Helpful Score: 3
This was a great read about the compassion of sisters who must come together to create their own family and overcome difficult times now they have escaped revolutionary Iran.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a lovely story of sisters, who have survived terrible things, who open a restaurant in a small Irish town.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a cute story that is almost a little too light for the subject matter. The descriptions of food (including recipes) made me hungry, and I was constantly wanting a cup of tea as I read. Great work of the author to make those sensations so real!
Helpful Score: 1
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran is a tale that melds the flavors of Persian food and memories best left forgotten with a quaint and rainy Irish village. Three sisters move to a small Irish town and open the Babylon Café. Town bully, Thomas McGuire, who owns half the village is not happy about the darkies. They have settled in the building that hes been trying to acquire for years. He wants to open a disco therea boogie-woogie bully with a dream. Despite his best efforts the café begins to gain customers and the girls begin to develop friendships. Majan is the oldest. There is something about her cooking that in some ways revives patrons past dreams and aspirations, and keeps them coming back for more. Bahar is the petite, skittish middle sister, and Layla the beautiful young 15-year-old. As they cook away, they stir up old, sometimes harrowing memories of the Iranian Revolution which they escaped in the late 1970s.
The back stories of the three sisters are intriguing. Marsha Mehran brings the townsfolk to life so that you can easily picture each of the different characters. Not only does each chapter begin with a Persian recipe, but her writing is plump with deliciously descriptive sentences. I really liked this book.
I also liked the pomegranate soup, which I made from her recipe in the book. Very tasty! Next up, the elephant ears. Give the book and maybe some of recipes a try. Read other reviews at http://readinginthegarden.blogspot.com
The back stories of the three sisters are intriguing. Marsha Mehran brings the townsfolk to life so that you can easily picture each of the different characters. Not only does each chapter begin with a Persian recipe, but her writing is plump with deliciously descriptive sentences. I really liked this book.
I also liked the pomegranate soup, which I made from her recipe in the book. Very tasty! Next up, the elephant ears. Give the book and maybe some of recipes a try. Read other reviews at http://readinginthegarden.blogspot.com
An interesting tale of 3 sisters who escaped Iran just before the revolution, but not without bad memories of the tumult there They open a cafe in a small town in Ireland and face the expected racial tensions. However, they do triumph after many trials, and it was a warm and enjoyable read, with many sumptuous Persian recipes.
