Heidi: Trail of Crumbs

"Where I Am": Ah, such wondrous delights of food. When I read things like this I know that I cannot stay in New Orleans forever - because while we have wonderful food, we lack this sort of fresh and healthful bounty. Finding local, organic produce is difficult if not in my own back yard. Oh, and lemon verbena - I love it. (Saw a recipe for it in ice cream and I might make it in my new ice cream maker! A related food!)

I don't like her too much to start. I hope I like her more as the book progresses, because she's about my age now but here she's 23, so I do hope she grows up.

Wild peaches? Oo la la! Those sounds wonderful indeed! I have no idea what these wines are. Clearly I cannot move to France because I would rather have water to wine any day.

Chapter II: "the trinity" p. 9 - ah, yes. This woman was indeed raised in New Orleans. Mirliton, okra, and sassafras? I have yet to master file. These foods are so comfortable, even Cafe Degas just down the street from me on Esplanade. Very comfortable.

But then on p. 24: "Some people build their houses up high, hoard batteries and water. There are also levees to protect from overflow. But I've never quite understood how it is we are to survive seven feet below the level of the sea. I don't want to board up windows or have duct-taped views of the world. I'm restless, too, and all I long for is solid shelter." She nails it. Nobody exhales until hurricane season is over. Every document I've been retrieving of late for different purposes, I think, "Be sure to take that when you evacuate." I have to know when I buy anything that it may well be destroyed. I gutted enough houses here to know that on every level. I know what destruction looks and smells like, and I know it's in my future. And as much as I love this crazy, soulful city - the sensible part of me has issues with that.

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OK, I'm on p. 80 now and still waiting to actually like her. We would not be friends. She seems boastful about moving around a lot and I'm like "Lady, you went from New Orleans to Florida to Europe. A lot? Let's compare passports and past addresses. Beat you!"

And she reminds of K2 (remember our big Korean friend, Gail?) who was so lost, so dark because he was 1 1/2 generation Asian-American. And I understand that it is difficult to come from another country and to feel an outsider but you have the benefit of two worlds and you want to complain only? I have always been an outsider as well and never fit in any place, so looking different isn't it, dude. You choose to feel different, and that can empower you rather than crush your spirit. You make choices.

And that's what I feel with Kim Sunee - she's making choices about how she portrays people. She shows all these negative sides rather than a whole picture. And she was an adult when she met Olivier but she acts like some passive blog - that all these things happened to her. What? And if she didn't like something, then she needed to speak up and stop blaming people years later for her inability to take responsibility for her own happiness. Like she says things like they made love until she was sore and raw - I mean, what is that? Taking something wonderful and complaining? If you wanted to stop, you just say you want to stop. Sheesh! But if you didn't want to stop, then don't complain 15 years later for hopping on that ride and not getting off. She could have said, "We made passionate love until we were exhausted and spent" or something such that I would find far less offensive. Look, I find men who take advantage of women to be despicable - but I find women who allow this to be not much better.

Yeah, still not liking her much at all, and I need to rush through the rest of the book because I don't very much like her company and I am extremely particular with whom I spend my time. Whine whine wine (ha). But I like the recipes!
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More I find annoying: her use of French. She throws in very simple phrases which I fully understand, but they are gratuitous and not systematically used. Not all readers do understand French so it blocks their understanding without adding anything.

Her frequent allusions to L'Occitane seem like name dropping and gossip. Fine, be clear about whom you are speaking if you feel you have to right to tell another's secrets and your perceptions as Truth. But why the constant name dropping? To remind us that you didn't just shack up with some older man but a wealthy, powerful older man? It still seems icky to me because of how she presents it, and even ickier when she keeps bringing it up. I do believe that love can genuinely exist across vast cultural and age differences, but it can take special people to get over it.

When her parents came to visit, I was relieved she spoke of them positively because she rarely seems to, or give them any credit for giving her a good life. But then she overreacts to her mother's questioning. It is very legit for a parent to ask if their child is going to get a job or career. I understand that taking care of Olivier's house is a full-time job, but it doesn't seem like anything she's really happy or fulfilled with (she had just been writing about how she wasn't) - so why wouldn't her mother ask? To condemn that shows her lack of maturity. And come on - she's shacking up with an older guy who is still married - not exactly a great, stable career. I certainly would want more for my daughters.

I'm on p. 168 now and keep wondering why she doesn't think of the obvious when people keep telling her she doesn't look really Korean. Why does she not consider that her biological father was white or a different type of Asian? This would complicate her story line, surely, but it seems an obvious consideration and I'm wondering why she doesn't bring it up. Maybe she will later.

I went to her blog and Facebook page, and I'm glad I did. She is not unbearable there. Maybe just because I haven't read a book for fun in so long, I had too high expectations. And books are so hacked up by editors - I will cut her more slack. I like her reading list on her blog. Shows more about her than all her whining about being spoiled by a rich man.

p. 299 is my favorite scene - at the shop they find still open, and the owner says she has vegetables across the street. Sure, it's a small town and she asks after his mother, but I still find it touching. I love when people share garden produce - it's a very special gift indeed. A double gift - from the soil and from the gardener.

Trail of Crumbs: First book!

Gail and I have decided: Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee is our first book!

This thanks to an endorsement from my friend Jane:

Finished a great book recently called Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee. Is in biography section of book stores. She was a 3year old child abandoned by her mother in Korea (along with a younger sister). Both were adopted by a couple from New Orleans and came here to live. Kim learns to be a good cook from her cajun grandfather, then after college has travels thru Europe (Sweden, France, Italy) where she continues to learn about cooking along the way. Really interesting. At the age of 23 she becomes the girlfriend of an older Frenchman (the founder of L'Occitane). She has been a judge on Top Chef in the past.