Born Round

The Secret History of a Full-time Eater

By: Frank Bruni

Narrated by: Frank Bruni

The New York Times restaurant critic's heartbreaking and hilarious account of how he learned to love food just enough

Frank Bruni was born round. Round as in stout, chubby, and always hungry. His relationship with eating was difficult and his struggle with it began early. When named the restaurant critic for The New York Times in 2004, he knew he would be performing one of the most watched tasks in the epicurean universe. And with food his friend and enemy both, his jitters focused primarily on whether he'd finally made some sense of that relationship. A captivating story of his unpredictable journalistic odyssey as well as his lifelong love-hate affair with food, Born Round will speak to everyone who's ever had to rein in an appetite to avoid letting out a waistband.

"©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.

I loved the way Frank’s awareness and process was shared with his audience.

It was riveting and couldn’t stop listening. It certainly held my attention throughout the entire journey.

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.