I've been searching for months and scouring my brain for the title of this book, and now that I've found it, *sigh* I can feel my wounded heart healing already. It's a fantastic and wacky book, so random, it's absolutely perfect for the scattered-brain effects of post-breakup trauma.

I liked this book a lot. It is well written, honest, wry and off-the-wall in all the right proportions. It is written with real (and tangible) emotion. A friend gave me this book while I was sick. I was in love (and engaged) at the time. Five months later, after having been painfully dumped, I picked it up and read it. I laughed, cried, and nodded in agreement. I was grateful my (ex-) boyfriend wasn't the creep Debby Bull's was. My heart was still broken after reading the book, but I knew I was going to be all right.

I've been in her shoes, and i know how it feels to search for peace. She does a great, amusing job describing her search. I did not like the ending all that much (too predictable). On another note, i am sure few are going to go to the store and buy a book on canning, yet this book has perfectly good recipes that one can follow. Canning, a lost art, now recovered thanks to DB