When the recession of 2008 hit, we were moving from one state to another for a job change. It was hard but we were lucky. Although we lost a lot of money selling our house, financially we were okay and still had a paycheck coming in. Suzan Colòn, a writer and journalist, was laid off from her job, having to rely on sporadic freelancing and her partner's paycheck. This pushed her to be more frugal and thoughtful in her purchases, especially groceries, and Cherries in Winter is her memoir of that time, of looking back at the recipes her family has loved and used in previous lean times and of finding a way to push through and find hope for the future.

Colòn goes through her grandmother's recipes, using them to economize even as she bemoans the loss of the ability to shop in an expensive grocery store and to buy whatever struck her fancy without considering the cost and that cost's impact on her weekly bottom line. Buying whatever she wanted was a sign that she'd moved beyond her family's long history of living paycheck to paycheck and the need to stretch their meals as far as possible. So when she lost that ability, it was hard for her to accept. But as she cooked the economical recipes from her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother, she learned not only how to make it through but also about the strong, resilient women from whom she came. The dishes she recreates, some not entirely faithfully, come with family stories attached and there is wisdom imparted along with the stories and food. She weaves tales from her own life and from the women who came before her into the almost diary like narrative. It is possible to see Colon's magazine background in the spare, straightforward writing. Each chapter is started with a recipe or a snippet from her grandmother's column that leads her down memory lane as well as into her current situation. She is undoubtedly privileged and far from destitute, which will make her unhappiness with her situation tough for some to stomach (a little pun to lighten the mood), but she's honest about the difficulty she faces and the reason why it takes such an emotional toll on her. This is a very quick read. The family stories are heartfelt and illustrative; it was nice to see Colòn realize what is most important in her life, and it's surely not where she can afford to buy her groceries. ( )

A short little read about not just nourishing your body (recipes included) during uncertain economic times, but about nourishing your soul. It's a good reminder that there are many kinds of poverty and poverty of the spirit is the worst kind. The author's grandparents and mother knew how to make do with less and do it with resilience, high spirits and optimism. Their stories were definitely the high point of the book.

Harder to relate to were Suzan's "hardships". Stories of how she lost her 6 figure income and had to forego shopping trips to Whole Foods, eating lunch out every day of the week, $600 coats, $250 shoes, $300 haircuts, ultra expensive face creams, massages, etc were difficult to relate to. Perhaps some of those details should have been left out of the book. They seemed frivolous and trite compared to the plight of her ancestors and the plight of many Americans. Even so they were a very small part of the story and didn't detract from the basic message of hope and what really matters in life.



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A memoir that isn't all about the author and her navel-gazing: instead it's a charming conceit that wraps around three generations of women and some lovely recipes. A quick read, not so much because it's easy to read (it is! Suzan Colon is a wonderful writer!) but because you won't want to put it down. ( )

Colon's memoir is a heartening account of a suddenly unemployed writer who draws inspiration to batten down the hatches in hard times from old family recipes. Colon intersperses her memories with anecdotes from her mother, and family histories of her grandmother, who learned to save pennies during the Great Depression. The different women do blur together (two of Colon's relatives are confusingly named Matilda and Matilde) but this is, overall, a light, encouraging read about working with what you've got.

Suzan Colon lost her job as a magazine writer. Although her husband is employed and has benefits, she must still watch her pennies. She turns to economizing, rediscovering her grandmother's recipes. She includes moments in her family's story from three generations. Unfortunately the narrative did not flow well and was full of poorly constructed sentences and incomplete sentences. What should have been an enjoyable read for me turned out to be a chore. The best part of the book were the copies of the handwritten or typed recipes. ( )