Book Review: Garlic and Sapphires
A Two-Minute Book Review
I love Ruth’s style. Not just her writing style (which I adore), but her “style” in her approach to life. I want to meet her and be her friend, and not just for the food. (Oh, the food.) I loved her disguises (and lost reading time trying to Google pictures of them) and what the personas revealed about Ruth. I loved how fun she was, how she dove headfirst into each character, complete with backstory and a first-name basis with a wig store owner. Just brilliant.
But the food. (Oh, the food.) Ruth’s descriptions are luscious! She made me crave foie gras even though I don’t usually like it. Because of her, I want to try it again. And as a special little “dessert” at the end of each chapter, she includes the actual review she wrote for each restaurant. It was perfect.
I read “Save Me the Plums” first (published in 2019), then immediately started this one (published in 2005). I saw an interesting juxtaposition because I read the books in the “wrong” order. Here in “Garlic,” she is at the NY Times, and at the end, ready for a change. Yet in “Plums,” Ruth leaves the NY Times to join Gourmet magazine — and is reluctant to do so.
I splurged on the Audiobook even though (1) I owned the e-book and (2) Ruth doesn’t narrate it herself. Bernadette Dunne does a lovely job with the various voices and accents.
