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Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy
Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy
Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy
Audiobook7 hours

Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy

Written by Paula Butturini

Narrated by Renee Raudman

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Paula and John met in Italy, fell in love, and married in Rome four years later. But less than a month after the wedding, tragedy struck. They had transferred from their Italian paradise to Warsaw and, while reporting on an uprising in Romania, John was shot and nearly killed by sniper fire. Although he recovered from his physical wounds in less than a year, the process of healing had just begun. Unable to regain his equilibrium, he sank into a deep sadness that reverberated throughout their relationship. It was the abrupt end of what they'd known together and the beginning of a new phase of life neither had planned for. All of a sudden, Paula was forced to reexamine her marriage, her husband, and herself.

Paula began to reconsider all of her previous assumptions about healing. She discovered that sometimes patience can be a vice and anger a virtue; that sometimes it is vital to make demands of the sick that they show signs of getting better. And she rediscovered the importance of the most fundamental of human rituals: the daily sharing of food around the family table.

A universal story of hope and healing, Keeping the Feast is an account of one couple's triumph over tragedy and illness, and a celebration of the simple rituals of life, even during the worst life crises. Beautifully written and tremendously moving, Paula's story is a testament to the extraordinary sustaining powers of food and love, and to the stubborn belief that there is always an afterward-there is always hope.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 8, 2010
ISBN9781400186228
Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy

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Rating: 3.8690475380952383 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Keeping the Feast: One Couple’s Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy by Paula Butturini is just the sort of book I love…and just the sort of book I normally avoid. I love books about travel and Italy is high on my list of places that I absolutely must go. There’s a lot of food in this book and a great love for cooking and shared meals. However, I don’t have any personal experience with depression and memoirs about depression are not usually high on my list. Still, I was enchanted by this book. I devoured it (very appropriate) in one sitting on a short flight with a long delay. I have highlighted several recipes that I plan to try in my own kitchen. And I was very moved by John’s struggle with depression, by his wife’s unceasing love for him, and the support of their family and friends.Paula and her husband, John, met in Rome. They were both foreign correspondents (she had recently moved to Rome and he was based in Bonn, Germany), and they fell in love with each other and the city:“Can you love a city for its pink mornings and golden twilights? For the screech of its seagulls, the flitting of its swifts? Can you love a city because it is a riot of ochres and earth tomes, all of them drenched by a fierce, rich light? Can you feel sheltered by the earth-hugging chaos of a city’s skyline, exhilarated by its church domes floating like balloons across a deep blue sky?”Apparently, the answer is yes.Read my full review at Alive on the Shelves.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Paula Butturini's "Keeping the Feast" is a hymn of praise to food. She vividly evokes the place food occupies in our lives by alternating memories of her childhood meals with stories of her adult life. I read this, considering its suitability as a book for the class I teach on women's memoirs; this book will do marvelously.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In my family, it's all about the food. We all cook and eat and talk about cooking and eating. It's a major pasttime. The family joke is that we're eating now and talking about what we'll eat next. The ritual of preparing and sharing meals knits us together in all kinds of ways.Keeping the Feast is the story of Paula Butturini discovering how nourishing food really is during a time of trouble. It is a celebration of the small daily rituals that keep us going through the darkest times. It is also a story about depression. There have been so many depression memoirs written over the past 20 years, most of them from the perspective of people who are or have suffered from this crippling, life-threatening illness. It's a little scary that there's a genre that I can easily label of memoirs about this, but also good that awareness and treatment options have grown over time. As someone who has suffered through bouts of depression off and on throughout my life it's been good to know that others have lived through it, too.This book is something different within the confines of this genre. It is the story of what it is like to live with someone who is depressed, of how it feels to watch day after day as the person you love is replaced by a stranger. Ultimately Paula and John emerged on the other side, but Paula writes honestly and movingly about what that was like and what got her through.I really enjoyed this book and found the author's stories and perspective moving and worthwhile. There were moments in this book that brought me to tears and moments of recognition and moments of utter envy (why don't I live in Italy?) and always the food ...Thanks to the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this to review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Paula Butturini was a reporter working in Rome when she met and fell in love with another reporter, John Tagliabue. When John was offered a job in Poland, the couple decided he should accept the job, so they moved there. After two years, they made a quick visit back to Rome to get married.Shortly after their marriage, Paula was severely beaten by police in Czechoslovakia and John almost died from a bullet wound he suffered in Romania. The couple’s life became mired in emotional and physical traumas after that – John battled hepatitis and drug-resistant clinical depression and Paula suffered the loss of loved ones.Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini is a memoir that focuses on her life after meeting John, with flashbacks to previous times. Upon reflection, Paula comes to realize that the best times of her life are the times she shares food with loved ones – from her childhood dinners with extended family, to dinner with friends and meals shared with her own family. She celebrates that special time of our lives that we often overlook as being ordinary. Her descriptions of food are wonderful and she had me wishing I could go to Italy to experience their food.This book isn’t all happiness, though. Paula and John survived some very difficult times that many other couple would not have. I admire her honesty and her commitment and determination to make her marriage work.I enjoyed Keeping the Feast, but don’t think I loved it as much as everyone else has, and I’m not really sure why. The story and writing are good and kept me engaged until about three-fourths of the way through, when I was ready for things to be wrapped up. Overall, the book left me with a sad feeling, but I think the point was to inspire hope. I do think it’s a must read for anyone who suffers from clinical depression or has a family member or close friend who does.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When Paula Butturini and John Tagliabue met as foreign correspondents in Rome, they had no idea what the future held for them. Four years later, married and living in Poland during a time in Eastern Europe when communist rule was falling and violence was erupting, their lives were suddenly changed. As Butturini writes: ‘A single bullet started it all.‘ Recovering from a near fatal beating in Czechoslvakia only days earlier, Butturini was stunned when she received a phone call on Christmas eve that John had been shot in Romania, an event which led to a life threatening infection, repeated surgeries and months of hospitalization…and served as the catalyst for a slide into a debilitating depression.Keeping the Feast, Butturini’s memoir of the years following the shooting, is a stunning, beautifully written celebration of how our traditions surrounding food, and the memories and comforts those bring, can speak not only to our physical cravings, but to our souls as well.Italy still celebrates one of the most primordial rituals of the human community, the daily sharing of food and fellowship around a family table; what better place to take ourselves to heal? – from Keeping the Feast, page 15 of the ARC -Keeping the Feast is not just about the horror of John’s injury and his slide into deep depression…at its core, this book is about the impact of our food traditions on memory, healing, and finding quiet comfort. Butturini begins each chapter with a childhood memory around food. Her descriptions are mouth-watering, consoling, and beautifully wrought. Who among us has not turned to a favorite childhood meal to find peace in a time of crisis?To eat a food reminiscent of some childhood treat, to eat a food that nudges strong childhood memories, is to return to the country, town, neighborhood, and family – the very dinner table where we first encountered the edible world. – from Keeping the Feast, page 165 of the ARC -For Butturini and her husband, a return to their genetic roots in Italy, where they had met and fallen in love, was the key to rediscovering peace and recovery. The simple ritual of getting up and walking to the local market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and meat was the balm for Butturini’s psychic wounds. The act of making a healthy meal of pasta and sitting down daily to share three meals a day proved not only a calming activity for Butturini, but also just what John needed to find his way out of the dark recesses of his depression.I found myself completely engrossed in Butturini’s story. I have long found solace in food and its preparation. The first thing I wanted to do for my sister when she was diagnosed with cancer was to make her comfort food that would heal her body and soul. Food represents so much more to us than simple nourishment – it represents our family traditions, our nationalities, and the joy of being with others around a table. Butturini’s wonderful prose captures the joy and healing food can bring to our lives.Keeping the Feast is an honest, heartfelt exploration of one couple’s journey from depression to wholeness. Its stunning depictions of Italy (and Rome specifically) will satisfy the reader who enjoys travel writing. Butturini’s love of food and her mouth watering descriptions of it will delight those readers who consider themselves “foodies.” It is Butturini’s ability to unite all three of these subjects into a cohesive, compelling story that will have readers praising this book.Highly Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Shortly after their wedding, both Paula Butturini and her husband John Tagliabue are struck by separate tragedies and their new life together is drastically altered. As they begin to heal, Paula discovers her passion and fondness for delicious and uncomplicated food. Food becomes Paula and John's lifeline, and as they become whole again, they learn to cook and eat not only for the nourishment of their bodies, but also for their souls. Just when things seem to be getting back to normal, John spirals into a dangerous depression which seems to only get worse over time. Paula, barely hanging on to her own sanity, reaches back to food to help guide her through the difficult times and to provide John with the sustenance that he needs to overcome his depression. As Paula describes her husband's downward spiral, she also describes the meals that she cooked for both him and herself, hoping against hope that the food will be able to overcome the pain and disillusionment once again. Candid and deep, Keeping the Feast describes one couple's journey out of the depths of despair and into the sunlight of new hope.I am a big lover of foodie literature and any book that purports to have anything to do with cooking and/or food immediately draws my attention and curiosity. I was not really sure how this book, a memoir that dealt with pain and frustration, could have anything whatsoever to do with food, but after reading it I think that Butturini did a great job with the melding of these two distinct parts of her story with grace and ease.In the book, Butturini does her best to explain the tragic circumstances that surrounded the early years of her marriage. Both Paula and her husband were journalists during that time, and both of them were dealt a pretty severe blow in their professional endeavors. Paula was severely beaten by the police while covering a riot in Prague and her husband John was shot by a sniper in Romania. When the couple retreat to Italy to begin a long convalescence, they discover that although their foundations have crumbled, they can find pleasure amongst the simple things in life, mainly food. Paula describes her sun-soaked mornings in Italy, roaming the covered markets for fresh ingredients that she later transforms into the feasts that so excite and heal herself and her husband. She catalogs her wonderful finds with an enthusiasm and wonder that bounces off the page, taking the time to impart the specifics of dozens of different items that she finds on her daily journey and walks her readers through the steps the food takes in becoming part of her gustatory offering to her husband.As they both begin to heal, food remains a stanch pleasure that never recedes into the background of their lives, and they find themselves trying new and different things. Using the treasured recipes of family and friends, Paula delights in her creativity and produces meals that wash succulently over the reader. With excitement she relays the wonder of her surroundings and her meals, never suspecting that things are headed for a nose dive once again. Then, it happens. One day John shrinks into silence and depression so deep that medications and doctors can't touch it. Paula relates with despair that she does not know how to help her husband and turns once again towards food to be her magical elixir. One of the most shocking things about this section of the book was the fact that John goes to almost primitive lengths to address his condition. Finding no help from pharmaceuticals, he decides to take his chances with electro-shock therapy, which has helped him in the past. Still he suffers, and the only thing Paula can do is keep him grounded by providing the wonderful food he loves and try to keep him rooted as strongly as she can into the present.I really admired Paula's perseverance. I think that most people dealing with the circumstances that she had would have probably turned tail and run. She never did that. Instead, she plotted a course and stuck to it feverishly, not knowing if it would ever work. She translated a lot of her grief into her cooking and turned something hideous and awful into something healing and rejuvenating. I think I most admired the way she stuck by her husband through all of these awful times. She mentions that she could have left him, that the thought had crossed her mind many times, but she believed that she was John's only salvation and she stuck it out amidst the pain and frustration that she must have felt every minute of every day.In the end, this story is about survival and wholeness, and though it takes the determination of one woman scratching out success from tortured outlets, the couple learns to revel in the time and healing they have carved out for themselves. It is by no means an easy or uncomplicated read. Emotion and frailty pour from the pages in wave after wave of defeat. But somehow, they manage to become whole again and learn that life can be fruitful and rewarding, despite the difficult path they have traveled. In my reading of this book, I think only one thing could have made it better, and that would have been the inclusion of some of the recipes that made the book so colorful and mouthwatering. Other than that, I would have to say that I found it a particularly engaging and emotion filled read.This is not a book for foodies alone. I think it would greatly appeal to those readers who have battled with mental and physical ailments and for those who like to read triumphant stories of redemption. I think that Butturini does a great job with juggling all of the practical concerns that overtake a heart in turmoil without turning herself into a pitiful and woeful character. What she manages to capture in this book is essentially what she manages to capture in her life: hope and healing. A very engrossing look into the lives of an everyday couple pitted against destruction. Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A tale of life and love...triumph and tragedy...and simply learning to do the best with what we are given...all told through that medium that brings us all together...food! It's the one thing that everyone needs and most people enjoy. It is the universal similarity between everyone yet can just as easily start a war or bring it to an abrupt halt. The trials of which the author speaks that both she and her family (both extended and blood-relation) experienced will touch your heart, while the food that she recants the tale through will have your mouth watering for more.

    Special note....beyond the enjoyable read for all, those working through or with someone that experiences clincal depression would be hard pressed to find another book of recent that shares its honest effects on not just the afflicted, but also those they hold dear. I would certainly think this may book may be a small way to uplift their spirits and see that their future is not has dark as they may imagine.
    Happy reading!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Paula Butturini’s memoir Keeping the Feast is more than a true story about a couple’s enduring love set among a delicious Italian background full of food and flavor; it’s a story of hope, and the bond of family, and the anguish of a person helplessly afflicted with depression.Paula met her second husband John in Italy. They married when she was in her late thirties. Both news correspondents, both with strong Italian-family backgrounds, Paula and John were meant for each other, and their love endured trials many of us cannot fathom. In 1989 Paula was beaten senseless by riot police in Czechoslovakia, just weeks before her and John are to be married. Barely surviving her own trauma, it is only a handful of weeks later when John is shot by a sniper in Romania. Undergoing several surgeries, John barely survives. The couple land back in Italy to recoup, only John suffers a devastating depression that threatens to tear their marriage apart. Paula takes refuge in her Italian markets, diving into her family recipes, the ingredients which held her together as a child as she hopes they can hold her family together now.Keeping the Feast is marketed as a memoir about the tribulations a couple goes through, and how food kept them together. But I can’t help but look beyond the ingrediants, the never-ending succulent lists of Italian market-wares and herbs. Paula’s own mother suffered from depression, it was something Paula herself feared her whole life. To have her husband, the love of her life, afflicted by the same disease, was terrifying and my heart goes out to her. Not everyone understands the crippling devastation that is depression, the way it can leach into your life, but Paula did, she saw it first hand and she vowed to never let it bury her. She dealt with her husband’s depression, first with silent fear, and then with anger and outrage, and even though he suffered it more than once in their life together, he always recovered, and she was always there.Keeping The Feast is a heartbreaking, beautiful memoir of the strength of family devotion, tied together by the delicious façade of Italian ruins, and the mouth-watering dishes of Italian food. I thank Paula for sharing her story, and hope we can all be as strong.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In her so descriptive you can taste it memoir, Keeping The Feast, author Paula Buttrini describes most of her life and familial traditions, but she centers around a series of tragedies that leave her husband in a persistent depression. Facing a nightmare for any wife, Buttrini lushly describes how something a small as preparing a meal helped her family to heal and survive. Feast slowly doles out the traumatizing incidents that threatened to break her family while the author smartly anchors her story with vivid childhood and adult memories focusing around food. This well organized construction balances out her tear inducing passages of grief and loss. The result is two parts inspiration and one part unchecked food lost that is bound to make your mouth water while providing sustenance for your heart and soul.