Liz HauckCritiques

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/vEMR6j0nu2w

Enjoy!

Our book group read this and had a thoughtful discussion. Almost all of us liked the book, and most would recommend it. Author Liz Hauck describes this as “an accidental memoir, with many beginnings and an unfinished ending.” It was just as the subtitle states: “A story of grief, groceries, showing up – and what we make when we make dinner.”

I appreciated Hauck’s honest approach to not sugarcoat the difficulties of the boys’ lives as she learns of and writes about their past, present, and wonders about their future. Included in “Home Made” is the element of grief. The decision to cook with the residents of the House was a way for Liz to manage her grief following the loss of her father, Charlie. Liz recalls how “for my dad, life was a series of meals. Food was his favorite thing to talk about, and it never felt like small talk.” So her volunteer effort is also a way to honor her dad and keep his memory alive, as he had worked at the House for years.

She explains how she “was just a volunteer who showed up to the House for about a hundred dinners. We’re better-safe-than-sorry people who know that life is not fair and believe that the world is good, two truths that compete with but complement each other, like vinegar and oil. We know that systems fail, but food is revolutionary. When in doubt, we focus on the food.” This optional weekly cooking ritual is a small, low-intensity intervention of sorts in the complicated lives of the residents of the House.

I found myself caring about the boys in the group home. While their stories are sad, I appreciated their ability to look to the future and persevere, and to be realistic with the lives they have. Also Liz wrote the book because Gerry (the co-founder of this residential program) told her she “needed to write about her experience cooking with the boys at the House so people would know that something had happened there.”

And something did happen there. Along with the dinners there is laughter, tears, and as author Michelle Kuo says, “Liz knows that we may not rescue one another – but we can create a shared space where no one is alone.”

When Liz Hauck's father passed away, she wanted to honor him by executing on the idea of having a cooking class for youths in state care. The story had the makings of a feel-good movie, and book.

It is a heart warming book a a tear-jerker, almost. It's inspired me to try a few different things in the kitchen. I kind of wished that there were more recipes. The weekly cooking classes were about more than food. It was about keeping promises and just showing up.

What a wonderful "neighborhood" Liz Hauck creates as she writes about her efforts to volunteer and "cook" with/for young men in a community housing facility where her father worked before he died. Her descriptive ability is incredible---especially when she says it is from her memories. Meal after meal is described in detail, week after week....who actually "helped" cook and how things came together so that food was finally ready to sit down with.....and eat. The relationships are so fluid but how can you not love the young men she describes? I'm in awe with her ability to do this....week after week. It sounded exhausting and mostly the food came from her own pocket....but it didn't seem to matter. The gathering was what was important for this short term but meaningful long term family. She'll never know what really happens to these young men, except, sadly, for Leon. But she explains what volunteering is all about...showing up, doing your part and leaving...again and again and again. Her descriptions at the end of how things could be improved for the vast numbers of young people who are unattached to anything are where things need to start. Hauck is a terrific source for how to begin to change where we are now, step by step...she certainly provided an excellent example with her book.

The author spent three years volunteering one night a week to cook dinner for and with a group home for teenage boys who were wards of the state. Liz Hauck's father had worked as a social worker his entire career and after his death, Liz wanted to do something to honor him so she conceived of this idea to bring groceries and cook for the boys in the home where her father worked.

The boys are not easy - each one carries a burden of broken homes, delinquency, substance abuse, etc. Especially Leon, who was born with some sort of debilitating disease which has caused him to have many surgeries. Sometimes the boys willingly cook, and sometimes they just eat.

This is not a sugar coated presentation of a do-gooder changing the world. Rather, it presents a very real picture of the lives of these young people and the challenges they face and the challenges those that work with them face.

I loved the last line of the book in the acknowledgments: "Reader, thank you, That you have read this far means the world."

Good read.