Product Description

Molly O'Neill's father believed that baseball was his family's destiny. He wanted to spawn enough sons for an infield, so he married the tallest woman in Columbus, Ohio. Molly came out first, but eventually her father's plan prevailed. Five boys followed in rapid succession and the youngest, Paul O'Neill, did, in fact, grow up to be the star right fielder for the New York Yankees. In Mostly True, celebrated food critic and writer O'Neill tells the story of her quintessentially American family and the places where they come together -- around the table and on the ball field.

Molly's great-grandfather played on one of the earliest traveling teams in organized baseball, her grandfather played barnstorming ball, and her father pitched in the minor leagues, but after being sidelined with an injury in the war, he set his sights on the next generation. While her brothers raged and struggled to become their own men, Molly, appointed "Deputy Mom" at an age when most girls were playing with dolls, learned early how to be the model Midwestern homemaker and began casting about wildly for other possible destinies. As her mother cleaned fanatically and produced elaborate, healthy meals, Molly spoiled her bro-thers with skyscraper cakes, scribbled reams of poetry, and staged theatrical productions in the backyard. By the late 1960s, the Woodstock Nation had challenged some of the O'Neill values, but nothing altered their conviction that only remarkable achievement could save them.

Mostly True is the uncommon chronicle of a regular family pursuing the American dream and of one girl's quest to find her place in a world built for boys. Molly O'Neill -- an independent, extraordinarily talented, and fiercely funny woman -- showed that home runs can be hit in many fields. Her memoir is glorious.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3383194 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-05
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 600 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Former columnist for the New York Times and author of The New York Cookbook, O'Neill de-emphasizes the cooking element here in favor of cozy family gatherings around baseball games. Her memoir begins even before the courtship of her parents, minor leaguer "Chick" O'Neill and six-foot, convent-educated "Bootsie" Gwinn, in Columbus, Ohio, in 1945, and extends to younger brother Paul O'Neill's retirement as right-fielder for the Yankees in 2001. O'Neill meanders lovingly through years growing up as the eldest to five brothers who channeled their adolescent hormones into Little League. O'Neill records her first forays into cooking inspired by an Ohio Power and Electric Co. demonstration given for her Brownie troop; her brothers worshipped her for making dishes from Spam and processed cheese. In college, she secured jobs as a cook and took over the kitchen at Ciro's in Boston by 1979. Her cooking segued into writing, first for the Globe, then New York Newsday. By the time she became a restaurant critic for the Times in the early 1990s, younger brother Paul had been traded to the Yankees, bringing the whole unwieldy family to feast in New York. O'Neill charts a long-winded, pleasantly nostalgic trip. B&w photos. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Former New York Yankee outfielder Paul O'Neill's big sister is definitely a writer: this reads like shards of family stories, each one burnished to a deep shine of memory and longing. It's not a family bio, exactly; although she writes of her parents and five younger brothers, each looms large and fades. She writes about being female and tall in her childhood home in Ohio; about what made her parents who they were; about each of the boys, especially golden-haired baby Paulie. She writes, with offhand elegance and bone-deep humor, about the food of the Midwest, her mother's food, and the food she learned to cook later, in Provincetown and in Paris. Although it starts rather dreamily and slowly, the book's final chapters, chronicling more recent times--with her as the food writer for the New York Times and Paul as the baseball warrior for the New York Yankees--are like listening to a friend you want to know better reminisce about her incredibly engaging and engaged life. Anyone interested in any of the words of the subtitle will find much to enjoy. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Molly O' Neill has long been one of my favorite writers on food -- so it came as no surprise that Mostly True is as wonderful as it is. What is a surprise is the discovery that the author served time in the same Provincetown restaurant kitchen I did. All the old faces and voices of my good old/bad old days are right there in all their magnificently debauched glory. I can attest to the fact that this part of the memoir is absolutely true, thrilling to read, and reason enough to buy this book immediately. A delight from start to finish."-- Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential

Customer Reviews

True or Not,, It's an Enjoyable Book.
After reading this book I ordered several copies as gifts. That probably says it all, but I can't just leave it there. Molly O'Neill and her family grew up in the neighborhood where I live and I was taken by her memories of family life where she was the only girl with five male siblings and a father whose main focus was baseball. The exploits of the boys had me laughing out loud while also being thankful I didn't live next door to them.
I enjoyed reading how Molly's cooking expertise evolved and even included her brothers in this endeavor. Her writing, as always, was a delight.

Hello Columbus :)
Born in Columbus, raised with baseball, and just returning from my first trip to Paris. Could I have found a work more timely?

Sometimes you find excellent reads in the most unexpected places; a semi-cook book for crying out loud and one I purchased for my Columbus cousins no less.

Thumbing through the first few pages I was trapped in a presentation of butterfly proportions. Yea her brother Paul played in four World Series with the Yankees and one with the Reds but he really doesn't enter until the last fifty pages.
So I began by thinking where is Paul, after a while it didn't matter because Molly's writing is a homer all by itself and better yet I get to watch Paul come on the scene along with his brothers,family and Columbus.

Only having lived in the capital of Ohio my first year and visiting several times in my youth, my memories of it were foggy and quaint, however, growing up with the O'Neills those youthful day all came roaring back in vivid colors and the sweet vibrations of a pre-teen.

Beyond this traveling to the Cape, the City, and Paris was extra, her rebellions (with unexpected revelations) lent zest to the journey. Indeed Philip Roth has nothing on this lady, if fact when reading this the references to her cousin, Mark Twain, were thought only to be in jest, later in reading a review I found that she is really Mr. Clement's cousin. I then realized why _Life on the Mississippi_ kept flashing through my mind while I enjoyed the work. Molly can describe a situation and you honestly feel you are right there with her.

Ok Paul you are the "ultimate warrior," but I really think Molly's way of presenting a story is a lot more fun than watching a pitcher constantly throw over to first to hold you on base.

It's good to have Molly back
I loved Molly O'Neill's food columns in the New York Times and still miss them. She's an excellent food writer and with her memoir, Mostly True, she proves to be an excellent writer. Putting Mostly True in the same category as Angela's Ashes is saying a lot but that's where I place it. I loved everything about this book be it from her wanting a baby sister, to cooking in Provincetown with her two brothers, to her sharing her brother Paul's last night in pinstripes. She's leading an eventful life and has a great career. Imagine having Julia Child over for dinner and then having Paul O'Neill as a brother? I wish Molly were my friend. It's a great read and highly recommended.