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There are currently 42 member reviews
for The Mouse-Proof Kitchen
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Alice S. (East Haven, Ct)
Sometimes life gets a little messy
This statement is on the cover of the book and is a good way to describe the story. Not only is the house Tobias and Anna buy in France a little messy, but they have a very disabled child who is for them emotionally messy.
As a parent I remember having a discussion with my husband while I was pregnant about "what if".
The feelings and attitudes about whether they can accept this child who will be a terrible burden on them for the rest of her life seemed to be an accurate description of what a young couple would go through. It is also a reminder that if you have a healthy child it is a blessing.
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Dorothy T. (Victorville, CA)
Sometimes life gets a little messy
The phrase on the cover of this novel gives a good indication of what to expect inside. The central character is Anna, who likes order and planning, but when her daughter is born profoundly disabled she finds she has a lot to learn about being flexible, and more so after she and her partner move into a disabled home in a remote area in France.
The author gave me a lot to think about regarding love and relationships, particularly the kind of unconditional love it takes to face difficulties. She also has much to say about motherhood: are we the mothers we are because of the mothers we have, or in spite of or as a reaction to the mothers we have? Anna is forced to confront these issues, and the result is a compelling read.
There are some plot turns that I found puzzling, especially near the end, and I found some of the language unnecessary, but this is a good read and a great choice for book clubs.
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Lori E. (Wayland, MA)
Mouse-Proof Kitchen
The book deals with a very difficult subject, a child born with severe health problems and how the parents cope with this. It was thought-provoking, but certainly won't appeal to everyone. More difficulties arise with stress in the marriage, ethical decisions regarding the baby's medical issues and relationships with family and friends. The tough subject matter is offset by interesting descriptions of what it was like for a British couple to move to a decrepit house in France and the people in the community.
Although I found the book to be a compelling read, I would be very selective about recommending it to someone I didn't know well, because it could be very disturbing to people who have related issues.
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Michelle N. (Hillsdale, NJ)
Loved this book from start to finish...
When I read the first chapter of this book, my first thought was that it was a book that would be dealing with some heavy-duty issues- Anna and Tobias, the main characters, have a baby that is born with severe mental issues. They are so severe that Anna and Tobias are not sure they even want to take the baby home! But they have been looking for a house in France, and they find a run-down old villa that Anna thinks might be perfect for opening a restaurant. The story of Freya, the baby, is interwoven with descriptions of Anna & Tobias settling into their new home (which is literally falling down around them) and is enhanced by a cast of quirky neighbors and wonderful descriptions of the countryside, Anna's cooking and constant attempts to keep the mice (!) out of the kitchen, as well as the nature that surrounds them in their villa, from bugs to the food that grows to the strange animals. It is wonderfully written and draw you completely into the story, and just when your not sure how it can possibly end, the author does a wonderful wrap-up with the main characters. Loved it and hope to see more from the author. What will grab your heart even more is if you read the author's note in the back, you will see that Freya's disabilities are the same as the author's daughter. Very touching and beautifully written book.
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Karen L. (Chicago, IL)
The Mouse Proof KItchen
I really wanted to like this book. It covers so many subjects I generally enjoy reading about; the French Countryside, cooking, and relationships. Like Anna I anticipated perfection, only to be handed something different than planned. was not perfect, in fact severely disabled. I found this novel both unrealistic and heartbreaking. Unbelievably, They follow their original, pre-diagnosis plan and move to a rodent infested, decrepit home in the south of France. What could they be thinking raising a severely disabled child or really any child in such a potentially dangerous situation is beyond the scope of my imagination. While it did evoke many emotions, none of them was positive. I acknowledge it is a difficult subject and I applaud the author for her attempt at tackling it, I believe it will anger most audiences and therefore not appeal to the mass market.
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Susan J. (Twain Harte, CA)
I missed the "humor and warmth"
I was surprised to read that the author has a daughter like Freya. She describes Anna's and Tobias's behaviors as "outrageous"; I found them to be immature, impulsive, irresponsible. Anna is described as a planner; I would say she's a dreamer. Moving away from her support system with a severely disabled newborn, buying a disaster of a property, hoping to open a restaurant or cooking school, expecting her partner to become what he is not…all examples of her poor judgment. Yes, their world was turned upside down by Freya's birth, but their responses were frustrating to me. I did enjoy the setting of the book, the descriptions of the area, the hostile weather and terrain, and the interesting local characters, but my lack of sympathy for the main characters overrode my enjoyment of the story and the setting. And I kept wanting to know why they didn't get a cat in the first place!
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Iris F. (West Bloomfield, MI)
The Mouse-Proof Kitchen
This book begins with the birth of Freya, a profoundly disabled baby whose parents, Anna and Tobias, have very different views of how they wish to handle the future of their child, I could empathize with both. I thought that this would develop into an emotional read that examined these difficult moral decisions. The storyline was diverted by their move from London to a French village into a home that was Anna's dream. This home presented problem after problem and while Anna was responsible, Tobias was a complete slacker. The people of the village were charming and interesting and this could have been developed into a simple little novel on its own. Though Freya was briefly mentioned throughout, this storyline was not given the importance I was expecting until the very end. The author tried to tie everything into a neat bundle in which she used Anna's relationship to Freya and her own mother, as well as Lizzie's relationship to her mother to define motherhood. It seemed like this was thrown in at the last minute. I felt that there were two different stories here: the story of Freya, and the story of the people of the village. Not enough was done with either. I also felt that in concluding the way she did she put a happily ever after ending on a situation that in reality would never have a fairy tale ending.
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