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The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) by Kate Lebo
mjenae's review against another edition
4.0
Well-written. The taste descriptions are bursting with life—blunt and mouth-watering. That part I loved.
I enjoyed most of the stories, too, but I'm just not so sure I liked the author. She was too ambivalent; by the end of the book, I really didn't know what her values were, except that she supported abortion (she was very vocal on this subject, which added to my distaste). She talked about God on one page, then yoga and crystals on the next. She spoke a lot about her former relationship with a man with celiac disease; sometimes she was blaming him for everything that went wrong (even though she ended the relationship on her terms), other times she sounded as if she were still in love. It felt like she was trying to please everyone by tackling all the big topics from a neutral perspective, and it made me want to scream. I wish she'd stuck to writing about food. She's very talented at that.
I enjoyed most of the stories, too, but I'm just not so sure I liked the author. She was too ambivalent; by the end of the book, I really didn't know what her values were, except that she supported abortion (she was very vocal on this subject, which added to my distaste). She talked about God on one page, then yoga and crystals on the next. She spoke a lot about her former relationship with a man with celiac disease; sometimes she was blaming him for everything that went wrong (even though she ended the relationship on her terms), other times she sounded as if she were still in love. It felt like she was trying to please everyone by tackling all the big topics from a neutral perspective, and it made me want to scream. I wish she'd stuck to writing about food. She's very talented at that.
justineodashs's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
katek's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Eating disorder
boggremlin's review against another edition
3.0
I've liked Kate Lebo's work since I first read her cookbook (Pie School) and her illustrated zine (Commonplace Book of Pie), the latter of which seems like the origin story for her alphabetical approach to this collection. Framed by difficult or unusual fruits, Lebo's essays discuss her family's secrets; her own disability (Lebo is hard of hearing and has an autoimmune disorder); and her depression. She also explores the impact of white colonialists on indigenous communities, as well as how myth and folklore shape our understanding of the natural world.
Lebo's writing is a little mystical, intimate, and it's also practical. Her recipes are written in a slightly lyrical style. This book will likely appeal to fans of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's memoirs (though Lebo has more bite and drama to her writing), or to those who enjoy poetic language but aren't quite sure if they like poetry. It may also appeal to experimental home cooks and foragers.
Lebo's writing is a little mystical, intimate, and it's also practical. Her recipes are written in a slightly lyrical style. This book will likely appeal to fans of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's memoirs (though Lebo has more bite and drama to her writing), or to those who enjoy poetic language but aren't quite sure if they like poetry. It may also appeal to experimental home cooks and foragers.
barnesstorming's review against another edition
4.0
PSA: Don't look for this as a guide to buying/growing "difficult" fruits and using them. Also, don't look to this if your definition of fruit is rigid. Don't look to it if you're going to be put off by Lebo using cute alternate names for "fruit" just to complete the whole A-Z concept. (To wit: she calls dandelion "faceclock," which no sane person calls dandelion, no matter how spectacular a name it is, just because she needed an F fruit. Which, I mean, it isn't a fruit either.) Look, instead, to this as a sort of schizophrenic memoir with some powerful and laugh-out-loud moments and you'll be rewarded. Though you might question her selections based on taxonomy (xylitol is the X entry), or their actual difficulty (blackberries, difficult? zucchini, difficult?), or her use of them in "recipes" (many of which are weird, small-yield lotions), you won't question Lebo's wit or regret reading the book.