Comfort Food

by Kate Jacobs

Book Overview

In this smart, delicious novel by the bestselling author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, a celebrity chef shows her friends and family the joy of fulfillment--and manages to spice up her own life at the same time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399154655
• ISBN13: 9780399154652
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Ate it up!

I can't ask for much more. Friendships, relationships between mothers and daughters, a bit of romance and drama, plus cooking? Gus, a fifty-year-old mother of two, has her own show, which is done in her house. She has had this show 12 years. However, she isn't like other chefs and the ratings are drizzling out. So Alan, the boss, adds a little spice, Carmen. Carmen likes to cook but likes herself and fame more. We also have a whole other cast, that make up for a very interesting book that you will want to gobble in one setting. Find out if Carmen and Gus can co-exist together on a show. Find out if the show will end or if they will have a second season. Find out who finds love but most of all you will be thrilled and entertained throughout the whole book.

A delicious examination of relationships, aging, and the power of food

Kate Jacobs's debut novel, THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, was a word-of-mouth bestseller, catching on not only among avid knitters but also among fans of women's literature in general. It's now even set to become a feature film starring Julia Roberts, which will release sometime in 2009. With her second novel, COMFORT FOOD, Jacobs again delves into the lives and loves of a group of interconnected friends and family. This time, however, the ending is decidedly less weepy and more, well, comforting. Augusta (Gus) Simpson is a familiar face to millions of Americans. She's the star of the longest-running series on the Cooking Channel, "Cooking with Gusto," and her face adorns not only countless television sets but also her own line of cookware and other household products. But as Gus's fabulous lifestyle (her TV show is filmed out of the spacious kitchen in her Westchester manor home) marches on, so does time --- and Gus is staring 50 squarely in the face. Is it possible that this energetic, hot mama has left her youth behind her? It seems that Gus's bosses at the Cooking Channel are asking themselves the same questions. With a roster of new, hip television chefs and a handful of new extreme theme programs designed to appeal to ever-younger viewers, perhaps Gus's show seems a little, well, old. Can Gus and her friends at the network figure out a new format that will preserve it from cancellation? For Gus, the answer to her problems is right under her nose --- at her kitchen table, in fact. When an unexpected cancellation leaves Gus scrambling for show guests, she recruits her friends and family to serve as co-hosts and sous chefs, with humorous, and delicious, results. This accidental pairing of Gus's closest friends and family --- including her twenty-something daughters Sabrina and Aimee, Sabrina's ex-boyfriend Troy, and Gus's painfully reclusive neighbor Hannah --- with aspiring Cooking Channel host (and former Miss Spain) Carmen Vega leads to a new hit show...and plenty of tension. As the guests come together at Gus's table, tempers flare, tensions mount, and there's plenty of time for everyone to discover not only delicious food but also new truths about themselves. At times, COMFORT FOOD can seem like a glimpse into a particularly fractious group therapy session, as sisters bicker with each other (and their mother), as former lovers try to become friends, as jealous co-workers negotiate professional boundaries, and as at least one woman tries to overcome her past mistakes. Jacobs successfully balances these somewhat tiresome exchanges, however, by offering numerous flashbacks into each character's past, providing much-needed character development that can help gain readers' sympathy for these sometimes prickly individuals. Gus herself is a winning character, and readers will be cheering for this mature, lively heroine to achieve both professional and personal success --- which may even include love, an ingredient that's been missing from

LOVED IT!

I am now a true follower of Kate Jacobs! I have just finished Comfort Food and I really believe this one is better than the first! And the Friday Night Knitting Club is #1 on the NYTimes Best Sellers list! I do enjoy cooking and am a cooking show fanatic, so it was only natural that I would love this book. MUST READ!

Gobbled This Up in One Weekend!

I found "Comfort Food" to be funny and engaging, with a well-paced plot and likable characters. I got it in the mail on a Friday and had raced through it by Sunday -- I couldn't put it down!

Even better than Friday Night Knitting Club

I was a HUGE fan of Kate Jacobs first book, Friday Night Knitting Club, so I was a little iffy about whether I wanted to read this book at all. Sometimes the second one is not as good as the first, you know? But I bought it and read it in one afternoon straight. It's actually even better than Friday Night--don't want to spoil that ending so I'll just say that this ending is very different--and the characters are just as much fun. It reminded me alot of my own family and there were some romances that were fun and real and not cliche'd. Kate Jacobs also puts in plenty of yummy descriptions of food and cooking that seriously made me hungry as I read it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who liked her first book or to anyone who just enjoys a great read about food and family and life.