Do You like book Blessed Are The Cheesemakers (2004)?
Throughout the book I kept thinking... I don't really care for this book. I felt like it just didn't mesh well. It seemed like Lynch was reaching from all different corners of her creative mind to come up with these circumstances for her characters. HOWEVER, with that said... she brought it all together in the end nicely. I am not sure if I care for her writing style. I feel like there were so many good pieces of her story and such a good basic underlying idea for the plot and just wasn't executed for all it could have been. One example is her use of $10 words intermittently. I appreciate larger words and don't even mind looking them up when I am not certain of their meanings, BUT seemed as if she were trying to hard to sound "smart." (Not that she isn't smart, she has published books) I was slightly reminded of Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men. The two characters from Steinbeck: George and Lennie had some quirky and witty personalities and with bantering throughout (as I briefly recall in my memory from high school over 10 years ago now). The characters in this book Corrie and Fee reminded me of the Steinbeck characters. They were by far my favorite characters in the book. I like the concept of the cheese and dairy farm and the overall story as a whole was clever and unique.
—Renee
Set in County Cork Ireland in Coolarney House, where some of the world's foremost farmhouse cheese is produced. It has been owned and operated for generations by two families, the Corrigans, who supply the cows for the milk and the Feehans, who supply the cheesemaking ability. The last two denizens of these families, both named Joseph, are getting up there in years and need someone, preferably family to take over the operations of the farmhouse. Their cheeses are known throughout the world, a fact that they chalk up to their consummate cheesemaking ability and good pastures for the cows. They also use a special "breed" of milkmaid. They only hire young women…who all happen to be pregnant…and vegetarians…and, are able to sing songs from "The Sound of Music" for hours on end. The cheesemakers, known as Corrie and Fee, have to find someone to take over the business and pin their hopes on Corrie's granddaughter, Abbey. Kit Stephens, a recently widowed New York investment banker. Despondent over his wife's death, Kit drowns his sorrows in barrels of Grey Goose vodka and is summarily fired from his tony Wall Street firm. Luckily, Kit's plucky Irish secretary knows just the place for him to dry out, a certain farm where they make a certain type of cheese.Easy read, cried at some parts, enjoyed it.Language and Sexual reference
—Melanie
(3.5 stars) Three stories come together in an Irish dairy farm. Corrie and Fee are the elderly cheesemakers, who are desperate to find the next generation before it is too late. Their operation is a labor of love, with many quirks, including pregnant, vegetarian milkmaids who milk to the Sound of Music. Abbey is the granddaughter who was taken away from the farm by her mother, and after marrying at a young age, she lives on a Pacific Island with her husband who is obsessed with irrigation. When she finds out that he has been "irrigating" other pastures after he found out she cannot have children, she is horrified and leaves with a friend to return to the U.K. and find her family. The third part involves Kit, a stockbroker whose life has devolved after the death of his wife and unborn baby. His assistant sends him off to Ireland to dry out and get sober. Kit unwittingly is drawn into the contest for the cheesemaker position and meets Abbey. They must find out if they have the touch to make a cheese worthy of Corrie and Fee. The cheese has a life and power of its own in the story and lends a charming taste of magical realism to the tale. The story has lots of humor including a pregnant cat called Jesus and other delightful quirks.
—Michelle