Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family

by Patricia Volk | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 0375724990 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Ri of Cincinnati, Ohio USA on 6/29/2009
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Ri from Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Monday, June 29, 2009
From Publishers Weekly
In a restaurant family "[y]ou're never full, you're stuffed," says Volk (White Light). But her delightful memoir is not so much about food as about family "your very own living microcosm of humanity, with its heroes and victims and martyrs and failures, beauties and gamblers, hawks and lovers, cowards and fakes, dreamers, its steamrollers, and the people who quietly get the job done." In a series of vignettes remarkable for their humor and insight, she portrays her father's father, Jacob Volk, who invented the wrecking ball and made a fortune in the demolition business; her mother's father, Herman Morgen, who opened a sandwich shop on Broadway and eventually owned 14 restaurants in New York City; and her mother, grandmothers, aunts and uncles. There's plenty of eccentricity Uncle Al slept with Aunt Lil for 11 years, then didn't want to marry her because she wasn't a virgin; Aunt Ruthie gave a burglar who took her hostage in her Bronx apartment a meal and a lecture. But the real charm of the book is in Volk's evocative descriptions of everyday life in a Jewish family in New York. She works magic with such mundane subjects as a visit to Uncle Al the endodontist, dieting, the housekeeper's cleaning habits, her parents' decision to be cremated. A short description of a sleepover at her grandparents' house speaks pages about Herman Morgen and his wife, Polly; Aunt Ruthie's speech patterns are immortalized in a few choice sentences; a disquisition on handkerchiefs and "hankie behavior" is a small masterpiece. This bighearted book will make readers want to look at their own families with fresh eyes.

Journal Entry 2 by Ri at Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Wednesday, February 2, 2011
I quite enjoyed reading about Patricia Volk's offbeat family. She seemed to have more than her share of quirky characters at family functions! I like how she discovered so much about her ancestors, weaving the theme of food throughout. She is a fantastic storyteller who I am sure would be able to create a compelling story out of the most ordinary of circumstances. Great read!

This copy is off to nimrodiel who requested it in the Yummy Yummy VBB.

Journal Entry 3 by wingnimrodielwing at Evanston, Illinois USA on Monday, November 14, 2011
This was no what I expected it to be. I really enjoyed this look into the history of the family that founded and ran a landmark Net York eatery.

Journal Entry 4 by dancing-dog at Cordova, Tennessee USA on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Sounds good - thanks!

Journal Entry 5 by dancing-dog at Cordova, Tennessee USA on Thursday, January 17, 2013
This was a lovely book about family. A family in the food business who love food and each other. Each chapter was about a different family member and the food associated with them. By the end of the book, I loved this big, quirkly, extended family (which included some people not even related to them) and wish I could have gone to their restaurant Morgen's before it closed.

My favorite quote from the book: "Family is what we first know of the world. Family is the world, your very own microcosm of humanity..."

Journal Entry 6 by dancing-dog at Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee USA on Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (4/6/2015 UTC) at Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee USA

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