Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2016
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
"With a tenderness that never dips into nostalgia, Abu-Jaber weaves together the stories of those closest to her... .Abu-Jaber renders her relationships to both food and family in rich, joyful detail." - Booklist
On one side, there is Grace: prize-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber's tough, independent sugar-fiend of a German grandmother, wielding a suitcase full of holiday cookies. On the other, Bud: a flamboyant, spice-obsessed Arab father, full of passionate argument. The two could not agree on anything: not about food, work, or especially about what Diana should do with her life. Grace warned her away from children. Bud wanted her married above all - even if he had to provide the ring. Caught between cultures and lavished with contradictory "advice" from both sides of her family, Diana spent years learning how to ignore others' well-intentioned prescriptions.
Hilarious, gorgeously written, poignant, and wise, Life Without a Recipe is Diana's celebration of journeying without a map, of learning to ignore the script and improvise, of escaping family and making family on one's own terms. As Diana discovers, however, building confidence in one's own path sometimes takes a mistaken marriage or two - or in her case, three: to a longhaired boy-poet, to a dashing deconstructionist literary scholar, and finally to her steadfast, outdoors-loving Scott. It also takes a good deal of angst (was it possible to have a serious writing career and be a mother?) and, even when she knew what she wanted (the craziest thing, in one's late forties: a baby!), the nerve to pursue it.
Finally, fearlessly independent like the Grace she's named after, Diana and Scott's daughter Gracie will heal all the old battles with Bud and, like her writer-mom, learn to cook up a life without a recipe.
"With a tenderness that never dips into nostalgia, Abu-Jaber weaves together the stories of those closest to her... .Abu-Jaber renders her relationships to both food and family in rich, joyful detail." - Booklist
"[A] deliciously candid story... Generously seasoned by an abiding love of food and a keen eye for the nuances of human relationships, this book is a reminder that however unpredictable it may be, life is a dish to be savored. A delectably warm and wise memoir." - Kirkus
"A vivid story of one writer's journey to build a creative life, one lived 'without recipes,' this book will be indispensable to anyone trying to forge their own truer path." - Ruth Reichl
"Wonderfully written, honest, funny, and deeply heart-touching, Diana Abu-Jaber's memoir is a joyous read that speaks to the creative spirit in us all." - Heidi W. Durrow, New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
"Diana Abu-Jaber writes trenchantly and gorgeously about family, marriage, and motherhood with insights and connections that feel hard-won and richly earned." - Kate Christensen, author of Blue Plate Special and The Great Man
This information about Life Without a Recipe was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Diana Abu-Jaber is the award-winning author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, including Crescent and The Language of Baklava. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Author Interview
Link to Diana Abu-Jaber's Website
Name Pronunciation
Diana Abu-Jaber: AH-boo JAH-ber
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