Ebook270 pages4 hours
Life, Death & Bialys: A Father/Son Baking Story
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this ebook
In 2002 Flip Schaffer asked his son to join him in an intensive bread class at a fancy culinary school in New York. At, first, the idea seemed considerably less than half-baked. The two hadn't spent much time together-not since Flip left Dylan and his siblings in the care of their crazy mother thirty years before. Neither knew the first thing about making bread. And, Flip's end-stage lung cancer was expected to kill him long before the class began.
But Flip made it. The two spent seven days at the French Culinary Institute becoming artisanal bakers and seven tumultuous nights in a shabby Bowery hotel getting to know each other. And to their mutual astonishment, just in time, they came to something like terms of forgiveness.
As moving as it is irreverent, Life, Death & Bialys is about how an imperfect father said goodbye to his son and to his city and how a reluctant son discovered the essence of forgiveness.
Dylan Schaffer is the author of the award winning legal thrillers Misdemeanor Man, which won Mystery Ink Magazine's 2004 Gumshoe Award for best debut, and I Right the Wrongs, both of which were Booksense picks. In his spare time he is a criminal defense lawyer who has served as appellate counsel in hundreds of cases ranging from drunk driving to multiple murders. He lives in Oakland, California, with many animals and one wife.
Excerpt: Als drait zich arum broit un toit It all comes down to bread and death -Yiddish proverb
Flip greets me in the airport lobby. I expect to see some sign that the cancer is taking its toll. But when I find him, he seems fine. He doesn't look like he's dropped any weight. His breathing is normal.... I want to run to him and bury my face in his stomach and bawl into his shirt. I want to tell him how much I miss him and beg him not to go away again.
At the same time I am compelled to punch him in the face.
But Flip made it. The two spent seven days at the French Culinary Institute becoming artisanal bakers and seven tumultuous nights in a shabby Bowery hotel getting to know each other. And to their mutual astonishment, just in time, they came to something like terms of forgiveness.
As moving as it is irreverent, Life, Death & Bialys is about how an imperfect father said goodbye to his son and to his city and how a reluctant son discovered the essence of forgiveness.
Dylan Schaffer is the author of the award winning legal thrillers Misdemeanor Man, which won Mystery Ink Magazine's 2004 Gumshoe Award for best debut, and I Right the Wrongs, both of which were Booksense picks. In his spare time he is a criminal defense lawyer who has served as appellate counsel in hundreds of cases ranging from drunk driving to multiple murders. He lives in Oakland, California, with many animals and one wife.
Excerpt: Als drait zich arum broit un toit It all comes down to bread and death -Yiddish proverb
Flip greets me in the airport lobby. I expect to see some sign that the cancer is taking its toll. But when I find him, he seems fine. He doesn't look like he's dropped any weight. His breathing is normal.... I want to run to him and bury my face in his stomach and bawl into his shirt. I want to tell him how much I miss him and beg him not to go away again.
At the same time I am compelled to punch him in the face.
Author
Dylan Schaffer
Dylan Schaffer is a criminal-defense lawyer who has served as appellate counsel in more than fifty murder cases, including death penalty matters. He lives in Oakland, CA.
Read more from Dylan Schaffer
Misdemeanor Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Right the Wrongs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Life, Death & Bialys
Related ebooks
Every Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gone But Not Forgotten: The Strength of a Woman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChloe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Series of Unrelated Events: Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Billie, With Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'm an Alien and I Want to Go Home Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Caught Dead in Philadelphia (An Amanda Pepper Mystery #1) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Almost Don't Count: Tales of an American Failure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeconstructing Dylan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Fifth Reflection Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Costa del Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForty-three Grandparents - A Novelette By Angie Tonucci Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Chicano Spanish Teacher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShell Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsk Anybody Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBudding Innocence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Suburban Bitch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrandmother's Attic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlease Forgive Me I Forgive You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Wild Ride on a Carousel: (By the Caterer Who Couldn’t Cook) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomething Stinks! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiding The Road Of Life (With Hair Blowing And Tits Out) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForget Me Knot: An Mpreg Romance: Love in Knot Valley, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Falling for the Enemy: Return of the Donovan Brothers, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEverland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd There Were 10! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes (A Zombie Tale) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife Lived Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHer Skin is a Costume Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Solutions and Other Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gift: 14 Lessons to Save Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Embrace the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Life, Death & Bialys
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every self-revelatory, parent-implicating, pain-revealing story touches and perhaps even alters hordes of people who've kept their own similar experiences in the dark. I love this sort of memoir, but I wonder if for the general audience the genre gets old? After how many of these books does the reader get bored...and then resentful...and finally contemptuous?I'm not sure, but when the author's voice is as gentle and humorous as Dylan's, the story seems simply brave and addictive. I just wanted to know what old Flip would do next, and even when he was at his worst I couldn't help liking the old fart a bit, and when he was at his best I couldn't shake the disappointment of all his failings.Reader identification can be a tricky thing. Readers can find it hard to understand how the author avoided the shame and self-loathing that keeps their own story buried. At its best the reader realizes s/he is not loathesome, as feared; at worst, s/he feels suspicious of misrepresentation, fictionalizing, etc. a la frey et al.Concerning Dylan's dad Flip: it seems clear he is a product of shame himself; see the very strong passage near the end of the book about how Flip tries to run away from everyone, mostly himself. But Dylan? He does/has done so many positive, fearless things...taking on careers, women, friendships. He's strong enough that I don't want so much to take care of him as, I don't know, have him cook in my kitchen.Issues - minor:Interesting tangents into Dylan's mother's story are always yanked back; it felt like DS kept reminding himself that this was his *father's* story, that the universe outside that story must not overly intrude. But I felt that this and other things (Wendy's story, the brothers, etc.) could have been including without damaging the book as a whole.2. The baking focus seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. Could have been cut by half and I, for one, wouldn't miss it. Also the baking doesn't ever really respresent a *theme* - what does it represent to Dylan, to Flip? - seemed clear that it's a response to their control-freak-ness which is in turn a response to their own chaos.
Book preview
Life, Death & Bialys - Dylan Schaffer
{2^ book_preview_excerpt.html |ےFaUӽm#Y2Q4Cc$J !J'SK B2_ȯJ?UNp/ՋkC~?j:*WnNq_WX<oBj|]A߸_I+zOg'U8IS0OyAy_V1~>ź.O<;O_ӌy)^`} `y ~a}fo}v_%>xoiVF}ͱÂ?x80AO}WĿ?iWsV77gڵmcSH)fӈYt:{㗮
8ťjVQp̞exx-p&irMa9R73;S.MϨ}t 3\fT@hwHCՐs9O kަD<6gNDZƘz'rPZ%A (ȁ>h4Տ'.qכ6U)@Ѷq5dbg8wkS*X.7oq#`~0`]L&8M5d֕C>zbyc