Born Round

The Secret History of a Full-time Eater

De: Frank Bruni

Narrado por: Frank Bruni

The New York Times restaurant critic's heartbreaking and hilarious account of how he learned to love food just enough after decades of struggling with his outsize appetite.

Frank Bruni was born round, round as in stout, chubby, and hungry, always and endlessly hungry. He grew up in a big, loud Italian family in White Plains, New York, where meals were epic, outsize affairs. At those meals, he demonstrated one of his foremost qualifications for his future career: an epic, outsize love of food. But Bruni's relationship with eating was tricky, and his difficulties with managing it began early. When Bruni was named the restaurant critic for The New York Times in 2004, he knew enough to be nervous.

The restaurant critic at the Times performs one of the most closely watched tasks in the epicurean universe; a bumpy ride was certain, especially for someone who had never written about food, someone who for years had been busy writing about politics, presidential campaigns, and the pope. What qualified him to be one of the most loved and hated tastemakers in the New York food world? Did his decades-long obsession with food suffice?

Food was his friend and enemy both, something he craved but feared, and his new-job jitters focused primarily on whether he'd finally made some sense of that relationship .In this coveted job, he'd face down his enemy at meal after indulgent meal. As his grandmother often put it, "Born round, you don't die square." Would he fall back into his old habits or could he establish a truce with the food on his plate?

Born Round traces the highly unusual path Bruni traveled to become a restaurant critic; it is the captivating account of an unpredictable journalistic ride from an intern's desk at Newsweek to a dream job at The New York Times, as well as the brutally honest story of Bruni's lifelong, often painful, struggle with food.

©2009 Frank Bruni (P)2009 Penguin

Inspiring

Frank Brunni is a great storyteller. He is also brave to so freely tell us about his life - with all its accolades and shortcomings. Loved it. Thank you.

I loved listening to this book!

I loved listening to this book! What wonderful stories—touching, funny, engaging. Bruni’s way with words made this an especially addictive read. If you like his NYT newsletter, you’ll love this book.

Has it all

People who have any experience w/ addiction are sure to enjoy and draw valuable lessons from this book, even if they don't love food. But for a food addict like myself, this seems to have it all: food virtually brought to life (food porn in words, which can be just as good as the real thing w/o the calories), dead-on descriptions of the rationalizing that precedes the binges and the guilt, regrets and dejection that follow, the sometimes unpredictable relapses, etc. I plan to go back to this book every time I can feel one of these last looming.

The book wasn't simply instructive or drool-inducing, though. It's worth a read (or listen) based on the merit of its prose alone. I also enjoyed the other parts even if their focus was not on food, such as the loving descriptions of the author's family, esp. of the two most important people (women) in his life, and his interesting "run-in" with one of America's most influential restauranteurs. Many parts had me in stitches, and passers-by who failed to notice my earphones must have thought me crazy.

The narration was just as good as that by professional readers and less nasal/annoying/exaggerated than some very popular ones. It was also unabridged, which seems to become more and more of a rarity w/ books narrated by authors (Ted Sorensen's autobiography was almost alone in this category until Born Round came along).

Much more about his personal life than restaurants, but poignant

This book is very different, as far as the lives of “professional foodies,”
such as restaurant reviewers, are concerned. Most restaurant/food critics that I’ve read about or listened to have a lot to say about the role that cooking has played in their lives, they share recipes, and provide spirited accounts of how much they enjoy cooking in their kitchens.

Instead, this book is much more about Bruni’s personal story, which did not contain much about his cooking. So that was unexpected. After listening to the book, I’m still wondering how this journalist, who wrote a lot about politics but hadn’t written about food before, was selected by the New York Times to be its restaurant critic. On the other hand, I can see the usefulness of his bringing fresh eyes, and an eager palate, to the world of pro restaurant reviewing.

Bruni took his position seriously, and I did enjoy his descriptions of some Italian dishes he’d enjoyed, and his time living in Italy. Like other restaurant critics, he worked hard to avoid detection (and preferential treatment) by using wigs and even an ill-fitting mustache.

As the title suggests, the author had issues with weight control and overeating. So one thing I was taken aback by was that towards the end of the book, he describes a short trip to Vegas on assignment, where he had at least two dinners each night of the trip. I’m not sure about lunches. I can understand that he wanted to include as many “important” restaurants as possible in his article, But that sounds like bingeing, to me!

What you do get in this audiobook is a down to earth, earnest, heartfelt story of his life, and that is deserving of appreciation. He’s not sugar coating anything about his shape or struggles of acceptance as a gay man in dating, for example. That honesty is refreshing to hear, because it’s real life, unfiltered.

His voice reading the book is calm and almost monotone, relaxing. A couple of times, I listened to it at night while I was getting ready for bed, it had a calming effect on me.

Eating disorder- no recovery

Typical compulsive eating history but no recovery. Overeaters Anonymous is one solution. Could try that!

Interesting if not a bit long

A long tale of two lifestyles that almost lost my interest. A great New Year book tho

Wonderful story teller

Loved his descriptions of food and people. As a man who has struggled with weight all my life it was affirming, funny, horrifying and delightful. Such an interesting life well lived.

Boldly honest and insightful

As someone who has similar mental and physical struggles surrounding food to what Frank describes in this book, I appreciated his candor in this memoir. He was brutally honest and self-exposing, and drives the point home that honesty is the key to success with yourself. This was so well-written and intriguing and I enjoyed listening to all of his stories, family dynamics, and travels. I cannot recommend this enough!

A Wonderful Read

This is clearly an unusual take on someone who has an unhealthy relationship with food but makes the choice to confront this behavior in a professional context. However, more telling is the degree of rationalization to justify self-destructive habits to the detriment of self-esteem and personal relationships. Clearly, a high level of intelligence is no match for an addiction which cuts to the emotional core. I applaud his journey and became involved in his struggle. At the same time ego (not meant in a derogatory way) probably kept him away from the professional psychological support that may have brought some self-awareness to this life-long process. I'm pulling for him.

What a disappointment!

What did you like best about Born Round? What did you like least?

When, after 15 chapters, he finally become a restaurant critic. Unless you're someone who's struggled with eating disorders, this book is not for you! Most of the book is about his binging, purging, dieting unsuccessfully, poor self image, etc. after several chapters on this I fast forwarded it many times.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm already listening to two other books, so I'm just trying to get through the rest of this.

What does Frank Bruni bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His personal story.

Did Born Round inspire you to do anything?

Yes, to read another book. I wish I had returned this early on and made a wiser choice.

Any additional comments?

I have no idea how this receives such great ratings from Amazon! There must be plenty of people who can relate to this story and if it helps them, great. Ruth Reichl and Craig Claiborne he isn't!