The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman

The Cookbook Collector is a story of pairs--two sisters, philosophy graduate student Jess and high-tech executive Emily; two high-tech companies about to go public, Emily's Veritech in Silicon Valley and her fiance Jonathan's ISIS in Cambridge; two economies, during and after the bubble; two Bialystok rabbis and their wives; Jess's two lovers; the two women who love Jonathan's old friend and programming genius Orion. Many of the pairs represent dichotomies, choices about different ways of living in the world.

Emily seems to be the ultimate pragmatist. She went to MIT, started her own company, and has put off marrying Jonathan to tend to her business. Jess, on the other hand, studies philosophy, works part-time at a rare book store, and lives with an environmentalist in a communal dwelling known as the Tree House. Yet Jess finds herself drawn to the owner of the bookstore where she works, George, who surrounds himself with things rather than people. And Emily prevents her company from developing a surveillance tool she feels is unethical; Jonathan, on the other hand, is prepared to steal and develop the idea Emily shared in confidence. Perhaps it is not surprising that Jess and George find themselves drawn together (with the cookbook collection of the title playing an important role) while Emily and Jonathan end up apart, though not solely for the reason one might expect.

Other characters swirl around the narrative as well. Some of these characters (e.g., Orion and his two women) add to the story's depth, while others (e.g., ISIS human resources director Mel and his wife Barbara) seem only to add clutter. Goodman weaves 9/11 into the narrative, but not in a way that helps us understand the causes or true effects of that tragedy. Similarly, the discovery the sisters make about their long-dead mother's background, while accompanied with much emotional turmoil, seems like a bizarre and not especially meaningful coincidence.

Goodman does provide some insight into how the young companies that fueled the bubble of the late 90s operated, though her treatment of the effects of the bubble's bursting seems to underestimate the pain experienced by those who didn't cash in their stock in time. And, in Jess, she has created an engaging and believable character who can carry the novel to its happy conclusion.

Favorite passages:

The markets swooned. Like a beautiful diver, the Nasdaq bounced three times into the air and flipped, somersaulting on the way down. Tech stocks once priced at two hundred, and then seventy-three, and then twenty-one, now sold for less than two dollars a share. Companies valued in the billions were worth just millions, and with a blood rush, investors thought, So this is gravity, this is free fall.

An intense tang, the underside of velvet. Then flesh dissolved in a rush of nectar. Juice drenched her hand and wet the inside of her wrist. She had forgotten, if she'd ever known, that what was sweet could also be so complicated, that fruit could have a nap, like fabric, soft one way, sleek the other. She licked the juice dripping down her arm.

The house was quiet. Their friends had gone. The scent of roses, wedding music, and laughter faded away. The hammock swayed under them, and George and Jess floated together, although nothing lasted. They held each other, although nothing stayed.