I feel like it’s almost wrong for me to write this book because it is meant to be a memoir for her mother however my rating is solely based on the fact that I really enjoyed the format of this book, I loved how is she rediscovered her identity through food despite it being stripped from her when she was younger, and I loved the growth that we were able to see through grief and through death. As someone who has lost both of my grandparents, I know this does not equate. However, I understand that nurturing feeling being lost, and I understand that desire to want to reconnect with the past, with the individual, and with one’s culture.

I also think she does a great job of being extremely descriptive of the food and the smells, and really places you in the spaces where she is feeling those emotions. The only reason I knock at one star is because of the ending. I would’ve loved to have seen just a bit more hope and a bit more understanding as that is how I took things away from my journey with grief. BUT I understand that’s not the case for everyone, and it gives a very realistic point on that process.

A great book that I’m so glad to have gotten around to!