Customer Reviews

Bread and Dreams

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

 

 

Ceely's Bread and Dreams is a wonderful novel in itself though it is also immensely satisfying for those who finished MINA eager to know what happens in the new world. Other reviewers have written about the characters and plot. I'd like, therefore, to note that the writing is subtly elegant. You're sailing so smoothly that you don't even notice the sentence structure and language developing as Mina does, nor the echoes of nineteenth century cadence and richness. I'd also like to note that the depth of historical research makes this novel have much more texture, vividness, and authenticity than most historical novels. From the tasty recipes and culinary skills needed in a wealthy family's kitchen, to the hardship endured by a Civil War veteran and his wife, Ceely makes you enter into and believe in the world she's created; but she never falls into the trap of having undigested lumps of information. It's all folded in as smoothly as one of Mina's smooth desserts.

In October 1848, Irish orphan Mina Pigot and her Jewish protector Mr. Benjamin Serle sail from Liverpool on the Victoria for New York where they plan to start life anew. Mina and Benjamin find her brother Daniel working as a waiter at Broadway's Columbia House Hotel. Mr. Serle immediately obtains work as a master chef while Mina struggles to adjust to being a salesgirl before obtaining work in the kitchen of the wealthy Westervelt family.

However, even as Mina's skills in the kitchen make her highly regarded by her employer, she notices the trysts and affairs that if revealed would destroy the family. She also begins to dream about her protector Mr. Serle though their religions and his age leave little hope for anything beyond a fatherly interest in her. Still Mina has come through a lot and will not give up on becoming Mrs. Benjamin Serle because she knows she totally loves him beyond the gratitude that he saved her life. She wonders how to make him see that she is no longer a girl without a home, but a woman in love and willing to go anywhere with her man.

The sequel to the wonderful MINA is a fabulous historical fiction that provides readers with insight into mid nineteenth century mostly in New York, but also somewhat San Francisco and other locales. The story line brings to life America so that the audience can taste and smell the foods whether preparation occurs in a hotel, a mansion, or a bakery. The romantic subplot is deftly handled as Mr. Serle and readers will realize how much Mina has grown up. Still the romance enhances the readers' deep sensorial view of a bygone era.

If you enjoyed Mina, then don't hesitate to pick up this book! It doesn't disappoint. The only thing I could say against it is that there are a few too many happy coincidences to be entirely realistic. However this didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story. I read a lot of books and I would have to say that both Mina and Bread & Dreams are up there with my favourites.

Usually sequels are not as good as the first, but this was even better. A wonderfully written, moving story that I could not put down and hoped would never end. "Mina" was a lovely story about a girl trying to survive on her own. "Bread and Dreams" is the fulfillment of Mina's transition from girl to woman. She is one of the most wonderfully drawn and likeable characters I've ever read. "Bread and Dreams" also completes the story began in "Mina" of her relationship with Mr. Serle. In "Bread and Dreams" Mina abandons her boy's disguise, sets off into the world alone, but with the support of friends and her long lost brother. The supporting cast is also lovely and their stories only add to the rich texture of this book. I loved following Mina on her various life adventures. I enjoyed watching her grow and learn to survive life's hardships. The addition of Tobias was heartwarming and had me in tears. But most of all I loved her relationship with Mr. Serle. A father figure, mentor, teacher and protector, it was wonderful to see this relationship develop. Mina is a special character, one who brings life and love and caring to all those she encounters, including the very satisfied reader.

I have not read Ms. Ceely's first novel " Mina " and read this one as I bought the hardback for less then $4.00 and thought " oh well, something til a good book comes along " . But, I enjoyed the author's prose and how she artistically interwined fiction with what was happening in the mid to late 1800's in the life of an Irish immigrant girl . Not many people relaize the Irish were very much discriminated against when coming to America. Very common to see signs for work that read at the top " NO IRISH NEED APPLY " . My great grandmother went thru that very thing . So people of color do not own the market on being mistreated and viewed as less then human . But, you rarely an Irish person speak of such times that happened to their ancestors who were fleeing the famin and the boots of the British . I think that says a lot .

Yes, the book is well over 415 pages long, but, rarely was it so slow I was bored that I wanted to skip pages. Anyone who has read my reviews would know I don't give out 4 or 5 stars easily . Well done Ms. Ceely , perhaps I shall find your first book "Mina" at my bookstore as well to read how her journey began .

I wanted a follow up to Mina and I thoroughly enjoyed Bread and Dreams. I was completely caught up in Mina and Mr. Serle. Note: I can't usually be bothered to review a book.

Love is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by love, life holds together and advances. This takes place in the mid-19th century during the period of immigration of the Irish to America. Mina Pegot came as an orphan on the voyage and felt adrift in the winds of fate, hungry for life and sustenance in 1848. Full of hope and adaptable in this new land, she's trained by her mentor, a master chef, after she arrives with him in New York on November 16.

Purportedly based on a handwritten journal hidden in a cavity beside a fireplace on which was written 'Mina's Book, A Gift From Mr. Serle 10-10-48). After an abortive try as a sales clerk in the city at the age of 17, she finds employment in the kitchen of a wealthy family in a country house. All houses hold secrets like hidden passages. The places we live in change us as we try to change them to accomodate our needs.

Her adventures on the fringes of the Westervelt family bring her unexpected gifts of love. She brings the world of gaslit streets of old New York as seen through the eyes of innocence of an honest woman. What could be more dangerous? If you can keep an eye on the difference between opinions and what has been verified, you'll be a lot happier, and life won't seem so mysterious. Much of what passes for true is something someone wants us to believe, or something we want to believe. Straight away, you could resolve a lot of mystery by keeping track of all the things you want to be true. This way, you'll be able to recognise them when you see them, and apply some reasoning, logic and discernment.
These would be good tools to keep around the next few weeks.

"The Bible -- the Old Testament to you -- does not include hell. The Talmud of 'Genenna, where the evil are purified. Some of our folktales include ideas of heaven and a sort of hell (called purgatory), but not in the religion itself. There is no hell with fire, devils, and sinners cast down into the flames. The Baptists think so! We believe that we must live in the world we are given as best we can. I suppose that for me hell would be to choose evil and to live out my life on earth knowing that I had deliberately done wrong." Apparently, her Mr. Serle did not know anything about forgiveness.

I was annoyed by this book from the first paragraph.
It began with the voice of an apparantly childless woman who is, with her husband, in the process of updating a 150-odd year old house.
From the get-go you are presented with the obvious "culture" of her educated yuppy We-work-in-the-city-but-have-enough-character-(and money!)to-purchase-and-do-the-work-ourselves-fixin'-up-an-old-house-that-holdsa-Big-Secret-blah-blah-blah.
How very tiresome.
You might say that it was obviously not tiresome enough at that point, because I continued reading. Frankly, I am a voracious reader, and I had nothing else in the house I had not already read.I prefer the stimulation of further annoyance over sheer boredom. So onward I went, en-furied with every word till the bitter end, mad enough to actually take the time to write a review.
We go further then, to the words of Our Heroine. Apparantly, in the mid 1800's poor uneducated Irish girls who were so low class that they were starving in the Great Irish Famine and whose family died from their cottage being burned without a peep from the local authorities, and who had to run for their lives to end up as a servant in the kitchen in a Big House, also have the capacity to be one of the most wispy intellectual well spoken individuals who write with a delicate and compelling (haha) hand in a journal in sheer dogged imitation of someone who is...well from the upper classes and well educated.
Kind of reminds me of those folks who live in trailers, aspire ridiculously to cultural heights, taking speech lessons to make themselves sound like they are from a better strata of society, put on airs, but have unfortunate tendencies to act out on their still grimy roots by behaving in some rather unsociable ways....like plagerizing, repeated cheating on spouses, and drinking way too much cheap whisky. All very fun of course, but let's call a spade a spade and a poor trashy girl from the wrong side of the tracks exactly what she is: poor and trashy and cunning enough to imitate better people.

Beyond that, the interaction between characters...well..further annoyed me.
There are attributes that some people( like the author of this book) consider to be Great Equalizers: Beauty, talant, intelligence, character.
Clearly the author intends that our poor Irish girl with her improbable intellect and courage has within her a Great Equalizer. She is paired with someone else who has been also Greatly Equalized.
I think that is nice. I mean it. It is Nice. They both end up in the same place, below stairs, in the kitchen of a Big House.
Wait a minute, they look to me like they have gone from one Big House kitchen to ANOTHER Big House kitchen. Kinda like going from the fryin' pan to the fire.
Naturally Our Heroine then gains not only love and respect but Fame as her stunning culinary talants are simmered in an unlikely pot of Being Noticed By Important People.
Which is ALSO nice. But unlikely. And irriatating.
Why am I so irritated, you ask? Really, you wonder, what is making me steam here?
It is the Voice of the author rudely intruding into what could REALLY have been an interesting and pleasing storyline. The VOICE of the author intrudes SO much, in the guise of the Our Poor Irish Girl, that she simply has become the puppet instilled with the educated intellect of someone with a great deal of education, studied intellect and Yuppy experience. I don't like it at all...
However, some of you very well might. I suggest you find yourself a double skim milk latte with fat free foam, an absurdly HUGE cranberry muffin with crumbs on top, a quiet overly fussy room patterned with big flowers on all of the furnishing and just SINK yourselves down into a overstuffed chair on a rainy day and just absolutely DEVOUR latte, muffin and the sweet pap of this novel.
Indeedy, it could be an experince that leave an interesting long term taste in your mouth for further such readings. I recommend the literary archives of Brown University and the endless prattling self aggrandizing papers of London history colleges.