Book Review: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

I’m one of those people who loves everything about food–buying it, cooking it, eating it, watching shows about it, and, yes, of course, books about it. Add in a dose of self-growth and discovery while traveling in a foreign country and I get extra excited.

So The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School covered all of my favorite things and did not disappoint. Kathleen deftly weaves the joys and struggles of learning to cook at one of the most prestigious culinary institutes in the world (probably THE most prestigious) with her life in France, how she got there, the people she meets along the way, a new romance, and, of course–the food. Her descriptions of the food and techniques she sees, tastes, and tries to emulate is almost sensuous, but without trying to hard (a bad habit some food writers have).

I listed to the audiobook and have to add that the narrator contributes greatly to the beauty–her voice is easy to listen to and there is variety to her cadence and tone without being overly-dramatic, she speaks the French phrases easily without sounding pretentious and I even enjoyed listening to her read the recipes! (Though I am excited to see a PDF of the recipes available.)

When I find myself coming up with excuses to listen to an audiobook and choosing it over other entertainment options, I know it’s a good one. Merci, chef, for a delicious adventure.