The other side of the glow: When a critic gets critiqued
It's been a fantastic week for "The Mango Tree," with reviews in The NYT, WaPo and many more outlets. How does it feel, as a critic, to be critiqued? Eye opening.
During my 16 years as a restaurant critic, I wrote some harsh reviews — especially during my early days. When I was new to the role, despite writing under a pseudonym, I felt the need to establish myself and be taken seriously as this “Jean Le Boeuf” character. And to be a *very serious* critic, I thought I had to be brutally honest.
If a restaurant served free baskets of slightly stale bread rolls, I felt the need to call them out on it. If a molten lava cake was clearly plucked from a freezer bag and popped in the microwave, I felt it my duty to inform the world. Or at least the readers of The News-Press. It didn’t matter if everything between the rolls and cake was delicious. I wanted the record to show the entirety of my meal(s); good, bad and ugly.
And then, one day, I grew up.
I can’t pinpoint when exactly this switch flipped in me, but with time came wisdom. I began to understand when a biting critique was appropriate. A national chef/chain swooping into Southwest Florida and trying to coast on their name/credentials/prestige deserves to be called out for their flaws; a mom-and-pop (or pop-and-pop or mom-and-mom) trying to make a go of it with every card stacked against them does not.
This understanding changed everything for me. I looked at reviews as an opportunity to highlight the truly wonderful restaurants in this tropical hometown of mine. If a new restaurant was trying but struggling, it didn’t need the critical eye of “Jean Le Boeuf.” It needed a profile, perhaps, or an Instagram feature, or a spotlight on its ethereally puffy baleadas. If that restaurant got better over time, then sure, send in JLB.
My background as a critic has felt relevant, prescient almost, during this book launch. (Happy 1 week birthday to “The Mango Tree” btw!!) While I’m not one to read every. single. Goodreads review (I came of age as a journalist in the time of anonymous internet trolls), I have scanned them. They’re not all glowing and bright. My trade reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and others, were also speckled with dings here, knicks there. Although bless the critic at BookPage for giving me a coveted star!
This is to say: My reviewers were often as critical as I once was. Maybe I did let a stale roll slip through a time or two in these mango-laced chapters, and they called me on it. They had every right to.
But then something incredible happened. The New York Times chimed in, and their critic lavished praise on this book in the most thoughtful and nuanced way imaginable. Michelle Orange (an Orange review of mangoes is brilliant) saw this book for everything I hoped it to be. She understood my need to take back this story.
My favorite quote from her review:
In reclaiming [her mother] from the mug shot and clickbait headlines that followed her arrest, the author opens the door to something even more lasting, and possibly more severe: a daughter’s unflinching gaze.
Since Michelle’s review, “The Mango Tree’s” life has changed. My book is popping up all over the internet, and *very serious* writers whom I’ve looked up to for ages are sending their congratulations. It is surreal, and I cannot thank Michelle and The NYT enough — which is a new side of the coin for me.
As a restaurant critic, when I wrote a glowing review, the chef or owner would often reach out to thank me/JLB, offering free food or drinks or both for the kind words. I always declined the gifts. “Just doing my job!” I’d say.
Now that I’m on the other end of the glow, I get it. I want to buy Michelle Orange dinner and bottles of Champagne and something far better than molten lava cake for dessert. I want to thank her for her wisdom however I can. She took this piece of my heart and showed it to the world with tenderness and care. I will be forever grateful.
More mango glow
I have been in an ongoing state of shock and wonderment this week. Here are a few more accolades this juicy-sweet book has earned.
On Saturday, I had the unbelievable pleasure of talking to NPR’s Scott Simon on Weekend Edition about family trauma, resurrecting dead fathers and BB guns. You can’t tell, but I recorded the episode sitting in my closet trying SO HARD not to cry/fangirl/freak out. Listen to it here.
In addition to Michelle Orange’s I’m-still-crying-over-it review, The NYT listed “The Mango Tree” alongside books from Emily Henry (!) and Salman Rushdie (!!) on this list of April releases.
The Washington Post named “The Mango Tree” one of 10 noteworthy books for April.
ABC News Live chose TMT as a Buzz Pick and gave me 90 seconds to tell you why you must read it. I am, according to my kids, “doing weird things with your eyes.” Check it out!
“The Mango Tree” is an Amazon Editors’ Pick and has been an Amazon No. 1 best seller in both the “culinary” memoir and “dysfunctional families” categories (which tracks!)
The News-Press, my second home for 18 years, featured me and the book on the cover of Tropicalia. Thank you to my former colleague and mentor Charles Runnells for, once again, reading this book with such love!
Chanda Jamieson, an extraordinary writer who I am LUCKY to call my friend, profiled me and “The Mango Tree” for Gulfshore Life magazine. Chanda paints vividly and beautifully with her words, and this piece is no exception (also, they called me “beloved” :))
Traci Thomas of “The Stacks” podcast featured me in her “Unstacked” newsletter with a funny and thoughtful Q&A. If you don’t subscribe to all the things Traci does, please fix that now :)
You can read the first chapter of “The Mango Tree” in CrimeReads and find it featured in LitHub.
The mango road trip continues!
I’m saving the April 2 launch party amazingness for another post, but thank you to Palace Pub & Wine Bar, Cary Barbor, WGCU, Estrellita Filipino Restaurant, Gather Beverage Co., Honey Badger Baking, and EVERYONE who showed up, for making the sold-out event so phenomenally fun. AND we raised more than $350 for Kitchen Table Literary Arts in the process. If you didn’t get tickets to Palace, there’s plenty of time to catch me and the mangoes on book tour.
Next stops:
Wednesday, April 10 (tomorrow!), 6:30 p.m. @ Midtown Reader, Tallahassee FL: In conversation with editor, publisher and Florida Rewilder Ann VanderMeer; more info
Thursday, April 11, 6 p.m. VIRTUAL EVENT w/ Blue Cypress Books (this is free and available to all): Stream it live
Friday, April 12, 6 p.m. @ Third House Books, Gainesville FL: In conversation with Rebecca Renner, journalist and author of “Gator Country”; RSVP
April 16, 2 p.m. @ South County Regional Library, Estero FL: In conversation with food writer and restaurant critic Robyn George; RSVP
April 25, 7 p.m. @ Barnes & Noble, Fort Myers FL: In conversation with NYT bestselling author Nathan Hill; RSVP
You deserve it all! At least all the positive praise, forget what all those other people say.
I have been very moved by your book. I’ve laughed , And I’ve cried for a child that was forced to grow up way too soon. Not only did you survive but you have become a great mother and a fantastic wife to that son of mine.