James Villas (1938–2018)

James Villas has written over a dozen cookbooks and books about food, as well as writing in Town & Country, Bon Appétit, Gourmet and Esquire. With such credentials, what in the world possessed him to write this dud? Although he’s a southerner, this book comes across as if written by someone who reviles the south. He didn’t miss a cliché.

From country music (did he choose to name certain ones because they sound funny to him? - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dwight Yoakam) and songs (Jesus Take show more the Wheel, Mama, Get the Hammer) to church hymns (by name).

From food that southerners cook - collards, okra and jalapeno cornbread, and snacks like Cheese-Its,

From roller derby, watching Paula Deen on tv, NASCAR, line dancing, to Dixie Stampede.

I found the tone of this book denigrating. show less

I wanted to like this book, I really did. Instead, I found it to be quite offensive.

Loretta Crawford has lost significant weight after a gastric bypass. Life remains a struggle, as she ties to get her catering business off the ground and navigate the dating scene as a thinner woman. Loretta has a terrible self-image, and discovers that life as a thinner woman is not as easy as she expected.

The main problem with this book was the characters. They were at best unlikable, at worst offensive. show more The worst of the lot is Loretta, who expresses tremendous hatred of fat people. She is constantly criticizing overweight people, including her friends and family. Loretta genuinely believes that fat people do not deserve happiness, and she thinks that her overweight friends and family are disgusting, a sentiment she repeats ad nauseum. She expresses anger and disbelief when good things happen to her fat friends. Loretta Crawford is certainly not someone I would want to be my friend. Hatred of fat women seems to be coursing through this book. The male character who prefers to date fat women is repeatedly described as "a pervert," and treated much more harshly than the male characters who commit rape.

This book also employs a strange dialect. I've lived in the south. I'm used to heavy accents. I've never heard anything like this. Loretta calls everyone "Bub," "Buster," or "Buckaroo." I have no idea what the intention was, but I have yet to hear a Texan speak lie this.

I honestly cannot recommend this book. show less

I was interested to read this book for several reason. I like books that purport to be "southern" and this one's blurb talked about southern cooking. I love to cook, and often like the books that tell stories involving food, and cooking (which I almost typed as "fooking", but that's something entirely different.) James Villas is a renowned food writer and cook book author, so at least that aspect of the book promised to be hopeful. I like stories about people who transform themselves, not show more necessarily physically, but emotionally and mentally, and this book hinted at that. So, when I was sent the book via the wonderful LibraryThing Early Reviewers from Kensington Publishing, I was pleased.

I think I expected something simpler than Villas actually served up. This is the story of Loretta Crawford, and her life after her gastric banding. When the book starts, Loretta's 280 lbs, surgery, recovery, and marriage are already at least 130 pounds in the past. She is determined to lose more weight, reshape her life and find elusive love and happiness. Loretta's misadventures with various men who come into her life, with her somewhat hapless family, her friends and even her seemingly masochistic wish to become a caterer are what fill the pages of the book. (There are recipes at the back.)

While there are some fine moments in the book, I was put off by a few things. First of all, I kept wondering what Loretta's reasons were for the surgery. Not that I question having it, but her motivation wasn't clear: Humiliation because her man left her? Disgust at her size and inabilities to do simple activities? To improve her health? To start a new life? To attract another man? I just wasn't sure. While I think that those who choose to have any type of gastric surgery, be it a gastroplasty or a banding etc, have tremendous courage, I would hope that motivation might be more than getting a date or sex partner. But I suppose whatever motivates is a good thing. For someone who was once so large, Loretta seemed really hypercritical of other large people. But I guess that's pretty common among converts to anything. Your way is best, and those who don't see so are somewhat benighted. Loretta's love life also was a little quirky. (At one point, I got confused -- the author uses the euphemism of "lighting his firecracker" for hanky panky, and Loretta calls a woman a fireplug -- I had to re-read the sentence to make sure the woman wasn't a transsexual.)

But perhaps the biggest thing that bothered me was the use of Texan as Southern. Maybe I'm more of a Steel Magnolias kind of person when it comes to Southern and Southern cooking, but Texas, though southern, is a whole different kettle of grits than the deep south. Kind of like milk chocolate and dark chocolate are both the same thing, but are really quite different.

All in all, I'm glad I read the book. Loretta's a good cook, for sure, and I think basically a good person. Given all the family secrets and stories that emerge and the back history, it's easy to see why the book is titled Hungry for Happiness. I came away feeling that Loretta was a survivor and would find just the right recipe to make her life complete. show less

I loved the beginning of this book, and liked at least half of it very much. Villas' staunch defense of okra, fruitcake and canned tuna made me grin. He's a good writer, and a funny one. The book began to pale, for me, when he ventured out of his ancestral foodways and into restaurant criticism touched with some what felt to me like gratuitous sneering at the less fortunate who can't jet off to the France for the latest wine.