return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
twitter Bookmark and Share mail to a friend Email
   Summary and Book Reviews

Making Toast: Summary and book reviews of Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt, plus links to an excerpt from Making Toast and a biography of Roger Rosenblatt.

Making Toast

Making Toast
A Family Story
by Roger Rosenblatt
Hardcover: Mar 2010,
176 pages.
Paperback: Feb 2011,
128 pages.

Publication information
Read an Excerpt
Reader Reviews

Author Biography
Author Interview
Books by this Author
Critics' Opinion:   very good
Readers' Rating:  4.5 Stars
About BookBrowse Rankings
Buy This Book
Themes Members Only Read-Alikes Members Only Add to Reading List  Members Only BookBrowse Review  Members Only

BOOK SUMMARY

award image

When his daughter Amy, a gifted doctor, mother, and wife collapsed and died from an asymptomatic heart condition, Roger Rosenblatt and his wife, Ginny, left their home on the South Shore of Long Island to move in with their son-in-law, Harris, and their three young grandchildren. With the wit, heart, precision, and depth of understanding that has characterized his work, Roger Rosenblatt peels back the layers on this most personal of losses to create both a tribute to his late daughter and a testament to familial love. The day Amy died, Harris told Ginny and Roger, "It's impossible." Rosenblatt's story tells how a family makes the possible out of the impossible.

With the wit, heart, precision, and depth of understanding that has characterized his work, Roger Rosenblatt peels back the layers on this most personal of losses to create both a tribute to his late daughter and a testament to familial love.

BOOK REVIEWS

Very Good BookBrowse
22 out of 27 BookBrowse readers gave Making Toast 4 or 5 stars. Here's what they had to say:

A wonderfully written account of how one family handles a very painful event. I can think of no more heartwarming relationship than a grandparent and grandchild. Although this relationship is forged through painful conditions, the story is told in such an honest and factual, but warm and loving way that this is a book you will learn from and remember (C H). This is without a doubt the best book I have ever read on how to "get on with getting on". Making Toast will make you cry, but in doing so it might make you a better person. Read this book (Lois G)!  (Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Full Review Members Only (780 words).

Media Reviews

Very Good  Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [A] beautiful account of human loss, measured by the steady effort to fill in the void.

Very Good  Kirkus Reviews
There is plenty of hugging and tears, but thankfully no mawkishness or emotional manipulation. Through the glass of the author's transparent style we see all the sharp and soft contours of grief

Good  The Christian Science Monitor
The careful, deliberate writing... lays out every instance where Amy’s absence was noticed. Rosenblatt handles these moments delicately, often cloaking them in wit or anecdotes... If there’s one shortcoming to Making Toast, it’s that Rosenblatt’s writing itself feels dispassionate. The anger that Rosenblatt mentions so frequently comes across as muffled and technical. Yet [he] commands your attention by other means... each isolated story makes your heart ache... a bleakly beautiful scatter plot of grief.

Very Good  The Washington Post - Carolyn See
The story is about coping with grief, caring for children and creating an ad hoc family for as long as this particular configuration is required, but mostly it's a textbook on what constitutes perfect writing and how to be a class act.

Author Blurb  E.L. Doctorow
A painfully beautiful memoir telling how grandparents are made over into parents, how people die out of order, how time goes backwards. Written with such restraint as to be both heartbreaking and instructive.

Author Blurb  Ann Beattie
Written so forthrightly, but so delicately, that you feel you're a part of this family.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Amanda
Only read if you are depressed
If you are looking for a book that’ll make you feel depressed about life, then Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt, is indeed to book for you.

This book is about a family who suffers a tragedy, when a beloved wife, mother, and daughter...   Read More

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Alma
Toching
The book cover says this is a family story; I’d say it’s also a love story. The author talks about his grief, anger and resentment, but I can tell he is talking about joy, family bonds and love to life, too. I enjoyed this book. I cried, I...   Read More

Lists of books with similar themes


Read-Alikes


Other books by Roger Rosenblatt
Buy This Book:

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  Feb 05 
  •  Feb 02 
  •  Jan 30 
Ragnarok
A.S. Byatt
Ragnarok Jacket War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
No One is Here Except All of Us
Ramona Ausubel
No One is Here Except All of Us Jacket A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, exploring how we use storytelling to survive and shape our own truths.
Below Stairs
Margaret Powell
Below Stairs Jacket Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants, Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high.
The Printmaker's Daughter
Katherine Govier
The Printmaker's Daughter Jacket Vivid, daring, and unforgettable, The Printmaker's Daughter shines fresh light on art, loyalty, and the tender and indelible bond between a father and daughter.
Why We Broke Up
Daniel Handler, Maira Kalman
Why We Broke Up Jacket Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up.
BookBrowse members say ....
Recent Reader Reviews
The Healing by Jonathan Odell
I read The Healing in two sittings it is a fascinating story of plantation life at the beginning of the Civil War. Granada, a slave newborn child... read more
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This book is one that will not disappoint. Although it may seem like it is "cliche" or "dull", it is not. The wonderful first... read more
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Uncommon Reader is a novella by novelist and playwright, Alan Bennett. The story starts with the Queen coming across the mobile library van... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
Book Club Recommendations
Take Me Home
by Brian Leung
Paperback (Nov/11)
City of Tranquil Light
by Bo Caldwell
Paperback (Oct/11)
Keeper
by Andrea Gillies
Paperback (Oct/11)
The Maid
by Kimberly Cutter
Hardback (Oct/11)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
Defending Jacob
by William Landay
4.5 Stars            (Jan/12)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
by Katherine Boo
4.5 Stars            (Feb/12)
No Mark Upon Her
by Deborah Crombie
Five Stars            (Feb/12)
A Good American
by Alex George
4.5 Stars            (Feb/12)
Three Weeks in December
by Audrey Schulman
4.5 Stars            (Jan/12)
More...
   Most Recent Blog Entries
What Do a Pedophile, a Polygamist and a Tattooed Girl Have in Common?
12 Debuts to Cozy Up with This February
McDonald's Giving Away 9 Million Books With Happy Meals
Why I Read by Eva Stachniak
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
  Latest BookBrowse News
Arizona bills Amazon for $53 million in uncollected sales tax (Feb 06 2012)
The ongoing sales tax battle between many US states and large online retailers, most notably Amazon, continues with a thrust from Arizona which, last week,... Full Story
Amazon rumored to be opening bricks and mortar stores (Feb 03 2012)
There are mumblings in the blogosphere that Amazon is to open bricks and mortar stores. Launch.it offers four possible scenarios:

The first... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: How do you find out about new books? Choose all that apply
Recommendations from friends/family
Bookstore/library staff recommendation
Advertising
Search engines
Professional book reviews in print or online
Reader reviews online
Blogs
Social networks
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters

Online Book Club

More about
The Healing
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

The Kitchen House jacket

Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"O M's M is A M's P"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Isabel Allende
Michelle Moran
Audrey Schulman
William Landay
frame bottom
HOME Submissions | Advertising | Libraries | Media Inquiries | Reviewers | Contact Us