When I read the description for “Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home” by Jessica Fechtor, I immediately knew that I wanted to read it. (Note: read on, but I’m not going to shy away from spoilers in this one.)
“At 28, Jessica Fechtor, a Harvard graduate student and a wife, went for a run and an aneurysm burst in her brain. Jessica’s journey to recovery began once she returned to the pleasures of the kitchen and started to stir.” (Description via NetGalley)
First, I love cooking and love reading about cooking and people’s love for cooking (a little too meta?). This book promised not only a memoir, but also favorite recipes.
Second, as a woman under the age of 40 who suffers from migraines, I’m at the increased risk of a stroke. Learning this has made me endlessly fascinated with brain related issues with women around my age. So hearing about a women under 30 who suffered from a brain aneurysm? I’m intrigued.
What I didn’t realize when I went to read it was how much I would fall in love with the book. Jessica is funny and unabashedly honest about her injury. She takes you through her experience from the fall on the treadmill to the end of her recovery. Sprinkled throughout this book is back stories about her life (including how she met her husband and her college experience). The best part is that within each chapter she mentions a recipe and then at the end of the chapter she talks about what that dish really meant to her, how that ties into her story, and the recipe so you can cook it on your own.
Another thing that I really appreciated is that Jessica didn’t shy away from sharing information about her condition and how she actually felt through each step. She explained the frustration that many people are nervous to share because, yes, they are happy that they survived, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still things about it that are frustrating. You can’t be endlessly thankful all of the time.
One moment around this that really shined through for me was towards then end when she spoke about the golfball size indent left on the side of her head after one of the surgeries. She hated looking at it, but didn’t want to get surgery on it because she didn’t want to seem vain since and did she really want to go under the knife AGAIN for this? She completely lets the reader into her personal struggle which we could all understand and I felt like I breathed a sigh of relief and started nodding my head when she came to the full realization of what was actually stopping her from taking that last step to complete the process.
To sum it up? I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down and I finished it in one day. I’ve also already bookmarked a number of recipes that she included throughout the book and I can’t wait to share them on here soon too.
Stir won’t be available until June 23, 2015, but you can preorder it on Amazon now. You can also check out Jessica’s blog, Sweet Amandine, in the meantime.
All images via Sweet Amandine
Note: I was provided with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
