Edgar Allan Poe Companion Book

In this memoir with recipes, Nani Power tells of her Virginia childhood near the "pompous town of Middleburg," with its moneyed people and "equine interests." Her family is endlessly fascinating, warm, funny and quirky, yet at the same time aloof and unsettling. I can see how one might feel on the outside of such a family. Nani is great with details that show the reader her life: the sequestered parlor, an ornate mausoleum of satin loveseats in her grandparents' house; a grandmother who, "when she wasn't lipsticked and laughing and drinking gin, she was lounging on her large king-size bed, writing novels." Nani brings her life into vivid focus, a life of traveling, hunting, eating and cooking exquisite and exotic foods, drawing, reading cookbooks, eating Vienna sausages out of a can, watching I Love Lucy and Petticoat Junction and listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I enjoyed reading about her various boyfriends, her husband, her lovers, her children, her brother and uncles, her grandparents and her mother.

I love the raw honesty and openness found here. I haven't tried any of the recipes, so I can't speak to how good they are, but they sound good. I found especially interesting Nani's time in Brazil, in the "servitude business," in Peru, Mexico and Japan. I loved how she tied writing and cooking together near the end.

I did feel like the chapter "Kousa and Warak" could have been omitted, but the point about recipes involving the senses and deep-stretching memories could have been moved from this chapter to the chapter, "Writing and Cooking;" this point about recipes applies to writing as well.

Some distractions: the point of view kept changing, for what seemed like no purpose. Within a couple of sentences I'd find "You, I, She," all referring to the author. Also, the verb tenses weren't consistent (past and present, back and forth, helter-skelter) and thus were distracting. Other than these issues, it was an enjoyable and revealing read.