From the author of Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club pick The Scent Keeper comes a “heartbreakingly delicious” national bestseller about a chef, her students, and the evocative lessons that food teaches about life. Once a month on a Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian’s restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; … new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect.
The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian’s soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create….
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Such beautiful language
Loved it so much I started reading the followup the same day!
Loved the characters and really cared what was happening in their lives. Very descriptive.
I would really give this book 4/1/2 stars as the ending was just too abrupt. I see she has written another so perhaps that is why. But for the most part the language was gorgeous and the characters very real.
I really liked this book. It made me look at things differently to see good things in my life that I was missing. Great characters great writing.
I thought there was not enough story. Was too vague about the characters stories.
A book foodies would definitely enjoy!
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I found this book to be very sensual. It put a whole new twist on cooking.
Loved this book and look forward to reading more from the author
boring
Two things. 1)I didn’t want the book to end and 2)I want to take her cooking class/eat in her restaurant
I could practically taste the food as the author described it. Just lovely.
Not much of a story but I gained some tips for cooking
This is one of the best fiction books I’ve read in a long time, mainly because of the characters and the depth of their interactions.
In a word: delicious. And not simply because it was about food. There is a richness found inside the cover of this book, deeper and more subtle than the mere words printed on the pages. The is love and loss, healing and growth, uncertainty and comfort.
What I enjoyed about “The School of Essential Ingredients”:
The characters – Each unique, each with a story to reveal, as the telling shifted back and forth between their present and their history. I particularly enjoyed the way each of them received a single unconventional chapter, but there was no overlap as the present marched quietly forward from class to class.
The language – This won’t be for everyone. Ms Bauermeister is heavily descriptive, unrolling simile after simile. This style speaks to my core. It is the way I observe life and the world around me. It indicates a quiet perception born from slowly taking in the world in all its tiny, intricate parts so easily overlooked at a breakneck pace of life. It felt like my senses were all alive and quivering, intent on conjuring up what I was reading. The words felt like melody and harmony.
The pace – The book isn’t terribly long, but it’s never in a rush. It tells the story of Lillian, Helen and Carl, Claire, Tom, Isabelle, Antonia, Chloe, and Ian in a way that is comfortable and organic. It never dragged or hurried, it just…was. There was no fear of encouraging laughter or giving pause. It was honest, even when it was almost idyllic, but especially when it was not. By the end, I was as satisfied as if I’d enjoyed a meal alongside them at Lillian’s.
What I didn’t care for as much:
In retrospect, not a thing – At first, I thought this book would be awarded four stars. I wasn’t sure I had a feel for it. But once I settled in, I couldn’t imagine it disappointing me. And it didn’t.
There is something unexpected in this story of Lillian’s cooking school. There are important lessons about life and love, about stopping to truly see and listen, about friendship and fellowship. It took me almost exactly ten years to get to this book after placing it on my to-read shelf. It won’t take me that long to dive into its sequel.
What a sweet book. I loved the story, the connectedness, the characters, the writing style, the lovely way things were described, the metaphor for life. This is a story of an unconventional chef who holds a cooking class in her restaurant. The reader attends the cooking class each month with the students, learning the back story of one student each class. Each story is connected in some way with the food being prepared that night – memories are triggered through smells and instructions from Lillian, the teacher. Lillian almost seems magical in her sensitivity and ability to meet the needs and desires of each student at just the right time. One of my favorite quotes from the book is “We’re all just ingredients. What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal.” The story shows us that we are the essential ingredients in life. I loved the hopeful feeling I took away from the reading and am glad I read this book. Highly recommended!