Crescent Dragonwagon

If The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar had a literary baby, it would be Crescent Dragonwagon's (yes, that's her real name) The Year It Rained. Having been admitted to (and banned from) various psychiatric hospitals and boarding schools, 17-year-old Elizabeth Stein is not sure where she belongs. Her parents are on the brink of divorce, she hates the "special" school she attends, and her best friend is far away, mentally as well as physically. Like Holden Caulfied and Esther Greenwood, show more Elizabeth, fresh from a hospitalization following a suicide attempt, is weary, troubled, aloof and jaded; she can't figure out the adults that populate her life, not her successful and overbearing mother, or her distant alcoholic father, and certainly not from the various psychiatrists and therapists she's sees for her mental distress. It's not until she tries "vitamin therapy" does she begin to recover.

This is not a book with a lot of action; more pointedly, it's a rich tapestry of complex characters living their lives as best they know how. Elizabeth has a distinct voice: introspective, intelligent, darkly funny, self-deprecating and ultimately hopeful, in spite of the challenges she faces. This is definitely not a "feel good" book, but it is so well written you can't help but be drawn into the various lives that are interconnected like a spider's web. It's an engrossing read. show less

This book is a 4.5 from me. More than a listing of recipes, Crescent Dragonwagon's writing style is conversational, personal, educational and informative. I've seen the strangest commentary from people who seem bewildered that a cookbook with the theme of beans included recipes for fresh string beans, that a vegetarian cookbook author's book about *beans* did not include more meat ("yet another vegetarian cookbook," he complains even though several of the *bean recipes* do include show more instructions for including meat), or that the recipes are "bland" despite including chile peppers, vinegars, handfuls of fresh herbs, and a number of condiments and sauces (harissa, chipotles in adobo sauce, mustard pickle) as ingredients.

This book was exactly what I was looking for in a bean-themed cookbook. show less

A dark-haired, rosy-cheeked child asks an adult (her mother?) "Will it be okay?" "Yes, it will." "But what if..." Each scenario the child presents is met with gentle, honest reassurance. Even the big question - "But what if you die?" is answered directly: "My loving doesn't die. It stays with you." Beautiful and necessary.

This book really affected me as a kid, and it felt like a secret treasure -- simultaneously taboo and comforting. About a prematurely physically developed and sexualized girl whose wretched parents kick her out. She hitchhikes around, passing for older so that she can work. At a restaurant job she takes in a young tough-guy kid, falls in love with a coworker, and reclaims herself. Heartwrenching, dark, and hopeful.