I read The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School a couple of years ago…so while I’m a little rusty in terms of reviewing it, I feel it’s fully deserving of a blog entry. First of all, I should clarify, I didn’t read it, I listened to it. The audio version of Kathleen Flinn’s book caught my eye at a bookstore as I was on the eve of a new job that I wasn’t looking forward to starting. The book looked inspirational, so I splurged and bought it.
I was so glad I did. First of all, the story was read by Cassandra Campbell who did a wonderful job of reading the story with appropriate emotion, but without exaggerating voices and emotions as some audio book readers are wont to do. There was something calming and rhythmic about the way that she read the cooking scenes in particular – her descriptions of chopping, slicing, and dicing were downright calming on my commute.
Moreover, the book itself has a perfect balance that many foodie memoirs lack. Flinn found the right balance of sharing details of her personal life without giving too much intimate information, while still making this a true foodie book.
After getting laid off from a successful job in London, Flinn decided to pursue her dream of going to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. She had always dreamed of going to Paris and of attending culinary school, and the way in which she pursued it is truly inspiring. Her path is not always an easy one – not every recipe is successful, but it makes it all the more rewarding when she does master a tecnnique, a sauce, or a dough. She has a charming way of telling a story, and I was delighted to discover her blog and website while working on this entry – she is equally candid online and her posts remind me why I respect her as a foodie and writer. Best of all, it seems like there are more Flinn books in the works!
