Laurie Colwin (1944–1992)

How do you love an individual who constantly flirts with the potential for death? How do you behave in a relationship or a partnership with someone who has a history of self destructive behavior such as this: breaking his collarbone after being thrown by a horse, snapping his leg after skiing, or gouging his shoulder after rock climbing (more like rock falling)? How does a marriage survive such reckless disregard for staying together? The answer is it really doesn't. But Elizabeth Bax is show more attracted to James Dean. She likes the bad boys.
She knew she had every right to worry when Sam, her daredevil husband of five years, went for "one last" sail before an autumn squall picked up. Sam's brother Patrick was already calling the coast guard knowing full well something bad was about to happen or more likely, already had. It is not a spoiler to tell you Sam died. What follows is an in depth examination of the human heart and how it tries to put itself together after being shattered. Shine On is a short book that asks the question is grief coupled with love a betrayal? show less

It took me about 20 pages to settle into her "voice"... the result of which was, unfortunately, about 20 pages until I decided I did, after all, like the narrator. At first, I thought she was a kind of snarky know-it-all. But once I settled in, I realized she was a self-deprecating, well-experienced, down-to-earth cook from the mid-80s, with a very dry sense of humor. And I quite liked her sense of humor.

At the beginning, Colwin says that she reads cookbooks like novels. This is perhaps why show more she's written this book the way she has... it reads like a sort of series of short stories, anecdotal short stories, but it's also a cookbook. She manages to pull off jumping around from subject to subject, from story to story, and from recipe to recipe, in a way that makes the reader want to read more, know more, eat more, and COOK more!

Some review I read said that this book is like having a telephone conversation with your best friend. I would agree with that. The way Colwin approaches not only her stories, but also the recipes, is familiar, close, intimate.

Overall, this was a lovely book that I intend to re-index (because there already IS a useful index at the end!) for my own purposes so I can use and re-use and hopefully impress dinner parties full of people...

Highly recommended for people who want to cook, who are good at cooking, who are bad at cooking, or who just like food. or who just like to eat. ;) show less

I loved this slim novel that surprised me time and again. The first half is an extended meditation on the character of Sam, as seen by his recently widowed young wife, and on their marriage, and especially, on grief. The second half delves more deeply into Ollie's character as she slowly awakens from that fugue state of mourning, opening again to the world and to love, which at first feels like a betrayal of Sam. She must learn to accept her new realizations of his weaknesses, and to know show more that she will lose him anew as memory fades. The month that she spends at a music retreat is not as strong as the rest of the book, but overall, I was astonished and impressed by Colwin's deft handling of interiority, and her fresh ways of describing characters. I will definitely seek out her other writings. show less

4 Thoroughly enjoyed! but - it had a bit of an old-timey 1940s feel, just in the way the characters talked, but it could just be monied New Yorkers too. (a la Lillian Boxfish) I thought I remember it being set in the 80s?? so it definitely has an anachronistic feel: smoking indoors, a cringe-y womanizer boss (Sven, serial husband and philanderer), skirts and heels at work. In some ways it felt like a Hepburn movie in this regard. There are also some offensive terms used to describe Black show more people by the only Black character in the story - and also one of the best. In some ways it felt like a Hepburn movie in this regard. What I loved about it was that it was reflective rather than active. It pretty much shares the thoughts of Jane Louise (now) Parker and her new husband Teddy as they get used to being married and making that the center of their lives. They are also negotiating some challenging family dynamics with divorced and re-married parents, step siblings, and societal expectations. Jane Louise works for a publisher as a cover artist and loves her job and the people she works with, even creepy Sven. She also loves Teddy and luckily is free to love them both. Another favorite part was her friendship with Edie - they complete each other's sentences and talk about 20 times a day (now it would be texting!) But she is on the cusp of 30 and feels like she and Teddy should start a family, but also is very anxious about that, as well as steady work - the publishing house might get bought out, Teddy is a chemist developing chemical-free pesticides. There is a lot of enjoyment of simple things in life: good friends, good food, beauty, music. And it is very much about identity - who you become when wife and mother get added to your job description. Colwin's prose is a thing of beauty: "Love did not always scatter the barriers of private life. Teddy's thoughts were only party accessible to her. How eccentric people were! How unknowable and amazingly various they were! People suffered, rejoiced, fought wars they never spoke about...they had past love lives and personal histories. They were positively rich with living." (42) While watching a meteor shower together: "This really was some big deal. Above her was the amazingness of outer space and meanwhile, she was a container for the miracle of inner space. The enormity of it made her tremble." (150) A good fit for fans of Marissa de los Santos. show less