The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel is a narrative mostly written in emails and letters, shifting from a budding friendship between young girls and blossoming into adulthood. Beyond the emails and letters, the novel also includes recipes, which mesh well with the story as each of the girls deals with lost loves and problems with family, including Lovelorn Lasagna.
The novel begins after Valerie and Lilly have endured a 26-year silence in their friendship. After an attempt to regain their lost companionship, the narrative shifts to letters written as children and the start of their recipe club. Recipes are garnered from their parents, family, and friends and often coincide with events in the girls’ lives. Many of the letters are ripe with adolescent angst and childlike retorts as they quarrel over ideals and perspectives.
“It was so awful. I was standing in a crowd of other girls I know, and the boys came up to inspect us like we were fruit to be picked. I only got asked to slow-dance once, by a kid who looks like Ichabod Crane with zits. We stepped on each other’s feet so hard that I was actually relieved to sit by myself for the rest of the night.” (page 136 of hardcover)
Valerie is a straight-laced student and highly moral girl who doesn’t understand her friend Lilly as she begins to emulate her free-spirited, actress mother more and more and rebel further against her straight-laced father. Val spends a great deal of time wondering whether her friendship with Lilly is solid and kowtowing to her friend’s desires and opinions. In many ways these letters get a bit trying, but eventually Val evolves into a stronger woman. Lilly’s letters are very self-centered, which also can be exhausting, but eventually Lilly is reformed.
Overall, The Recipe Club is an interesting collection of letters, emails, and recipes that illustrate the frustrations women find in relationships with one another. The time passes quickly with these women, but in the end, the women reach a satisfying place in their relationship.
This is my 47th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.