Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family

Rating:
Summary: Stuffed full of goodies
Review: Patricia Volk comes from an amazing family full of passionate, aggressive, intense people. There's Aunt Ruthie, a little old lady who looks sweet but has a tounge like a razor, Aunt Gertie who married badly but proudly carried on, Granny Ethel who was a great beauty but a terrible mother, grandfather Jacob who came from Europe as a boy, made a fortune and fell in love with one look. In between the chapters on her relatives Volk drops a few mentions of the restaraunt that kept the family going and settles a few scores. Like her Aunt Lil she remembers everything and tells all.

You wouldn't want to know these people-- except for Nana Polly and Audrey most were really dreadful folks-- and you certainly wouldn't want to work for any of them but it's a fascinating peep into a world most of us are totally unfamiliar with. If you like books about New York, or foodie books or just love a juicy memoir Stuffed will satisfy.

Rating:
Summary: pretty, semi-witty, not too wise
Review: I knew I was in for a tasty treat when I saw that Patricia Volk's genealogical chart of her family contained annotations like "Best Legs in Atlantic City, 1916,""Brought pastrami to the new world," and "first man to carve meat in a window." I imagined that someone who felt whimsies like these were the most important facts about her relatives would be very entertaining to read.

As I expected, Volk describes her family with warmth, wit, and affection always, and with wistfulness when required, each member getting his or her own charming chapter. She is clever with descriptions that make sly reference to the family restaurant business ("our hallway was the color of ballpark mustard..."). I especially liked her stories about her rivalry with and love for her sister; even as adults Volk flew across country just to feed her sister after an operation (and then squabbled, of course, like sisters do!)

However, it is not an industry expose, as some readers might have hoped. It is a family history first and a `restaurant' book only secondarily.

The only thing that kept me from giving this book my total endorsement (and thus five stars rather than four) is that this seems to be a facelift-and-fur-coat sort of family, which mine is definitely not. Thus there was a limit to how much I could identify with them. If this would not happen to you, you should consider it a five-star book.

Rating:
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: I LOVED THIS BOOK. And when I think of why I did there are several reasons. To begin with I also grew up in Manhattan like Ms. Volk and lived next door to and around the corner from my large multi-generational Jewish family. Like Ms. Volk I can also remember leaving for camp via Grand Central and shopping at now defunct NY stores like Best & Co.with my mother. I might also have loved this book because for close to 40 years my father was in the catering business and I too can remember our food being delivered and that general feeling of being stuffed. And wasn't I surpirsed as I read this book that I even knew a couple of people the author wrote about in this wonderful memoir. But most of all I loved this book because it brought back to me many of my childhood memories and a way of life which I remember and is now sadly gone as we grow up and our world today is so differnt from the way it used to be. No matter what the reason, though, I lapped this book up and gulped it down. And now I keep suggesting it to everyone who will listen to read this book because as much as this is a New York tale, I think it has a broad appeal for readers everywhere who enjoy the story of a family not only devoted to the restaurant business but to each other as well.

Like Ruth Reichl's two memoirs, Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples, the author has done a fine job of describing her family, the restaurant business and her own accomplishments. This book was a pleasure to read and now I say Bon Apetit to you Ms. Volk. I know I will read this book again and again and and will savor it a bit more each time.

Rating:
Summary: A sweet love letter to an amazingly colorful family!
Review: I really enjoyed Stuffed. I have to admit that I originally wanted because I am a foodie, and I was hoping that it would be a book about food and how the family dealt with their restaurant. It did have a little about that, but the main premise of the book is talking about most of the members of her family (including aunts, uncles, grandparents), and how they contributed to the world and to the person she is today.

Patricia Volk is a wonderful writer, and she made me want to sit down and have dinner with she and her family. A wonderful love story. Her family must be so proud.

Rating:
Summary: What a Waste of My Money!
Review: Patricia Volk's memoir, `Stuffed' is much less a culinary memory than it is a recollection of what, to some readers, may seem like a simultaneously wise and dysfunctional Jewish-American family which happened to be instrumental in the shaping of the Jewish delicatessen in America.

When I picked this book out to read, with it's title and photograph of the giant Morgan's restaurant dining room on the back cover, I was expecting something like Ruth Reichl's two memoirs. This book is different in many regards, although it has its own charm making it equally worthy as a light read.

The first difference is that there is very little in the book about food itself. The blurb by Eli Zabar, who may have known the family business better than he knew the inside of the book, reinforces the impression that the book is about food. The book is simply about people whose business happened to be food. The fact that the author is a writer of fiction rather than a culinary journalist should have been the clue that gives away the game. The chapter titles, named after major foodstuffs (including bacon, of all things for a Jewish family) maintains the ambiguity long into the middle of the book. I kept looking for the recipes (not really).

The second difference is that the book is much less about the author (and her parents) than it is about the entire Volk / Morgan / Sussman / Lieban vereinshaft (extended family in Yiddish).

Three themes permeate the book. The first is the success at various endeavors, primarily the building demolition business and the restaurant business of various male family members. The second theme is the great beauty of the women in the family. One look at the photo of the author is enough to get the sense of the quality of the Volk / Lieban genes. The third theme is lack of logic in some of the family members' life choices.

If you love reading about people who simply had a very full life with the intensity one may find in fiction but with the added cachet that this was all real, this is a book for you.

By the way, there are two recipes on pages 80 and 81 for chocolate cake and icing.

Rating:
Summary: Very cute story
Review: Quite an interesting story of a Jewish family through about 3 generations. There conquests, accomplishments, and contributions to the "new country". A story of sibling rivalry and the sweet, obnoxious family bickering. I almost hate to say this, but this story brings back memories of a few of our family reunions.
I enjoyed this book because it's so very relatable and fun to read. If you come from a big, close family that swaps ideas and shares laughter as well as tears, you will definitely enjoy this novel.
And, if you're in the restaurant business, why wouldn't you always be "Thanksgiving Day" stuffed?!

Rating:
Summary: What a Waste of My Money!
Review: This is the first time I have ever regretted spending money on a book. Someone in my book club chose this book so I tried to read it for the upcoming review. I can't imagine why anyone would enjoy this book except the author because it would be of interest to no one else except her! This is also the first time I ever reviewed a book online; but I am hoping that I might let people know that not everyone thought this book was wonderful!