Book review: The Art of Baking Blind

2,5 stars for The art of baking blind by Sarah Vaughan.

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There are many reasons to bake: to feed; to create; to impress; to nourish; to define ourselves; and, sometimes, it has to be said, to perfect. But often we bake to fill a hunger that would be better filled by a simple gesture from a dear one. We bake to love and be loved.  

In 1966, Kathleen Eaden, cookbook writer and wife of a supermarket magnate, published The Art of Baking, her guide to nurturing a family by creating the most exquisite pastries, biscuits and cakes. Now, five amateur bakers are competing to become the New Mrs. Eaden. There's Jenny, facing an empty nest now that her family has flown; Claire, who has sacrificed her dreams for her daughter; Mike, trying to parent his two kids after his wife's death; Vicki, who has dropped everything to be at home with her baby boy; and Karen, perfect Karen, who knows what it's like to have nothing and is determined her facade shouldn't slip. 

As unlikely alliances are forged and secrets rise to the surface, making the choicest pastry seems the least of the contestants' problems. For they will learn--as as Mrs. Eaden did before them--that while perfection is possible in the kitchen, it's very much harder in life. 

Source: Goodreads 

I was kindly given a copy through Netgalley, with many thanks to the publisher.

This is my honest opinion.

I so wanted to like this book. A story about people who are baking and is filled with beautiful descriptions of baked goods, what's not to like?! But after my initial excitement it fell kind of flat.

The search for the new Mrs. (or Mr.) Eaden is on. Kathleen Eaden, baking guru, perfect role model, and author of 'The Art of Baking' has passed away and the brand is searching for her successor.

The contest finds 5 suitable bakers: Jenny, Claire, Karen, Vicki and Mike.

For the months to come these contestants bake to their heart's desire and practice as if their life depended on it. For each of them this competition has a different meaning; for some it would mean a better future for their family, for others it'd be an escape out of a loveless marriage. No matter how different their reasons might be, they all have two things in common: they love to bake and are looking for some validation. We get to follow the competitors not only in their baking journey, but also get an insight in their lives, which are all slightly flawed.

At the same time we read the story of Kathleen Eaden and how she came about writing the book our bakers use as their bible. Together with Kathleen our bakers find that - to quote the book - while perfection might be possible in baking, in life it is impossible.

So, if it has everything a great story need, then why wasn't I swept off my feet?

When you have 6 different characters to introduce and stories to tell, it needs to be clear to the reader who they're reading about. This was a struggle for the first part of the book. The first chapters of the book constantly switch between characters, so whenever I felt able to create an image of this character it got cut off abruptly, only to come face to face with a new person to get to know.

It happened a few times that I had to check back who was who in those beginning stages of the book, never feeling like I'd had the proper chance to get acquainted with each character before they were all put together in a room. It made it hard to keep up and fully focus on the story at hand.

When you have 5 (or 6) different characters, all with a different upbringing and lifestyle, you'd expect some more variety in personalities but all of them seemed to be in the same spectrum. Even the boldest of characters was incredibly passive aggressive, no matter what it was that got thrown at them. I think, for me, that might have been the main problem with this story for me personally: it was quite passive aggressive.

I can't quite put my finger on the reason for this but it just never seemed to pick up, remaining flat and only with a hint of gumption. The story just read very slow at times and was not 'seasoned' enough for my personal taste.

I did like the way that we got to know mouthfuls of each character, making you want more information every single time. I personally loved the story of Kathleen Eaden the most, it was the most heartfelt and passionate one of all of them. It was Kathleen Eaden and her Art of Baking that held this book together for me. And oh, how I wish The Art of Baking existed for real, I would be buying it immediately! The delicious way it described the nicest of pastries/puddings/pies and the passionate way that it talked about baking really warmed my heart, but a book can't stand on oven-baked goods alone, sadly enough.

Even though all the ingredients were there, the story didn't fully rise.