This book was on the lighter side of what the book club reads. Rebecca, this month’s host, calls it “fluffy.” At first i kept expecting the book to get deep, as Rebecca is deep and she has an MFA. The book has hundreds of reviews on Amazon and a really high over-all rating.
“Eat Cake” is about a family where the wife who is a homemaker takes on the breadwinner role by taking advantage of her passion and talent baking cakes, her husband has lost his job as a hospital administrator, and all of it plays out against the backdrop of elderly parents who have moved in and obnoxious teenagers.
I expected the family issues being covered to have emotional depth. Honestly, I expected to learn something about family systems from someone (the author) who obviously cares about them. I tend to prefer earnest and profound when I can get it, even though it can get tiresome. My preferred fluff is Stephen King or John Sandford. But that just wasn’t this book.
Where I really got schooled by Jeanne Ray was the end of the book where she included the cake recipes. I bake two very fussy cakes myself, A German chocolate and a super fancy pineapple upside down cake. But I ain’t got nothing on this madame, she is a cake baking fool. For that reason if no other I’m not going to go Miss Bertha Better Than You and laude my English degree over everyone’s head and get stuffy. The author wasn’t a fool or a silly person and her story and intentions were clear and competently carried out.
She wrote an easy-reading title that was put together well. She succeeded in her goal and if light reading is what you’re looking for, you’ll probably enjoy this book.
Plum Librarian LLC 