Customer Reviews

Comfort Food

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I was a HUGE fan of Kate Jacobs first book, Friday Night Knitting Club, so I was a little iffy about whether I wanted to read this book at all. Sometimes the second one is not as good as the first, you know? But I bought it and read it in one afternoon straight. It's actually even better than Friday Night--don't want to spoil that ending so I'll just say that this ending is very different--and the characters are just as much fun. It reminded me alot of my own family and there were some romances that were fun and real and not cliche'd. Kate Jacobs also puts in plenty of yummy descriptions of food and cooking that seriously made me hungry as I read it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who liked her first book or to anyone who just enjoys a great read about food and family and life.

Kate Jacobs's debut novel, THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, was a word-of-mouth bestseller, catching on not only among avid knitters but also among fans of women's literature in general. It's now even set to become a feature film starring Julia Roberts, which will release sometime in 2009.

With her second novel, COMFORT FOOD, Jacobs again delves into the lives and loves of a group of interconnected friends and family. This time, however, the ending is decidedly less weepy and more, well, comforting.

Augusta (Gus) Simpson is a familiar face to millions of Americans. She's the star of the longest-running series on the Cooking Channel, "Cooking with Gusto," and her face adorns not only countless television sets but also her own line of cookware and other household products. But as Gus's fabulous lifestyle (her TV show is filmed out of the spacious kitchen in her Westchester manor home) marches on, so does time --- and Gus is staring 50 squarely in the face. Is it possible that this energetic, hot mama has left her youth behind her?

It seems that Gus's bosses at the Cooking Channel are asking themselves the same questions. With a roster of new, hip television chefs and a handful of new extreme theme programs designed to appeal to ever-younger viewers, perhaps Gus's show seems a little, well, old. Can Gus and her friends at the network figure out a new format that will preserve it from cancellation?

For Gus, the answer to her problems is right under her nose --- at her kitchen table, in fact. When an unexpected cancellation leaves Gus scrambling for show guests, she recruits her friends and family to serve as co-hosts and sous chefs, with humorous, and delicious, results. This accidental pairing of Gus's closest friends and family --- including her twenty-something daughters Sabrina and Aimee, Sabrina's ex-boyfriend Troy, and Gus's painfully reclusive neighbor Hannah --- with aspiring Cooking Channel host (and former Miss Spain) Carmen Vega leads to a new hit show...and plenty of tension. As the guests come together at Gus's table, tempers flare, tensions mount, and there's plenty of time for everyone to discover not only delicious food but also new truths about themselves.

At times, COMFORT FOOD can seem like a glimpse into a particularly fractious group therapy session, as sisters bicker with each other (and their mother), as former lovers try to become friends, as jealous co-workers negotiate professional boundaries, and as at least one woman tries to overcome her past mistakes. Jacobs successfully balances these somewhat tiresome exchanges, however, by offering numerous flashbacks into each character's past, providing much-needed character development that can help gain readers' sympathy for these sometimes prickly individuals.

Gus herself is a winning character, and readers will be cheering for this mature, lively heroine to achieve both professional and personal success --- which may even include love, an ingredient that's been missing from Gus's life since her husband's death years before. Happy endings and a mid-life shot at romance will leave readers of COMFORT FOOD satisfied but looking forward to another helping of feel-good women's fiction from Kate Jacobs.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Kate Jacob's "Comfort Food" revolved around Gus, a popular TV show host for the Cooking Channel. Despite that Gus's program was the longest running series on the channel, the number of viewers had gone down, and Gus' bosses begin to wonder if Gus is too old for the program. Gus, was afterall in her fifties. In order to spice up her series, Gus was paired with a former beauty pageant from Spain who will join her in her cooking show. Her working life was obviously not going well, and even her personal life was problematic. Gus' two adult daughters were complete opposite of one another. Aimee, an Economist, was serious, studious, and felt she was neglected due to the neediness of her younger sister, Sabrina. Sabrina had commitment problems and despite many engagements, she's still unmarried, and unable to commit to one person. To make her life worse, the producers decided to put her entire family, and a few others (including Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, Gus's friend who is a recluse).

This was an okay read for me. The pace of the book was a little slow for me, The book was fairly well-written, but unfortunately not very engaging and rather predictable too. It wasn't one of those books where you can't put down. If you are a huge fan of Kate Jacob, this may be for you. But if you are looking for a more interesting read, there are definitely better ones out there. Very average!

I am now a true follower of Kate Jacobs! I have just finished Comfort Food and I really believe this one is better than the first! And the Friday Night Knitting Club is #1 on the NYTimes Best Sellers list! I do enjoy cooking and am a cooking show fanatic, so it was only natural that I would love this book. MUST READ!

I found "Comfort Food" to be funny and engaging, with a well-paced plot and likable characters. I got it in the mail on a Friday and had raced through it by Sunday -- I couldn't put it down!

I have been trying to get through this book for the past 2 months. What a struggle! I must be honest and tell you all out there that this book is a big bore. I could not regard one of the characters (of which there are too many) with a remote feeling of "like". The author just rambles on and on about NOTHING. Do yourself a favor and pass this book by, don't fall into the trap like I did... I judged the book by the tasty looking cover. Boy, was I wrong! Don't believe the hype about this being a great read. What a disappointment.

I have a rule to give any book a chance by reading the first 100 pages. While I loved "Friday Night Knitting Club", I hated the first 100 pages "Comfort Food". It was painful to read for several reasons: it's cliché, slow paced, poor character development, and oh, did I mention cliché? I was bored and rolling my eyes from page 1 to 100. I simply can't recommend this book.

I really had a hard time getting through to the end of the book, in fact, I kept asking myself when would I get to the end. The characters seemed one dimensional to me and there were so many characters that were running around in the book that it got on my nerves.

The story starts out with a food tv cook,Gus,turning 50 and she is told by her producer that her show may be cancelled. The solution is to hire a younger Spanish cook to be on the food show with Gus. There are alot of different stories going on in this book and it seemed to me that the author could not determine what the story was ultimately about.

Is it about the older tv cook and her new young rival? Is it about Gus' neigbor, Hannah, and Hannah's past problems? Is it about Sabrina, Gus' daughter and her problems with not being able to settle on one man?

I think there were too many characters, too many highlights about each character and no real storyline. I just found it difficult to get through because there was no purpose to much of the book. I gave it two stars since the author wrapped it up fairly neatly at the end but I was glad when I got to the last page.

I listened to the recorded book. To start with I HATE Barbara Rosenblat's reading -although she has talent in creating various voices and dialects she is a horrible reader who makes every lead character sound like a boozy, heavy smoker in their 60's. Not very appealing. Is so frustrating to have every book she reads sounds like it has the same off-putting lead character. Another common problem with having Barbara Rosenblat read the story is that at times her heavy breathing and swallowing while reading becomes so distracting that it begins to override the story. I have not read anything else by Kate Jacobs, but I was not impressed with this story. It was forced and predictable. The moments that were not predictable I thought were unlikely reactions for the characters (i.e. the horrible team builder is invited to Gus' wedding at the end???). I did not care about any of the characters at any time in the story except maybe Troy and Ms Jacobs just drops him from the story at the end while artificially tying up all loose ends on EVERY character no matter how small. Who even cared? I thought the story would never end and if I were not so bored driving in the car I would never have read or listened to the entire book.

I can't ask for much more. Friendships, relationships between mothers and daughters, a bit of romance and drama, plus cooking? Gus, a fifty-year-old mother of two, has her own show, which is done in her house. She has had this show 12 years. However, she isn't like other chefs and the ratings are drizzling out. So Alan, the boss, adds a little spice, Carmen. Carmen likes to cook but likes herself and fame more.

We also have a whole other cast, that make up for a very interesting book that you will want to gobble in one setting. Find out if Carmen and Gus can co-exist together on a show. Find out if the show will end or if they will have a second season. Find out who finds love but most of all you will be thrilled and entertained throughout the whole book.