Kelly's Turn

I know I finished this book before everyone else, but I've been slow to put things together. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I liked all the different people's stories put together and I have to admit I never even thought about if it would work this way in real life. I'm an easy one with the willing suspension of disbelief! I'm glad I didn't buy the book, though, as it's not something I would read over and over again. But there were a lot of great descriptions and great thoughts scattered throughout the book! (I skipped a few of the questions - you guys covered them well already!)

1) When Claire first walks into Lillian’s, she reflects: “When was the last time she had been someplace where nobody knew who she was?” Is the anonymity of the kitchen a lure for Lillian’s students?

I remember how I was when I first went into a chat room online. They were still a fairly new thing, and it was wonderful for me. I didn't have any stereotypes - everyone could be a friend - and no one judged me either! I can see that being in a cooking class like this could be very freeing for a mom in Claire's situation. Love these quotes from Claire's story:

“The strangeness of it caught her. It was hard to remember the last time she had gone anywhere without her children or her husband. … How strange, she thought. These people here, they looked at her and thought she was alone, she whose children were with her even in her dreams.”

“After the children were born, it was as if no one could see further than the soft hair, the round cheeks of the babies she carried. She became the frame for the picture that was her son and daughter.”


2) How did you respond to the story of Lillian’s upbringing? Would Lillian have been better off with a more traditional home life, like those of her school friends? Do you agree with Abuelita’s statement that “sometimes our greatest gifts grow from what we’re not given”?

She didn't have it as bad as many children have it, though that doesn't make her situation "easy", by any means. I think we all have to do the best with what we're given, and I think Lillian did! I completely agree with Abuelita's statement!


3) Besides scenes from her childhood, the author discloses very little about Lillian. Why do you think she did this? How would the book be different if we knew more about Lillian’s day-to-day life?

I think the author was more interested in making sure all the "ingredients"/people of her book had time to shine, rather than focusing on the chef preparing the meal. Hope that's not too philosophical an answer! :o)


4) As a general rule, Lillian doesn’t give her students recipes. Why do you think she does this? What are the pros and cons of this approach to cooking?

I don't know why and it would drive me NUTS to cook this way!! I have to admit I don't see any pros!


5) Did Helen do the right thing by telling Carl about her affair? How would their marriage — and Helen and Carl themselves — have evolved had he never learned the truth?

I think honesty is always in order, so yes. If she hadn't shared with him, she might not have left the other guy, and she might have continued to grow more distant from Carl, learned to think less of him for not noticing what was going on. Here's my favorite quotes from their story:

“He sank into the warmth of his child’s fragile body against his shoulder, watched in awe that a baby, still essentially asleep, could keep a death grip on the blanket that meant the world was safe and loving, marveling at the thought that it was he and Helen who gave the feeling to the blanket, and the blanket to the child.”

“Statistics predicted a far greater chance of divorce than automobile accident, death by violence, or the all-too-graphic possibility of “dismemberment” – which was perhaps why insurance companies didn’t sell policies for marital stability.”

“Carl’s older sister didn’t understand (why he stayed with his wife after she had been unfaithful). … ‘How long can you live like this?’ she asked him. ‘We made a promise, a long time ago.’ … ‘She broke the promise, Carl.’ But her tone was gentle. ‘We are keeping as much of it as we can.’ … ‘Marriage is a leap of faith. You are each other’s safety net.’ ‘People change.’ Carl stopped, and let his fingers rest on the counter in front of him. ‘I think that’s what we’re both counting on.’”


7) Although we only see Charlie, Tom’s wife, in flashback, she seems to share Lillian’s love of essential ingredients. What do you make of Charlie’s statement that “We are all just ingredients. What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal”?

Back to the "we make the best we can with what we've got" thought.

“Look at what you did,’ Lillian remarked quietly, standing next to Tom at the counter. ‘They’ll eat it,’ he said, ‘and then it’ll be gone.’ ‘That’s what makes it a gift,’ Lillian replied.”


11) At the end of the novel, Lillian reflects that: “She saw how connected [the students’] lives had become and would remain. Where did a teacher fit in the picture, she wondered, when there was no longer a class?” What do you think happens to Lillian once her class is disbanded? What do you imagine happens in to the other characters’ lives after the book ends?

I like to think that Tom and Lillian get married someday when he's done grieving. I'm a romantic like that!


Last quotes:
“Isabelle had always thought of her mind as a garden, a magical place to play as a child, when the grown-ups were having conversations and she was expected to listen politely – and even, although she hated to admit this, later with Edward, her husband, when listening to the particularities of his carpet salesmanship wore her thin. Every year the garden grew larger, the paths longer and more complicated. Meadows of memories. Of course, her mental garden hadn’t always been well tended. There were the years when the children were young, fast-moving periods when life flew by without time for the roots of deep reflection, and yet she knew memories were created whether one pondered them or not. She had always considered that one of the luxuries of growing older would be the chance to wander through the garden that had grown while she wasn’t looking. She would sit on a bench and let her mind take every path, tend every moment she hadn’t paid attention to, appreciate the juxtaposition of one memory against another. But now that she was older and had time, she found more often than not that she was lost – words, names, her children’s phone numbers arriving and departing from her mind like trains without schedules.”

“I’ve been wondering,’ Isabelle commented reflectively over dessert, ‘if it is foolish to make new memories when you know you are going to lose them.’ … After a while, she spoke again, ‘You know, I am starting to think that maybe memories are like this dessert. I eat it, and it becomes a part of me, whether I remember it later or not.”

“I knew a sculptor,’ Isabelle said, nodding. ‘He always said that if you looked hard enough, you could see where each person carried his soul in his body. It sounds crazy, but when you saw his sculptures, it made sense. I think the same is true with those we love. Our bodies carry the memories of them, in our muscles, in our skin, in our bones. My children are right here.’ She pointed to the inside curve of her elbow. ‘Where I held them when they were babies. Even if there comes a time when I don’t know who they are anymore, I believe I will feel them here.”