Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten

 

Summary (from the publisher): In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table. 

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

Review: Ina Garten is known as the owner of Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, and Food Network personality. Now, in this memoir, she tells her own story in her own words. Ina had a difficult childhood with repressive parents. But she married her husband Jeffrey while still in college, and their lives took them Fort Bragg to camping through Europe and from boring bureaucratic jobs in Washington D.C. to finally purchasing Barefoot Contessa in the Hamptons that launched her career in the food industry. 

Full disclosure, I didn't go into this as an Ina fan! Not to say I dislike her; I just don't know much about her and have never followed her. But I found her story, told her in own voice incredibly charming. Ina describes her life and career in a breezy, conversational way. I love that Ina fearlessly pursues her passion. She isn't afraid to change course, take risks, or give up on something that isn't giving her joy. She also shares about difficult experiences, especially her childhood and troubled periods in her marriage, that make this feel more intimate than I would have suspected. I listened to the audiobook version of this book, which was narrated by Ina herself and found her story in her own voice very charming. I devoured this in just a few days, relishing her descriptions of camping throughout Europe in a small orange tent, or racing to the bakery practically in the middle of the night to frantically make baguettes. She outlines both her successes and her failures, and how she has used mishaps, when things haven't worked, as moments to help her learn what she needs to change so that they will work next time. 

Other than the admittedly big bombshell that she and Jeffrey were at one time separated and considering divorce, this memoir is very fluffy in a lot of other ways. She is charming and drops just enough details that you almost forget that there is so much that she hasn't told her readers. She shares almost no personal details about her husband and only outlines his career highlights as if reading off the main bullets off a resume. She shares nothing about his family or much at all about her own parents or brother after the point when she gets married. She only very briefly touches on their decision to not have children. Most of the narrative is about dinner parties, food and dishes she likes, her different jobs, and renovating different houses, with little introspection or greater depth about the relationships in her life. 

I did find it interesting that she repeatedly refers to her dynamic with her husband as almost parent to child. She does seem very spontaneous, pulled by her passions and fancies, which is a large part of her charm and success. But it also seems like he is the grounding force, the payroll, and the voice of reason behind her projects. I was surprised by how much time they seem to have spent apart during their marriage. 

There is also no denying that Ina has led a very privileged life. Despite referencing having to pinch pennies early in their marriage, this hardship looks like camping through Europe for four months - not exactly an impoverished lifestyle. It's clear their affluence developed swiftly over the course of the marriage without her explicitly saying so but through obvious details such as the constant purchase of different properties, endless home renovations (a clear passion project of Ina's), and her ability to cut and run from any job, home, venture when it no longer brings her joy. At one point, she describes begging a friend to come be her personal assistant, telling her that she would pay her whatever salary she wanted. One of the final projects in the book is her purchasing and renovating a Paris apartment, a crowning moment for the couple who had always wanted to go back to Europe after their camping trip in early marriage. She works hard and has accomplished much but also clearly does so in great ease and with a substantial bank account. 

I really, truly loved this memoir and am so glad I listened to it. She is passionate and charming, and it was little wonder to me that she has gained such a following. 

Stars: 4