Cover the Butter [Paperback]

Carrie Kabak (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dutton (2005)
• ASIN: B000I2GOXM
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Carrie Kabak is author of Cover the Butter (Penguin Putnam), an Independent Booksellers Pick, and her essays have appeared in For Keeps and He Said What? (Seal Press), and Exit Laughing (North Atlantic Books). Her second novel, Deviled Egg, is in progress. Carrie is a professional editor and copywriter for two affiliate companies of Amazon.com, and a partner in a specialty food business based in New York. As a graphic designer, she has received commendation as an illustrator by Writer's Digest, was named Artist of the Month by the Society of Children's Writers and Artists, and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer (Da Vinci Eye) Award for superior cover design. Born and raised in the UK of Irish and Welsh parentage, Carrie now lives in Missouri with her husband. They share five sons, two labradors, two cats, and two birds. Visit the author's websites at: www.carriekabak.com and www.carriekabak.com/graphics

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lament of the Middle-Aged Woman, August 7, 2005

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cover the Butter (Hardcover)

If you're a middle-aged woman whose life has not turned out as you'd hoped, if your husband bores you, if your non-career is not appreciated, and most importantly, if you still have hope, this is the book for you.

Kate Cadogan is every woman, stumbling through life and trying to make the best of things. She has some pretty heavy baggage in a mother who can best be described as horrid, jealous, and vindictive, a milquetoast father who doesn't stand up to the mother for more than five minutes and can never quite commit to being on Kate's side, and a husband who just doesn't get it.

But Kate has other things on her side: an indomitable spirit; two friends who are treasures; a son she adores; and the life-long dream of a career in the domestic arts.

Will she ever be able to win her mother's approval? Or does it really matter? Can she ever have a marriage in more than name only? Or is there some way to break free? Suffice it to say that Kate's journey is not an unusual one. She encounters many common problems, yet Carrie Kabak's razor-sharp wit keeps the reader turning the pages and sticking with Kate through the ups and downs of an often troubled, often happy life.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "TOUCHING" BOOK BY A TALENTED NEW AUTHOR!, June 18, 2005

By 

Betty L. Dravis "BETTY DRAVIS, author/reviewer" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cover the Butter (Hardcover)

What an unusual title for such a "touching" book! Ms. Kabak is a terrific writer who breathes new life into her characters with every stroke of her pen (click of her computer keyboard?). Her main character, Kate, has special meaning for me because a very dear friend struggled through similar situations with the men in her life.

This author hit on a universal theme to which many women will relate, and she brings Kate's story to a satisfying conclusion with wit, charm, and a keen understanding of the frailties and strengths of the human spirit.

I highly recommend this book by this insightful new talent who has a unique gift for description. I will follow her career with interest.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've read all year..., April 18, 2005

By 

K. Kahler "bibliophile73" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cover the Butter (Hardcover)

COVER THE BUTTER, Carrie Kabak's exquisite debut novel, examines the buoyancy of the human spirit. After finding her lovingly restored home in shambles from her teenaged son's party (a rollicking yet poignant scene that alone is worth the price of admission), Kate takes a searing look back at how her life, too, has come to be such a mess. Belittled by her domineering mother, failing to find an ally in her feckless father, Kate struggles to make her own voice heard beneath the white noise of everyone else's demands. Kabak's writing brings alive even the most prosaic objects (I defy anyone to find better descriptions of décor and food, for example) but her gifts are most evident in her rendering of human relationships. Kate's interactions with her mother, Biddy, are by turns horrifying, hilarious and heartbreaking; Kabak perfectly captures the mother-daughter dynamic, the tangled knot of loyalty and knowing when to let go. Kate's relationships with the men in her life are drawn with equal force and a keen wit-most notably the scenes with Rodney, her priggish yet sexually peculiar husband. ("His hair stuck up in tufts and I tried to find it endearing," Kabak writes. "I tried to yearn for the touch of those thin lips that bristled with a moustache the texture of coconut husk.")
Kabak's voice is so vibrant and achingly personal I felt as if I'd known her heroine for years, and her story-and ultimate redemption-stayed with me long after I turned the last page. Carrie Kabak is a brilliant new talent, and I eagerly await her next effort.