"I have mixed feelings about this book. Firstly what sort of book is it? Is it a recipe book - 111 pages of its 229 pages are recipes; secondly is it biography of Maria Grammatico or thirdly is it a memoir of Mary Taylor Simeti telling how she came to be telling Maria's story. And these two latter stories cover the first 118 pages.



There is a terrific story here in the life Maria Grammatico. In the 1950s, her impoverished mother sent her, at the age of 11, and her older sister to live in the enclosed and cloistered world of the local convent. There were approximately 22 people living in the convent of whom 13 were nuns, the rest young girls such as Maria and her sister. Maria lived here till the age of 25, when she left the convent. The only skills she had were how to make the delicious, dainty, delectable pastries, sweetmeats and biscuits that she had 'acquired' over the years living with the nuns. The nuns produced vast quantities of these morsels to sell to the locals on feast days and religious celebrations/ceremonies. None for the girls. It was an appalling existence really for young girls. There was never enough food, very few comforts, very little if any freedom, no celebrations or fun of any kind. The one solace for Maria was the kitchen. Now, in her fifties, she still lives in the town the convent was in - Erice - and has her own very famous and highly regarded Italian patisserie where she makes, by hand, all the delicacies she had learnt all those years ago. On You Tube there are some lovely films of Maria in her kitchen and interviews with her about her life. I would love to have had the whole 229 pages about her life, more about what convent life was like, more about what happened to her when she left the convent, how she started her business - I kid you not, it is summarised in one paragraph. Very very disappointing.

So is the book then a memoir of the writer, Mary Taylor Simeti and how she came to meet Maria and write the book. Unfortunately there is almost as much about this as there is about Maria. Mary is a successful writer herself, married to a Sicilian and living on Sicily. Her books about Sicilian food and travel are highly regarded and would appear to be well worth reading. But to me, this little book, should not be about her, and unfortunately it is. She intersperses Maria's story with snippets from her own, and the thread really does at times become quite confusing.



Then we come to the remaining 111 pages of recipes. And glorious they are too! From almond dough, almond cream, ricotta tart, citron jam, marzipan, fig biscuits, preserves - 46 recipes in total. And all this is marvellous to read too! But is it perhaps just a little too much?

My overall feeling on finishing this book was that I felt cheated. And that Maria actually deserved more. Maybe one day someone will write a real biography of Maria's story instead of this offering.



"

"CHANGED MY REVIEW TO ONE STAR:
I read in another review that Mel Robbins ripped this idea off of a Cassie Phillips poem. The audacity! I hope she donates her proceeds to that poet. Here's an idea: "When people rip off your ideas and pass them off as their own, DON'T let them"

ORIGINAL REVIEW WAS THREE STARS:
My friend recommended this book so I read it with her. My expectations were very low because I'm not a psychobabble fan and that's the best way to describe this.

Mel had some good stuff to say but ultimately the book is extremely repetitive and mostly common sense. Her examples are limited and the advice is basic. There were a few stand out sections, but overall I am glad to be done."

"Is this the whitest woman with the fewest problems? You would be forgiven for thinking so for most of the book until she tackles actual issues, at which point her advice is (thankfully) to consult a professional. Otherwise, this is a repetitive, over-long book with absolutely zero new contributions to humanity that is an echo of ideas in every religion, philosophy, therapy, etc. known to humans, but transformed into one mantra that is supposed to cover every situation. And by every situation, I mean suburban American shit like whether to yell at someone who doesn't pick up their dog's poop or how to handle you son's prom date's not wanting a corsage. The fact that there is an audience for this book scares me a little, but still, I will "let them"..."