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A review by akmarge13
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
3.0
***3.5 stars*** I'm having a difficult time pinpointing why this book was "only okay" for me. It's a lovely, sweet story about the author's journey through grief and healing after her husband, Saro, passes away. The author, Tembi Locke, writes about the three summers after her husband's death when she and her daughter traveled to her husband's home town in Sicily. Tembi and Saro's love story is so beautiful, and the relationship that Tembi strengthens with her Sicilian mother-in-law after Saro's passing is heartwarming. I'm currently learning to speak Italian, so I loved the Italian setting and the Italian language generously sprinkled throughout.
I think I really would have liked this better if it were the same story but with fictional characters. As I review more books and get better at consciously recognizing what I do and don't like in a book, I'm realizing that my connection to the characters in a book is very important to me. I never really felt a strong connection with the author in this memoir; while her story was a deeply personal one, she still seemed guarded, like she was holding some deeper truth or emotion back. I realize it's extremely difficult to make yourself truly vulnerable about one of the hardest times of your life, which is why I think this would make a great fiction novel. It's easier to make a fictional character vulnerable than to display your own true vulnerability for the world.
I think I really would have liked this better if it were the same story but with fictional characters. As I review more books and get better at consciously recognizing what I do and don't like in a book, I'm realizing that my connection to the characters in a book is very important to me. I never really felt a strong connection with the author in this memoir; while her story was a deeply personal one, she still seemed guarded, like she was holding some deeper truth or emotion back. I realize it's extremely difficult to make yourself truly vulnerable about one of the hardest times of your life, which is why I think this would make a great fiction novel. It's easier to make a fictional character vulnerable than to display your own true vulnerability for the world.