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I Was Told There'd Be CakeSnagging.org In association with Amazon.co.ukOnline Shop | Property Guides | Kitchen & Home | Garden Tools | Power Tools | Consumer Electronics Get the Snagging Checklist Here!  List Price: £9.41 Price: £3.37 You Save: £6.04 (64%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.6 EAN: 9781594483066 ISBN: 159448306X Label: Riverhead Books Manufacturer: Riverhead Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 240 Publication Date: 2008-04 Publisher: Riverhead Books Studio: Riverhead Books Related Items:
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Growing up in the USAI was attracted to this book by its title. I think it probably misled me. I took it with me on a train journey and after the first couple of essays I was just a shade bored with it. I considered buying something else and abandoning it when I changed trains, but I persevered and things did improve. The author's description of volunteering at the Natural History Museum in New York and showing people round the butterfly area is a gem as are the essays on being asked unexpectedly to be a maid of honour to an old high school friend she hardly remembers. It's a shame you have to wade through several essays which I can only describe as dross to get to the few gold nuggets. If I'd been at home I would have abandoned this after the first 30 pages so I would have missed the gems - but there aren't enough for me to award it five stars. Part of the problem was my unfamiliarity with many of the American brand names and customs mentioned so I missed some of the humour. All in all it was probably worth reading - but skip the essays you get bored with you won't be missing too much. Rating:  - DisappointingI bought this following Nicholas Lezard's rave review in the Guardian and have to admit to being underwhelmed. She has a nice voice and can write well, but the stories are too often boring and inconsequential and she isn't funny enough. David Sedaris does this sort of thing a billion times better. Rating: - Dull , dull , dull The blurb on the front suggests that Ms crosley is the female David Sedaris .She most certainly is not . The stories are dull and unfunny . I was left feeling underwhelmed . in one word "meh" Rating: - Petulance, perhaps?"... if a soup kitchen is set up in a forest and no news crews are around to see it because they all saw THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and they'll be damned if they're setting one foot in the woods for some stinkin' homeless people, does it count? Somehow I don't think so." - Author Sloane Crosley I've been considering the title of Sloane Crosley's book, I WAS TOLD THERE'D BE CAKE, trying to perceive the message it sends to the potential reader. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's catchy, though; I like it. The volume itself is a series of essays on the author's reactions to the minor injustices, unmet expectations, petty annoyances, imponderables, absurdities, and anxieties of her young life. As of today, she's still in her late twenties. Perhaps the best chapter is the one entitled "You on a Stick", wherein she describes the experience of being chosen as the maid-of-honor by an engaged, former high school "friend" that she barely remembers. A deer caught in headlights is less inconvenienced, apparently. Perhaps my favorite essayist that ruminates on life and the human condition is Barbara Holland (Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences, When All the World Was Young: A Memoir, Wasn't the Grass Greener). Her view of the world incorporates a certain wisdom and common sense that have evolved from several decades of living beyond what Crosley has experienced. The point I'm trying to make is that Sloane's musings, while certainly diverting and engaging, might perhaps only be taken seriously and thought profound by someone no more than thirty. She has a flair for expression, however, that, seasoned by the years to come, should result in a perception and literary talent that rivals Holland's. Thus, and perhaps unfairly, I'm awarding I WAS TOLD THERE'S BE CAKE only three stars not for what it is now but rather in comparison to the book it could become in 30-40 years. Of course, somebody age 90, or thirty years older than I am now, may comment that this review is nonsense and I should give credit where credit is due. As a matter of fact, you're welcome to say that no matter what your age. Returning to the mood conveyed by the title. Petulance, perhaps, or a growing sense of disappointment? I really do like it for its cleverness.  Try searching the Internet for "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" or Ebay for "I Was Told There'd Be Cake". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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