Marrying the Ketchups

—Book Review— Title: Marrying the Ketchups Author: Jennifer Close Publisher: Knopf @aaknopf Genre: Literary Fiction

Marrying the Ketchups was my first read of 2023. It was a carryover BOTM from last year. I’m determined to get this stack under control! I saw this book on a couple people’s yearly favorites list, so I decided to dive in. Now, I’m not going to lie…it took me a good 25-30% to start to enjoy this book. I think I had to get a firm grasp of the characters (even with a family tree at the beginning of the book!) and the writing style. But once I was in, I was here for the drama. And not even drama so much, but more along the lines of “We all have our stuff”.

“Teddy believed that food could cure anything—heartbreak, homesickness, the common cold. During finals in college, he used to make his mom’s meat loaf recipe that called for cubes of Velveeta to be mixed inside. He swore the processed cheese made his brain sharper. It was comforting. It was home.”

This is a multigenerational tale of the Sullivan family in Chicago who love the Cubs, own a restaurant with the best burgers, and all dealing with stuff and hiding secrets from each other. It’s funny, it’s comforting and wise.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved these characters. Seriously. It’s hard to pick a favorite. My only gripe was there was lot of political stuff that I could’ve done without. Sometimes I wonder when current events are packed into a book how it will age over time.

Consider supporting my blog and independent bookstores by shopping my storefront of recently read books.