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Q&A | May 1, 2012

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Describe your new book: This book is the story of my life — the ups, the downs, and the music. If someone were to write your biography, what... Continue »
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3 Beaverton Cooking and Food- Gastronomic Literature

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The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School

by Kathleen Flinn

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School Cover

ISBN13: 9780670018222
ISBN10: 0670018228
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A delightful true story of food, Paris, and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream

In 2003, Kathleen Flinn, a thirty-six-year-old American living and working in London, returned from vacation to find that her corporate job had been eliminated. Ignoring her mothe‛s advice that she get another job immediately or“never get hired anywhere ever again” Flinn instead cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue a dream—a diploma from the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry is the touching and remarkably funny account of Flin‛s transformation as she moves through the schoo‛s intense program and falls deeply in love along the way. Flinn interweaves more than two dozen recipes with a unique look inside Le Cordon Bleu amid battles with demanding chefs, competitive classmates, and her“wretchedly inadequat” French. Flinn offers a vibrant portrait of Paris, one in which the sights and sounds of the cit‛s street markets and purveyors come alive in rich detail. The ultimate wish fulfillment book, her story is a true testament to pursuing a dream. Fans of Julie & Julia, Almost French, and Eat, Pray, Love will be amused, inspired, and richly rewarded by this seductive tale of romance, Paris, and French food.

Review:

"'When the author, an American journalist and software executive working in London, is sacked from her high-powered job, she enrolls as a student at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris. With limited cooking skills and grasp of the French language, she gamely attempts to master the school's challenging curriculum of traditional French cuisine. As if she didn't have enough on her plate eviscerating fish and knocking out pt choux, she determines to write a book about her experience and gets married along the way. The result is a readable if sentimental chronicle of that year in Paris in which her love life is explored in great detail, dirty weekends and all, and cooking features as a metaphor for self-discovery. Some readers may feel disappointed that the narrator's encounters with French cookery remain largely confined to her lessons at the Cordon Bleu. On those rare occasions when she ventures into the food-obsessed city, the descriptions of meals are glancing at best. Although her struggles with the language and lack of knowledge about the culture lend comic elements to the story (once, trying to order a pizza over the phone, she said, 'Je suis une pizza' — I am a pizza), they, too, constrain the author's culinary explorations. (Oct.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"The book is best when [Flinn] sticks to cooking, France's culinary history, diverse regional traditions and the challenges of meeting the impeccable standards of Le Cordon Bleu's demanding chefs. A fascinating look inside a famed elite institution." Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

In 2003, Flinn, a 36-year-old American living and working in London, cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue a dream diploma from the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. The ultimate wish fulfillment book, her story is a true testament to pursuing a dream.
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About the Author

Kathleen Flinn has been a writer and journalist for nearly twenty years. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and many other publications.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
PdxStella, September 3, 2011 (view all comments by PdxStella)
I enjoyed it - but the narrative fell off toward the end, and somehow I still felt hungry at the end for some sort of finale.
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jwpoole, August 30, 2008 (view all comments by jwpoole)
I love books about cooking. I really love books that include recipes. This book has both the story and the food. This is an account of a women's dream to go to the world famous Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to study cooking. It is sometimes very funny some times sad. An excellent behind the scenes look at what happens and what it takes to get through this program. And all this happens far from the author's home in the US. A wonderful and entertaining story of one persons courage and determination to follow their dream. It will entertain and inspire you.
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annagrayscott, July 16, 2007 (view all comments by annagrayscott)
A friend in the book world gave me an advance copy of this book as I?m going to culinary school this fall after a 12-year career in real estate. This is a terrifically entertaining account of an experience most people can only dream about -- attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. The behind-the-kitchen door account of life at the school is fascinating, but, her story goes beyond that, as she figures out who she is and what she wants from life. I really identified her.

Like Elizabeth Gilbert in ?Eat, Pray, Love? this author has enormous wit, and is not afraid of humor at her own expense, whether its dealing with kitchen fumbles or the trouble caused by her own (initially) poor French. There are many touching, emotional passages as well, such as when she talks about her sister, who never had the chance to live her dream of attending the Sorbonne due to a tragic family illness. The story follows her lessons at school as she weaves cooking tips, chef tricks and culinary history that teach as you read, and layers that on top of messages about love and life. All in all, it?s just a wonderful book, and is so fast-paced that before I knew it, I?d read it in two days.

Each chapter has a recipe a la ?Like Water for Chocolate?. In a way, this reminded me of that that book with its connections between love and cooking, although I can see other, more obvious comparisons to ?Under the Tuscan Sun? or ?Making of a Chef?.

I think a lot of women will identify with this story, whether they cook or not.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780670018222
Subtitle:
A Love Story (with Recipes)
Author:
Flinn, Kathleen
Author:
Weiss, Luisa
Publisher:
Viking Adult
Subject:
Methods - General
Subject:
Personal Memoirs
Subject:
Cookery
Subject:
France
Subject:
Cooking
Subject:
Women
Subject:
Cordon bleu (School: Paris, France)
Subject:
Flinn, Kathleen - Knowledge and learning
Copyright:
2007
Edition Description:
B-Hardcover
Publication Date:
20120913
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
320
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in 1 lb
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Related Subjects

Cooking and Food » Food Writing » Gastronomic Literature
Cooking and Food » Food Writing » General

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.95 In Stock
Product details 320 pages Viking Books - English 9780670018222 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "'When the author, an American journalist and software executive working in London, is sacked from her high-powered job, she enrolls as a student at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris. With limited cooking skills and grasp of the French language, she gamely attempts to master the school's challenging curriculum of traditional French cuisine. As if she didn't have enough on her plate eviscerating fish and knocking out pt choux, she determines to write a book about her experience and gets married along the way. The result is a readable if sentimental chronicle of that year in Paris in which her love life is explored in great detail, dirty weekends and all, and cooking features as a metaphor for self-discovery. Some readers may feel disappointed that the narrator's encounters with French cookery remain largely confined to her lessons at the Cordon Bleu. On those rare occasions when she ventures into the food-obsessed city, the descriptions of meals are glancing at best. Although her struggles with the language and lack of knowledge about the culture lend comic elements to the story (once, trying to order a pizza over the phone, she said, 'Je suis une pizza' — I am a pizza), they, too, constrain the author's culinary explorations. (Oct.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "The book is best when [Flinn] sticks to cooking, France's culinary history, diverse regional traditions and the challenges of meeting the impeccable standards of Le Cordon Bleu's demanding chefs. A fascinating look inside a famed elite institution."
"Synopsis" by , In 2003, Flinn, a 36-year-old American living and working in London, cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue a dream diploma from the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. The ultimate wish fulfillment book, her story is a true testament to pursuing a dream.
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