With
an airy step and dressed in a fiery red dress Rebecca Barry approached the
stage last Sunday afternoon at the Rongovian Embassy—a cozy enclave in the
heart of Trumansburg, New York—wearing a Mona Lisa style smile that was half
for herself and half for the several dozen persons gathered at the bar for the
reading of her latest book, “Recipes for
a Beautiful Life.”
She
speaks as she writes, in flowing streams of self-criticism, humor, truth and
the comings and goings of the everyday life of a mother who is also a
critically acclaimed author (a previous book, “Later at the bar,” received
mention as a New York Times notable book and was also a best seller).
The
Times is right on when on the back cover of “Recipes”
it says that her characters are “so smart, hilarious, and real that one
can’t help being utterly seduced by them and what their lives teach us.” The
characters are the real life persons that inhabit Rebecca’s world.
Before
reading chapters from her book, persons of all ages enjoyed exotic drinks,
specialties of the Rongovian Embassy, such as “Suffering” (gin, brandy, Rose’s
lime cordial and ginger beer or “Dead-Done Dying? Add some rum, get it done, or
more prosaic options: lemonade or coca cola.
So
when Rebecca accommodated herself on the stage, amid the prancing and dancing
of her four and a half year old niece Sophie, her audience was already
attentive. “Recipes” is subtitled “A memoir in stories.” The mother-author takes notes of what happens
to her and those around her in her daily life as mother and writer and then
with great skill injects those events with the structure of an experienced
story-teller.
A
look at the table of contents provides a good warm-up to the narrative
exercises that are to follow: “How to be a Dilettante;” “How to get the romance
back into your marriage;” “How to quit your job;” “How to fall back in love
with your life;” “How to say what you really think;” “How to let go of a
dream;” “How to finish a project;” “How to deal with rejections, Part I;” “How
to have a nervous breakdown;” “How to have a long distance relationship.”
But
Rebecca understands that words are toys as well as tools. She is not really
giving recipes; rather she processes her own life as the raw material for
elaborating entertaining real life stories which (most) readers can relate to
as if they were their own experiences.
Rebecca
moved to upstate New York with her husband, publisher Tommy Dunne, so that they
could be surrounded by the area’s natural beauty and so they could find
inspiration for their creative work. But dreams have their complications: the
repairs that old houses need, money problems, those days when words just won’t
find their way to paper, the highs and lows of everyday life, sleepless nights,
the neighbor’s adventures with musical instruments, getting the children off to
school, sudden doubts about her role of mother and a writer, moments of despair,
of love, of genuine joy, how a woman’s profession intermixes with bringing up
lively rambunctious children…
Her
writing reads almost as spontaneously as a class of yoga breathing—and just for
the record, there is a chapter or two about her Yoga lessons.
Some
enticing openers:
How to Unleash Your Inner
Superwoman: October 16, 2007: “This morning
I was sitting on the couch reading a story to Liam (her son) when he
interrupted me, looked at my chest, and said, ‘Mom, do you use your boobs every
day?’ I looked down at my breasts, sitting in their underwire harness. “Not as
much as I used to,” I said to Liam.”
How to Quit Your Job December
2, 2007. “Tommy came back from a week in New York yesterday, and today when we
were in the car coming back from getting groceries, he said that his company
was offering a severance package for people who volunteered to be laid off, and
he was thinking about taking it.”
How to Lose Your Baby Weight
January
15, 2008. “This morning in the car Liam said happily, ‘Mommy, you’re fat.’
“’Liam!”
I said. ‘That is not a nice thing to say.’ I was trying to drive, which I
actively dislike doing.
“’But
you are,’ said Liam. ‘Your belly is fat because I was in there.’”
Recipe: Heal Your Heart “Sit
in a quiet room with a notebook. Ask yourself what it is that needs to be
healed. Write for ten minutes—a letter to your heartache, or to yourself. Dear
heartache, Dear (your name here), Dear body I’ve been talking about so meanly,
Dear former self who did something I’m so ashamed of, Write a litter to this
person, body part, ghost that has been haunting you. Put it away. Go pick a
fight with someone you love. Repeat until you realize you are both on the same
side.”
How to Deal with Rejection,
Part 2. June 13, 2011. “Today my new editor called to
talk about my latest revision. ‘First of all, I love the main character,’ she
said. “She’s funny and warm and I really identify with her.’
“’Great!’”
I said, and held my breath, waiting for the ‘but’ I knew was coming.’”
Applause,
hugs, kisses. Oh! The afternoon would not have been complete without the performance
of “Coffee Shop Boys”--actually rather more than boys—who did a rendition of
“Paperback writer:”
“Dear
Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It
took me years to write, will you take a look?
It’s
based on a novel by a man named Lear
And
I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer
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