I've loved Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking since I discovered it in high school, but I just don't care for her fiction. (Though I did read that New Yorker story and enjoyed it!) I've read at least three of her novels, over a wide span of years -- I keep thinking, Well, she's so great on the subject of food, maybe I was just too young/chose an off one/etc. -- but I just like them. The characters never seem real to me -- there's an off tone about them; they are oddly two-dimensional (even fake-seeming). I can't _get_ them. And I love New York fiction, especially in the 70s and 80s. But I highly recommend Home Cooking (and More). I don't know why her voice in nonfiction feels so authentic and funny, while her fiction doesn't quite come together.
I think in some ways her food essays have outlasted her fiction, though she continues to have her fans (and I’m one). But I can see what you’re saying about her characters…. I did love that last New Yorker story.
I've loved Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking since I discovered it in high school, but I just don't care for her fiction. (Though I did read that New Yorker story and enjoyed it!) I've read at least three of her novels, over a wide span of years -- I keep thinking, Well, she's so great on the subject of food, maybe I was just too young/chose an off one/etc. -- but I just like them. The characters never seem real to me -- there's an off tone about them; they are oddly two-dimensional (even fake-seeming). I can't _get_ them. And I love New York fiction, especially in the 70s and 80s. But I highly recommend Home Cooking (and More). I don't know why her voice in nonfiction feels so authentic and funny, while her fiction doesn't quite come together.
I think in some ways her food essays have outlasted her fiction, though she continues to have her fans (and I’m one). But I can see what you’re saying about her characters…. I did love that last New Yorker story.
I’ve been rereading her short stories on a plane, with pen in hand to note at least a fraction of her distinctively wry observations.
Distinctively wry observations, yes!
I haven’t read Laurie Colwin but I’m sure I would like her writing!
I think you would! Her novels were funny and sweet (though very much of their time).
AND...I'm halfway through the Rebecca/Meg conversation!
Oh wow, that’s great! I love the fact that neither has an MFA and they’re two of our biggest novelists.