Bookworm Review: A Place At The Table by Susan Rebecca White

*Disclaimer: I was given this book as compensation for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White
March, 2014 Touchstone


Goodreads Synopsis: A Place at the Table tells the story of three richly nuanced characters whose paths converge in a chic Manhattan café: Bobby, a gay Southern boy who has been ostracized by his family; Amelia, a wealthy Connecticut woman whose life is upended when a family secret finally comes to light; and Alice, an African-American chef whose heritage is the basis of a famous cookbook but whose past is a mystery to those who know her.

As it sweeps from a freed-slave settlement in 1920s North Carolina to the Manhattan of the deadly AIDs epidemic of the 1980s to today’s wealthy suburbs, A Place at the Table celebrates the healing power of food and the magic of New York as three seekers come together in the understanding that when you embrace the thing that makes you different, you become whole.

My Thoughts: Love, heartbreak, loss, deception, acceptance and rejection – this book has it all! My favorite quote from this novel and the one I feel sums up the story best is “I think it is fair to say that I have become more interested in observing the world, rather than judging it.” 


I loved the stories of the three individuals – Alice, Bobby and Amelia – as well as how they all come together and are connected in a very creative way. I would have liked to see Alice’s character developed a bit more. I felt like the prologue was almost all we got of her life until closer to the end when it explains how they are all connected. I really liked her character and would’ve liked to read more about her.