Corked: A Memoir

Corked was nothing at all like I was expecting it to be, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Both the author and her father are simultaneously hilarious and rather self-absorbed, and the way they play off each other during their two week trip through the wine regions of France is somewhat maddening and ultimately heartwarming. The book is rife with the author's existential angst, but it is wisely mixed with plenty of humor, not to mention the many wonderful images, scents and flavors of the glorious wines and wine-making feats of France.

Philippe Borel, Kathryn's father, reminded me only too much of my own pater familias, though mine was Irish, not French. There's a good chance I would have had fantasies of patricide after two weeks show more in a car with my own father, too.

I have to say that Corked is not a book for everyone, and if you pick it up thinking it is simply a 'wine book' then you will most likely end up running away screaming. But, if you'd be satisfied to learn quite a bit about the wines of France while being given a glimpse of a stormy but loving relationship between a father and daughter, then give it a shot. show less

This meandering memoir covered a father-daughter wine-tasting trip trip through France, but the location was the only appealing element of the book. Both the narraor and her fathercame across as selfish, self-involved, and immature. Between his tantrums, her childish sulks, and both of their inability to communicate like adults, the book was actually painful in places to read. The book seems to have no general purpose- no grand revelations or useful life messages or interesting stories emerge that would make spending time with these self-indulgent people worthwhile. I gave it 2 stars only for the bits of interesting wine trivia that popped up on occasion.

Kathryn Borel is her own worst enemy. In wanting to be a cliche that doesn't exist (the bonding father-daughter road-trip that will be so life-changing, everyone will be moved by the story), she becomes an even worse cliche (the self-involved traveler so bent on having a life-altering experience that the weight of expectation can't help but ruin the trip from the start). At the onset, one must give her credit for laying bare so much of her current tragedy - a failure to connect with her father, the messy breakup of a long-term relationship and her hand in vehicular homicide. At the onset. Because as the book drags one gets the distinct feeling that all of these things are merely new and exciting ways to be involved in the ever-expanding show more Drama of Kathryn. And while self-involvement is perhaps her best coping mechanism at the moment, it doesn't make for a fun road-trip. show less

At first I was excited about getting this book because I thought it had a lot in common with other books I enjoy reading - road trip, food oriented, memoirs, etc. Unfortunately as I read it, I found I didn't like it much at all. I found the author/narrator to be juvenile, narcissistic, and unlikeable. Ostensibly she goes with her father on this road trip to better understand him because she fears his mortality. In reality, what she seems to want is to make sure he listens to her and understands how he has failed her.

The father is also not particularly likeable, even though he is supposed to be charming. Late in the book, he reveals a significant event in his life. It would have been more interesting to hear more about this or even how show more it effected him more than the brief accounting we get. Perhaps the book would have been more interesting as a biography of the father rather than the memoir of the daughter.

One assumes that because it's a memoir, events took place in the order they happened, so perhaps this is a true recollection of the trip. However, it was neither particularly funny or particularly enlightening. If I had gotten this book from the library, I doubt I would have finished it. show less

I've been marinating over this one for awhile. Truth is I just had mixed emotions about it. There were times I loved it, laughed out loud, shook my head yeah, and even highlighted certain lines in the book. When making hollandaise, she says she put a stick of butter in her back pocket, walked around until it softened then whisked up her sauce. I'm still thinking about that one, for some reason it stuck with me. I'll think of it everytime I soften butter for a recipe. I think this is the epitome of why I feel so conflicted about this memoir, she thinks in a quirky, dry, but witty way, yet in a way that I totally don't think. This is not bad, it's just different. I really at times thought her writing was genius, and then a few lines later show more somehow I was taken back a bit. I think its a French thing. Whenever I watch a French film, even though the story is great and I enjoy it there is an underlayment of despair and gloom, and I found that here. This book was emotional, angry, funny, depressed, intelligent, charming, frustrating, and haunting. All words that I think describe who the author is, it almost seems to me, a person, dare I say that is conflicted, so I the reader find myself feeling the same way about this memoir. show less

I liked this book. Sure, there are unlikeable moments, and some unpleasantness, but that's life, right?

This memoir of Kathryn and her father doing a wine tour around France (where he is from) is actually quite wonderful. As they travel through the country, stopping at wineries and hotels, getting into arguments and having heart-to-heart moments, pitching fits and laughing it up, they get to know each other very well. And like so many things in adult life, the more you think you know, the more you realize how wrong you are. "Corked" is cute, funny, sad, touching, with a realistic parent/child relationship...what more can you want from a memoir?

Kathryn has a wonderfully quirky writing style, with unusual and spot-on ways to describe show more things. I really like this book, and I hope Ms. Borel will write another book in the near future. show less

Not exactly your typical father-daughter memoir. The pair travel through the father's native France on an extensive wine tour. The father is an expert, the daughter/author, Kathryn, feels like a failure in her father's esteem. But the wine trip is just the vehicle for a daughter who needs her father and fears his mortality (after a surprising, disturbing revelation of something Kathryn did), and worries about their lack of a real connection. She's not that concerned about the wine. A wine lover might be annoyed by the level of wine discussion and knowledge shared, but I'm not a wine lover. I appreciated the interesting unfolding of the important relationship - that between daughter and father, not between father and wine, daughter and show more wine, and father, daughter and wine. I'd share this with a fellow lover of the memoir genre. show less