Sunday, April 10, 2005

Whatcha Got Cooking? For the second week in a row, NYTBR gives a memoir by a former Timesperson a two-page review: last week, Cynthia Ozick on Joseph Lelyveld's Omaha Blues; this week, David Kamp on Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires. One school of thought has it that this is shameless cronyism, while another interpretation holds that these books, and others by NYT personnel past and present, are important enough to deserve such coverage. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle, though it might be said that (a) giving Lelyveld first-class treatment here and a Sunday magazine cover for the first serial might be pushing things just a bit even for a retired executive editor, while on the other hand (b) Reichl's role in transforming the culture of restaurant reviewing does, in fact, justify in-depth coverage. It's also worth nothing that Kamp's review can hardly be accused of giving Reichl a free ride--although he acknowledges "she's not some dilettante in pursuit of expense-account jollies, but a real food journalist who...has had a front-row seat for some of the greatest American culinary developments over the last 30 years," he finds at times that "Reichl's novelistic approach to nonfiction becomes too novelistic, to the point where it beggars belief." He also finds the sections in which Reichl enthusiastically describes the elaborate personae she developed to fool restauranteurs "troubling after a while," and wonders aloud about "the intimations that she flirted with madness." Those issues didn't concern Jonathan Yardley (WaPo) quite so much; he merely notes that the author "found herself taking on the character of each invented persona, sometimes with happy results, sometimes not," adding almost casually that "she feared what the job was doing to her." (Although lavish descriptions of these characters form part of Reich's Salon interview, her own comments do little to elaborate upon the psychological and emotional ambiguities.) One point on which Yardley and Karp come closer to agreeing is with regard to Reichl's legendary review of Le Cirque, which knocked a star off for poor service to one of Reichl's plainer identities. "Some cheered Reichl for having struck a blow for the little guy," Karp comments, while Yardley believes "it wasn't exactly a blow for the common man." And in the realm of metaphors so easy they write themselves, Seattle Times foodie Nancy Leson loves this book so much, she thinks Reichl's last two memoirs were "merely an appetizer and intermezzo" in comparison, while Liz Smith calls it "absolutely delicious." posted by ron @ Sunday, April 10, 2005 | Permanent link