I really enjoyed about 3/4 of Group Living and Other Recipes when she was talking about herself and her own family but it lost me a bit when she started talking about other people she knew. That was very rambling and full of philosophy I didn’t think she explained very well. The book was a bit of a mishmash of chronological memoir and essays which I don’t think flowed. I would have enjoyed a little more in-depth about some of the people she mentioned or more talk about herself. She tried to make the book both and I don’t think was always successful.

The asides of how successful and at times famous many of the people who drifted in and out of her family’s life were we were some of the most interesting parts. I think it’s easy to dismiss communal living as really fringe but her mother and some others were very successful professionals in “straight” society in everything from manufacturing to television.

I normally enjoy a memoir with recipes but I didn’t feel like they fit in with the text. The book didn’t have a ton of food content beyond them besides the fact that when living with many people, you end up doing a lot of cooking.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.