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casehouse's review
3.0
I should explain that I read this book after having read Samuelsson's very similar memoir aimed at adults. I was curious to see if this would be something I'd be interested in trying to get my kids to read. There was a heavy focus on many details of Samuelsson's work in several kitchens. It seems those details might only be engaging to a narrow group of teens - those already interested in or knowledgeable about the cultinary world. The thing that made "Yes, Chef" so charming was the emphasis on food as a connection to one's personal history and food as a means to learn about culture and bring people from various cultures together. This book did not hit on that as much. It also left out everything about Samuelsson meeting his current wife and finding his biological family in Ethiopia. These were elements that may have made the book more personally interesting to teens. There were some photos of his biological father and his wife, so it does pique the reader's interest in something they never learn about. At times, the book felt unevenly paced, and occasionally the author mentions something that he hasn't yet talked about as if the reader should understand what he means. This made it feel like a not very carefully examined edit of "Yes, Chef." Finally, Samuelsson chooses to mention that at 19 years of age he got a girl pregnant and that his father agreed to support the child financially until Samuelsson himself was on his feet financially. The child, a girl, is born, and then we NEVER HEAR ABOUT HER AGAIN. This, in my mind, is the biggest flaw of the book. Either don't mention it or talk more about it - how it affected him over the years and how he fulfilled his responsibility to this child. I won't be giving this one to my kids.
renatasnacks's review
3.0
This was a pretty quick, engaging read for me. I've started watching Chopped reruns and I enjoyed reading about Marcus's journey toward becoming a chef. I do wonder if this might go in a liiittle deep on the food terminology? But I know a lot of teens like watching Food Network and stuff, so I guess any teen who was interested enough to pick this up would probably be at least a little food savvy.
I was talking to Abby, who read [b:Yes, Chef|13069213|Yes, Chef|Marcus Samuelsson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329368167s/13069213.jpg|18329805], which is the full, grownup memoir, and it sounds like one of the biggest differences between the 2 books is this one cuts off around the time Marcus is age 25, when he gets his first head chef job (but before all the TV and stuff). This kinda makes sense, on the grounds that youths might be more interested to read about him as a youth, and also that the full version might be intimidatingly long? But, they probably want to know more about him as TV chef, so... IDK. Also: this version ever-so-casually mentions that he fathered an illegitimate child at the age of 20 and then never ever mentions that child again. Apparently, in the full memoir (and IRL), he reconnected with her when she was 14. IDK, I kind of wish they hadn't mentioned the kid at all if they weren't going to bring her up again later?
But I did like how this showed how you can change paths and still find success, even without college. And I also liked the way Marcus talks frankly about race. He was adopted from Ethiopa as a baby and raised in Sweden, and he talks about microaggressions like people not expecting him to speak Swedish, or expecting him to be great at basketball. It's not the main point of his narrative by any means, but for some (white) kids reading this it might be one of the first times they hear about stuff like that.
I'm planning to booktalk it to 7th/8th grade--I don't think it's going to appeal to every teen but I think there are enough kids who would be excited about it to make it worthwhile. Especially since, you know, there's a POC right there on the cover and I struggle to find enough books to those to make everyone feel represented when I do my school visits.
I was talking to Abby, who read [b:Yes, Chef|13069213|Yes, Chef|Marcus Samuelsson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329368167s/13069213.jpg|18329805], which is the full, grownup memoir, and it sounds like one of the biggest differences between the 2 books is this one cuts off around the time Marcus is age 25, when he gets his first head chef job (but before all the TV and stuff). This kinda makes sense, on the grounds that youths might be more interested to read about him as a youth, and also that the full version might be intimidatingly long? But, they probably want to know more about him as TV chef, so... IDK. Also: this version ever-so-casually mentions that he fathered an illegitimate child at the age of 20 and then never ever mentions that child again. Apparently, in the full memoir (and IRL), he reconnected with her when she was 14. IDK, I kind of wish they hadn't mentioned the kid at all if they weren't going to bring her up again later?
But I did like how this showed how you can change paths and still find success, even without college. And I also liked the way Marcus talks frankly about race. He was adopted from Ethiopa as a baby and raised in Sweden, and he talks about microaggressions like people not expecting him to speak Swedish, or expecting him to be great at basketball. It's not the main point of his narrative by any means, but for some (white) kids reading this it might be one of the first times they hear about stuff like that.
I'm planning to booktalk it to 7th/8th grade--I don't think it's going to appeal to every teen but I think there are enough kids who would be excited about it to make it worthwhile. Especially since, you know, there's a POC right there on the cover and I struggle to find enough books to those to make everyone feel represented when I do my school visits.
erine's review
3.0
Make it Messy is about an Ethiopian Swedish chef who lives in the United States. From his early Swedish memories to the hard work he invested in kitchens around the world, the stories here are a actually quite tidy little vignettes, stitched together to tell a larger story. There are missing elements - what happened to his daughter? how did he meet his wife who is pictured in the inset? how did the meeting between his birth father and adoptive mother go? but the story that's here is engaging and worth reading.
rachelyrun's review
3.0
I was not familiar with Chef Marcus before finding his bio on the YA shelf of my local library. I was drawn to his title, because I too have a messy life. However, I found there was real discontinuity between the title and what lay between the covers. The narrative glossed over the messy bits and tidied everything up into a pat ending by the last page. While Chef Marcus' cooking sounds like an exotic explosion of flavors, this telling of his story felt over-processed and bland.
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