Customer Reviews

A Well-Kept Home : Household Traditions and Simple Secrets from a French Grandmother

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

 

 

About 50% of this book offers advice that is either useless or dangerous. A few potted geraniums on your windowsill will NOT keep away mosquitoes. You do not make "Homemade soap" by squashing together the remains of previously-used soap. Ditto for "Homemade cheese". Anyone who tries to "save" rancid butter by massaging in a few tablespoons of baking soda and water is just asking for a bellyache. Do you have any "Spanish White" around your house? Neither do I. If I'm going to make a special trip to "any local hardware store" to pick up a tube of Spanish White and a vial of "methelated spirits" so I can blend them into silver-polishing paste, why wouldn't I just snap up a cheap tube of silver polish and save myself the added expense and mixing effort? The worst advice in the entire book is this: "Give your apricot, plum or cherry jam an almond taste by cooking a few crushed fruit stones, enclosed in a small muslin bag, at the same time as the fruits." That almond taste you've just added is CYANIDE, a deadly poison found concentrated in fruit pits and usually used to execute gas-chamber prisoners in a really horrible way. Do you really want to add that to your jam? Wouldn't you rather use an inexpensive and non-poisonous almond extract, almond milk or even marzipan paste instead? And for those of you who argue that a little can't hurt - how much arsenic or lead do you usually like to add to your food? Cyanide is MUCH worse. How much is too much? The authors certainly don't say. They don't even mention that it's poison.

If anything, the photographs in the book are exquisite, and if you study them for decorating ideas, gardening ideas and color combinations, the book is certainly worth a dent in your credit or library card. The prose, however, needs more than a little tightening up and perhaps some fact-checking.

This book is nothing but a hardcover magazine. Gorgeous pictures, useless content. These are not the memories of a French grandmother so much as a big... ad for you to buy a whole lot of products, try out some weekend project that never ends, give up and go out and buy more useless products. There are much better books on this topic for people who are serious about the running of their home but are mostly, unfortunately out of print.

I only gave this book three stars because it is the same book as "Secrets of Good Housekeeping" also by Laura Fronty -- same content, lovely photo's, etc., only difference is the title.

A wonderful book! Just good. old-fashioned sense and solutions for living without modern chemical products. Simple "recipes" for cleaning, preserving, scenting your home. Very inspiring, too. There is joy in having a well-kept home and it's inviting to others, too. Complete without being overwhelming. Uncomplicated. The "old ways" are easy to fit into an over-burdened, stressed-out lifestyle and easily replace methods and rituals already used.

Disappointing content. Pictures are nice but not worth more than a quick browse.

A little of everything...cooking, cleaning, beauty products, garden lore. Lovely photographs.

If you're interested in "old ways" or in France, you might also enjoy REALLY RURAL, a book by Marie-France Boyer.

I've read all the bad reviews written before mine, and I really don't understand why they are so aggressive ?
Actually, I have this book in French, because I bought it in France a while ago, because I am French, and I've been using it since then. I recently tried the cleaning of copper and it is amazing how it works, better than any product I ever bought before for copper cleaning !
I am wondering if readers who are so aggressive towards this book aren't so because they really don't like French people ? I may understand that, but this book is not to blame. And I precise I don't know the author, I am not linked to the original publisher, so I have absolutely no reason to write a good revue on it, except really loving it.
The recipes given in this book, are really old recipes used by our grandmothers in France, not only the author's grandmothers, but many old people in France, like my own grandmother. We just don't listen when we are a child, and then, we regret. With this book, we have everything gathered in it, with gorgeous photos.
Of course, it is more "natural recipes", so if you search for something chemical, harsh, efficient over the top, it is not for you.
These recipes respect nature, avoid pollution, are smooth, soft recipes, but still softly efficient.
Another book which is good for that, an English one this time is : "A Guide to Green Housekeeping" by Christina Strutt of Cabbages and Roses. Very ecological, natural, soft, amazing too.
These two books are my two guides in home.
If you are patient and curious, I am sure you will appreciate them as well.

Am pleased with this book on two levels. 1)Visually exciting: beautiful photos giving a feel for a France that people really live in. 2)'Simple' recipes for household challenges: I am an antiques dealer and have been searching for repair/cleaning answers that don't come out of a bottle. The common ingredients listed are easy enough to come by and have worked wonders on my antique linens, copper and brass pieces, etc. Overall, a fun book for those of us who wish we could spend more than just 'vacation time' in France.

I have not read the books written about in the other reviews but I found this book to be a delight. Some people wouldn't understand the intent of it, I do and I enjoyed it a lot. Not all the advice should be taken literally, as with all books, one reads critically and uses common sense. Beautiful photographs.

This is a nostalgic and beautiful book, that has many contemporary applications. It is a wonderful choice as an antidote for our electronic era. It is a grace note for busy complicated lives.