The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School

By: Kathleen Flinn

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

In 2003, Kathleen Flinn, a 36-year-old American living and working in London, returned from vacation to find that her corporate job had been eliminated. Ignoring her mother's advice that she get another job immediately or "never get hired anywhere ever again", Flinn instead cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue a dream: a diploma from the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry is the touching and remarkably funny account of Flinn's transformation as she moves through the school's intense program and falls deeply in love along the way. Flinn interweaves more than two dozen recipes with a unique look inside Le Cordon Bleu amid battles with demanding chefs, competitive classmates, and her "wretchedly inadequate" French. Flinn offers a vibrant portrait of Paris, one in which the sights and sounds of the city's street markets and purveyors come alive in rich detail. The ultimate wish-fulfillment audiobook, her story is a true testament to pursuing a dream. Fans of Julie & Julia, Almost French, and Eat, Pray, Love will be amused, inspired, and richly rewarded by this seductive tale of romance, Paris, and French food.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2007 Kathleen Flinn (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Critic reviews

"I can never get enough of true stores about people who stop in the middle of life's journey to ask, 'What do I really want?' and then have the guts to actually go get it. Kathleen Flinn's tale of chasing her ultimate dream makes for a really lovely book - engaging, intelligent, and surprisingly suspenseful." (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love)

"The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry is an engaging story about a fantasy fulfilled. It's Under the Tuscan Sun goes to cooking school." (Michael Ruhlman, author of The Soul of a Chef)

"Although I can't cook my way out of a sac de papier, I found this book a joy to read. It's a compelling story about learning to cook and learning to love at the same time, told with humility, humor, and passion." (Bill Radke, host of NPR's Weekend America)

Merci, Chef

I'm one of those people who loves everything about food--buying it, cooking it, eating it, watching shows about it, and, yes, of course, books about it. Add in a dose of self-growth and discovery while traveling in a foreign country and I get extra excited.

So this book covered all of my favorite things and did not disappoint. Kathleen deftly weaves the joys and struggles of learning to cook at one of the most prestigious culinary institutes in the world (probably THE most prestigious) with her life in France, how she got there, the people she meets along the way, a new romance, and, of course--the food. Her descriptions of the food and techniques she sees, tastes, and tries to emulate is almost sensuous, but without trying to hard (a bad habit some food writers have).

I have to add that the narrator contributes greatly to the beauty--her voice is easy to listen to and there is variety to her cadence and tone without being overly-dramatic, she speaks the French phrases easily without sounding pretentious and I even enjoyed listening to her read the recipes! (Though I am excited to see a PDF of the recipes available.)

When I find myself coming up with excuses to listen to an audiobook and choosing it over other entertainment options, I know it's a good one. Merci, chef.

good story overall

I liked the story but the narrator cannot pronounce "saucepan". There were a few words that were unnecessarily repeated (like merde and affable) and I would have liked all of the french translated, not just a general idea of what was said.

Great story

I love this story. So easy to listen to, and contains recipes I’d like to try.

Makes me want/not want to go to culinary school

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't realize it had recipes in it until the narrator rattled off the first one. There's no sense in trying to decipher the recipe while she reads it - I downloaded and printed the ones I wanted. But the techniques are fascinating. This was written a while ago, and I wonder if the dishes prepared at the school are the same today. I looked forward every day to getting into my car and traveling to Paris during my commute.

Definitely Recommend

I really enjoyed this book! It was a charming story with lots of great cooking tips and tricks! I didn't want the book to end! It inspired me in my own kitchen.

A Joyful Read!

This book was so enjoyable to read. The authors descriptions transform you to Paris and take you on a journey that your tastebuds will salvate to the very last page.

One of the best I’ve listened to

Lovely, just absolutely lovely. This book made me want to return to culinary school and do everything all over again.

I enjoyed this book…

…reading about Kathleen’s time at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She has a will to learn and a natural charm. I have to wonder why she put herself through this without a working knowledge of French.

She gets by. We learn a lot, she writes nicely, and this becomes a charming recounting.

A fun and heartwarming memoir

A glimpse into the life of a culinary student in Paris. She doesn't dream of becoming a chef, so that particular stress isn't present. But she still wants to do well. Meanwhile, she speaks only a little French, and is far away from her friends, family, and boyfriend.

But the stories are fun and funny, mostly light, and all problems are eventually resolved.

The book also includes many recipes that I'm eager to try. They're in the included pdf, but the book is also bulked out a bit by having them all read aloud in the chapter to which they relate.

liked it

This was a fun listen. I did fast forward through the recipes, but really enjoyed the view of cooking school through a student. Not sure I want to each much french food, but enjoyed the book.