Reese's Book Club | May '19: From Scratch
Image Source: amazon.com
From Scratch by Tembi Locke is the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine pick for May 2019! This memoir is full of deep love, unfathomable pain, and constant discovery. Tembi Locke’s story begins with her semester abroad in Italy and then quickly turns into a rollercoaster of emotions as she discovers love and loss in the most beautiful and heartbreaking of ways.
Tembi is an American woman of color who falls in love with an Italian man, and their love faces the challenges of being an interracial couple in a world that is not receptive to change, in addition to traversing the difficulties of illness.
It is a deeply intimate story that captures your heart and wraps it in a vice like grip, never letting go until the end, while simultaneously reminding you that life and love are beautiful.
For more information about the Author, Reese’s Book Club, or my SPOILER FILLED thoughts on the book - scroll down!
my rating:
Here are some links to purchase the book and/or learn more about Sarah Haywood:
Book: amazon.com
Audiobook: audible.com
Tembi Locke’s Website: tembilocke.com
Tembi Locke’s Instagram: @tembilocke
If you would like to find out more about Reese's Book Club and/or follow along as well, here are some helpful links!
Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Website: hello-sunshine.com/book-club
Complete List of Monthly Picks: hello-sunshine.com/post/reeses-book-club-all-picks
Instagram: @reesesbookclub
Goodreads: goodreads.com
*** spoiler alert ***
I hope to never read this book again. Not because it was bad - on the contrary; it was delightful...but it kept me in a constant state of agony. I kept hoping the book would end quickly so that I could go return to feeling joy again. Tembi’s ability to express her overwhelmingly tragic feelings and emotions made me feeeeeeel them with her, and I didn’t want to feel them at all. My heart would not be able to endure what she endured - my soul would never recover from a loss like hers. Her truth was a reminder of what I had to lose.
This memoir felt like a deeply personal love letter to her husband, to her family, to Sicily - and her passionate words made me want to touch and feel all the things she was touching and feeling. I wanted to use my hands to make tomato sauce as she did with her daughter. I wanted to feel joy as she did when telling stories of the passion between her and Saro. And then suddenly, the feelings became too overwhelming. Towards the end I felt battered and it wasn’t even my own story. It was beautiful and it was tragic, and my poor little heart couldn’t handle it.