ok, so meanmamma is enjoying this book.....the mother, enid, reminds me so much of my late mother-in-law.......in this scene, enid is having lunch in the new york apartment of her son chip, served up by her daughter, a philly chef....despite the poached salmon on the table, she continues to drone on about a housewarming party she recently attended (ex-classmates of chip) that featured a pyramid of shrimp........the implication, my own children who moved away are not nearly as successful as those who stayed behind in our little home town......or something equally as obtuse......i have a simlar memory of my m-in-l's first visit to trc.....she droned on and on about a wonderful meal she had at the restaurant in cincy owned by my brother-in-law greg's then boss.......not a word about the meal she was consuming....just about that stellar meal.......like it was a gift from the gods......of course, that restaurant is now bankrpt, greg got fired, and my nondescript little place is int he black and chugging right along........so do we kin to women like enid succeed just to prove the enids of thw orld that we are worth noting and praising on our own merits? back to the book.......