Author: Kim Sunée
Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Genre: Non-Fiction Memoir
Series: No
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Books on Tape
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: from goodreads
Already hailed as "brave, emotional, and gorgeously written" by Frances Mayes and "like a piece of dark chocolate--bittersweet, satisfying, and finished all too soon" by Laura Fraser, author of An Italian Affair, this is a unique memoir about the search for identity through love, hunger, and food.
Jim Harrison says, "TRAIL OF CRUMBS reminds me of what heavily costumed and concealed waifs we all are. Kim Sunée tells us so much about the French that I never learned in 25 trips to Paris, but mostly about the terrors and pleasure of that infinite octopus, love. A fine book."
When Kim Sunée was three years old, her mother took her to a marketplace, deposited her on a bench with a fistful of food, and promised she'd be right back. Three days later a policeman took the little girl, clutching what was now only a fistful of crumbs, to a police station and told her that she'd been abandoned by her mother.
Fast-forward almost 20 years and Kim's life is unrecognizable. Adopted by a young New Orleans couple, she spends her youth as one of only two Asian children in her entire community. At the age of 21, she becomes involved with a famous French businessman and suddenly finds herself living in France, mistress over his houses in Provence and Paris, and stepmother to his eight year-old daughter.
Kim takes readers on a lyrical journey from Korea to New Orleans to Paris and Provence, along the way serving forth her favorite recipes. A love story at heart, this memoir is about the search for identity and a book that will appeal to anyone who is passionate about love, food, travel, and the ultimate search for self.
Feelings:
I listened to the audiobook of this. At first I wondered if maybe it would have been better as a print book. At the end of chapters there would be recipes included. They sounded good but listening to it didn't really give me an idea of what the recipes really were like. I, however, originally got the audiobook because I was interested in the story. It took a little while for the story to really take off for me.
By the thrid disc of 11 I was really enjoying the story and was much less interested in the recipes that went with the story. By the time the audiobook finished 12 hours and 42 minutes of driving after I started I was wondering if Kim Sunée would write a follow up memoir, so far she hasn't.
I really liked the audiobook and the story. I think we have all wondered about the past of our childhood that we don't fully remember but not to the extent that Kim does. She is haunted by what she doesn't remember and as the learns to trust others again on her search for a place to call home she looks at many topics that I think will be familiar even if our histories are different.
I highly recommend this book.
