Garlic and Sapphires

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

By Ruth Reichl

352 pages

11 hours and 1 minute listening time

Grade C

Ok. First thing first. As much as I enjoyed this book, it could have been 4 or 5 hours shorter. It was a cute book, and I really liked hearing about her adventures in New York reviewing food and all, but holy crap, it was a LONG book. And she ate. A LOT. I found myself STARVING during the whole book, and where she was eating roast duck in saffron sauce with roasted garlic potatoes, three different fancy wines, and a dessert of vine ripened raspberries drizzled over cheese cake made famous by the city in which it was named after, I, was eating left over baked ziti with store bought sauce and an apple.

I really liked how she would disguise herself too in order to not be treated as a VIP. She wanted to see how she would be treated as a normal, regular person. The difference between going as herself and going in disguise was like black and white. It is sad to think that us normal people are being treated sub par when VIPs are treated so much better.

I think the author learned a lot about herself in her journey. I think that she did good in her job, but I could totally tell in the story when she lost her way and lost what she loved.

It was a good book, but again, I got really bored with it, and I hated that nothing I ate satisfied me.