Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball

After reading this book I ordered several copies as gifts. That probably says it all, but I can't just leave it there. Molly O'Neill and her family grew up in the neighborhood where I live and I was taken by her memories of family life where she was the only girl with five male siblings and a father whose main focus was baseball. The exploits of the boys had me laughing out loud while also being thankful I didn't live next door to them. I enjoyed reading how Molly's cooking expertise evolved and even included her brothers in this endeavor. Her writing, as always, was a delight.

There seems to be a fashion in biographies to find people who had horrible lives: dysfunctional families, wicked stepmothers, financially destitute, etc., etc. It's nice to read one that's not that way. A family that got along well then and still gets along. Why then bother to read it if nothing happens? Because it's written so well, there is humor, a great deal of humor -- there are stories of false teeth that look like fangs, wearing her first short skirt with four brothers teasing her about her kneecaps, and of course when she was pregnant.... And would you believe, just because it's in the title, there's a lot of baseball. Her father had played in the minor leagues. Her younger brother Pat played for the Yankees. So it's a story of baseball. She was a writer for the New York Times and others, so she clearly knows how to write. That's what keeps the book so interesting. Highly recommended.

Born in Columbus, raised with baseball, and just returning from my first trip to Paris. Could I have found a work more timely? Sometimes you find excellent reads in the most unexpected places; a semi-cook book for crying out loud and one I purchased for my Columbus cousins no less. Thumbing through the first few pages I was trapped in a presentation of butterfly proportions. Yea her brother Paul played in four World Series with the Yankees and one with the Reds but he really doesn't enter until the last fifty pages. So I began by thinking where is Paul, after a while it didn't matter because Molly's writing is a homer all by itself and better yet I get to watch Paul come on the scene along with his brothers,family and Columbus. Only having lived in the capital of Ohio my first year and visiting several times in my youth, my memories of it were foggy and quaint, however, growing up with the O'Neills those youthful day all came roaring back in vivid colors and the sweet vibrations of a pre-teen. Beyond this traveling to the Cape, the City, and Paris was extra, her rebellions (with unexpected revelations) lent zest to the journey. Indeed Philip Roth has nothing on this lady, if fact when reading this the references to her cousin, Mark Twain, were thought only to be in jest, later in reading a review I found that she is really Mr. Clement's cousin. I then realized why _Life on the Mississippi_ kept flashing through my mind while I enjoyed the work. Molly can describe a situation and you honestly feel you are right there with her. Ok Paul you are the "ultimate warrior," but I really think Molly's way of presenting a story is a lot more fun than watching a pitcher constantly throw over to first to hold you on base.

A book you don't want to put down, funny, very real American family life.

I loved Molly O'Neill's food columns in the New York Times and still miss them. She's an excellent food writer and with her memoir, Mostly True, she proves to be an excellent writer. Putting Mostly True in the same category as Angela's Ashes is saying a lot but that's where I place it. I loved everything about this book be it from her wanting a baby sister, to cooking in Provincetown with her two brothers, to her sharing her brother Paul's last night in pinstripes. She's leading an eventful life and has a great career. Imagine having Julia Child over for dinner and then having Paul O'Neill as a brother? I wish Molly were my friend. It's a great read and highly recommended.