Review: Cookbook Collector

Allegra Goodman's book, The Cookbook Collector, is somewhat deceptive... except for a few paragraphs about Suzanne, you'll wonder what the title has to do with the story.  Actually, even after having completed the book, you may still be wondering.   I'd read several good reviews of the book but the book didn't live up to my expectations.  Frankly, I just never cared about any of the characters so I was invested in what happened to them.  There are clearly themes of desire that motivate the plot-- more desire of riches or religious epiphanies or ecological victories-- but without a strong sense of who the people are on emotional terms, the story left me feeling like it was more about the intellectual framework than anything else.