Kitchen Boy, by Sanford Phippen

Most of us have stories to tell. One can't live for years without having something - or, rather, many somethings - happen that make up the layers of a life. Many of these lives could make extremely interesting books; many do make for interesting reading.

Kitchen Boy, by Sanford Phippen, brings us to a simpler time. Phippen grew up on the Eastern Coast of Maine, an interesting section of New England. Kitchen Boy deals with his "crucial years from ages 16 - 22" when he worked at Frenchman's Bay Manor, "a small summer resort hotel" where he worked as kitchen help during the summer months. In the Prologue, Phippen describes the Manor "was my raft down the Mississippi, my Pency Prep, the wedding of which I became a member, and, perhaps, even my Pequod." While much of the book is, indeed, interesting, giving the reader a look into a job that helped shape a young man, I'm not sure that it is quite as gripping as he might indicate. Throughout the book, I almost had the feeling that had someone other than F. Scott Fitzgerald had been assigned the writing of The Great Gatsby, moving it to Maine's east coast with a touch of Jay Gatsby in numerous people, it might have read as a second cousin to Kitchen Boy. Indeed, parts of the book felt almost Gatsby-ish...and then, moved on.

While I was intrigued Phippen's story, and found many of his adventures humorous, tender, or great character-studies, I almost expected some flash of light, something that would profoundly change his life. Many memoirs - and fiction, for that matter - climb an emotional mountain until the life-changing moment or moments happen. Kitchen Boy came across as more a body of water, tranquil most of the time, a few rough patches, the undercurrents of interpersonal relationships, but without any hurricanes whipping up the waters.

In the end, while it was an interesting, nice memoir, one that I'll probably read again, it still didn't have the excitement of many other memoirs. Would I recommend reading it? Yes. But don't look for any huge, earth-shattering excitement. But then, life isn't always earth-shattering, and many times, it's the people we meet and work with in our earlier years that shape our lives the most, often without our realizing it. That is where Kitchen Boy takes us.