Customer Reviews

Not My Bowl of Rice

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was incredible. I finished it in 3 days and just couldn't put it down or get it out of my mind. The book combines Philippine cooking with cultural facts while keeping you interested with a wonderful novel. I have 2 sponsored kids in the Philippines (one for 18 years) and wanted to get a better understanding of Philippine culture. This book easily accomplished that task for me in a very enjoyable way. I highly recommend this interesting and informative book!

I got this book in the mail Wednesday afternoon and couldn't put it down until Thursday night! I had to stop reading only to take care of my actual reading assignments for class, but this book was truly a great read. Escober does a wonderful job clarifying Filipino words and customs for non-Filipinos, and being Filipino myself, I learned a few things about my own culture. I can't wait to try out the recipes included in the book.

The 2003 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) has named ER Escober's "Not My Bowl Of Rice" as a finalist in the Best Fiction Multi-Cultural category. The IPPY Boook Awards, launched in 1996, are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent publishers. Award announcements were made at the BookExpo America in Los Angeles recently.

The award is well-deserved. In this wonderful novel/cookbook, the author expertly brings to life the story of mixing cultures and ingredients. It's a really tasty book!

This book, written in a simple straightforward style almost like Young Adult fiction, is very good. I learned so much about Filipino culture from reading this book. I am American and my partner is Filipino and he was surprised at all the things I discovered about the culture, food, language and customs of Filipinos while reading a compelling story. The recipes tucked into every chapter will make you hungry. A very good read!!!

A friend told me about this book because I was interested in buying an Asian cookbook. Well, I got more than I bargained for, in a good way! 'Not My Bowl of Rice' not only is a wonderful Filipino/Asian recipe book, it is also a page-turner of a tale of Ligaya- the main character- who took me on a beautiful and hilarious odyssey from her Filipino homeland to New Jersey to New York and to the San Francisco Bay Area. Along the way, I met her wacky relatives and friends and felt the joy and pain with Ligaya of each situation she faces as her life unfolds on becoming an American citizen. A very good read indeed! And quite a tasty one!

This is the best book I've read in the last year. It's the rare type of book that you pick up to thumb through and soon find yourself many laughs and tears later reading the last page. The main character, Ligaya, is a Filipina who travels to America to join her mother and to pursue a new life in the "land of milk and honey". The encounters she has along the way and during her journey through America's landscape of corporations, relations, and life in general are told so engagingly, so hilariously that you can't put the book down even though you should really be putting on the pot roast for dinner. And as an added bonus, there are succulent Filipino recipes at the end of every chapter! Though I was never introduced to Filipino cuisine prior to this book, I was motivated to try a couple and they were true "people-pleasers" in my circle of friends. I can't wait for this author's next book!

... and yet i finished it in one sitting! I will warmly recommend this book to my "foreigner"-friends who are willing to gain a better understanding of the Filipino ways as well as to second-generation Filipino kids who might just find this book helpful for understanding and perhaps appreciating their parents' quirks. though I will need to caution them about some of the cultural/linguistic info here and there that isn't quite accurate.

unfortunately - even though one might argue that the very existence of this book disproves my impression - i'm mildly disappointed of how the protagonist, throughout the story, appears so eager to "renounce the country of her birth". I feel that the book would not have been any less, had the epilogue been left out. besides, was there really a need for those David Letterman's Top 10s o quasi? the Filipino society is avowingly matriarchal, mind you. so, to all of you "Westerners" out there, better scratch that "equality"-part.

Finally, a book that us Filipinos in America and all over the world can call our own. It is such a unique book in the sense that it is a combination of a compelling story about a Filipina's life in America and a cookbook as well. Each chapter is titled after a Filipino or international dish and carries its complete recipe. It is written well, easy and fast-paced reading. I couldn't put it down and when I finally finished, I have never been more familiar about my own culture, nuances, habits, etc than after reading this ultimate book about us Filipinos. It's a must-read, especially if you are an immigrant.

In one sense, this is a short novel in large print about a Filipino woman who immigrates to America and shares her recipes with us at the end of every chapter. In another sense, this is a catalog of Filipino history, culture, stereotypes, and clichés.

I'm not sure if any of the characters transcend their assigned labels. That's too bad because there is nothing wrong with using cultural clichés as a starting point if you are eventually going to show us the richer and fuller culture (and persons) that surely exists.

If you strip away the cultural clichés and recipes, you have a very thin novel that reads like a weak stage play. However, if you are interested in understanding Filipino culture, then there is enough to satisfy the curious.

Personally, I had a hard time finishing this book because the plot fell apart in the latter half. One exception was the short vampire story - a true delight if not a familiar one.

Overall, B+ for recipes, C- for plot, C for characterization, B+ for cultural insights, and F for the extensive rehash of cultural clichés (yuk). Some will like it, I did not.

The author throws together a strangely tasty mixture (halo-halo) of ingredients and comes up with a book unlike any I've ever read. Escober combines melodrama and recipes, culture shock and eccentric characters, to create this strangely likable read. Although at times I was disappointed by the lack of real emotion (where is the true sense of grief when tragedy occurs?), I also appreciated the interesting characters and plot. This book taught me a lot about my parents' culture and gave me some delicious looking recipes to try. A light, fun book, refreshing like the halo-halo dessert.