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Search
A sharp and funny novel of a congregational search committee, told as a memoir with recipes
Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she’s asked to join the church search committee for a new minister and agrees, resolving to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes, about the experience. That memoir, Search, follows the travails of the committee and their candidates—and becomes its own media sensation.
Dana had good material to work the committee is a wide-ranging mix of Unitarian Universalist congregants, and their candidates range from a baker and microbrew master/pastor to a reverend who identifies as both a witch and an environmental warrior. Although she may have been ambivalent about joining the committee, Dana finds that she cares deeply about the fate of this institution and she will fight the entire committee, if necessary, to win the day for her side. This wry and wise tale will speak to anyone who has ever gone searching.
Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she’s asked to join the church search committee for a new minister and agrees, resolving to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes, about the experience. That memoir, Search, follows the travails of the committee and their candidates—and becomes its own media sensation.
Dana had good material to work the committee is a wide-ranging mix of Unitarian Universalist congregants, and their candidates range from a baker and microbrew master/pastor to a reverend who identifies as both a witch and an environmental warrior. Although she may have been ambivalent about joining the committee, Dana finds that she cares deeply about the fate of this institution and she will fight the entire committee, if necessary, to win the day for her side. This wry and wise tale will speak to anyone who has ever gone searching.
393 pages, Hardcover
First published April 26, 2022
About the author
Michelle Huneven
12 books228 followersI am the author of four novels.
I was born in Altadena, California just a mile from where I live now. I college-hopped (Scripps, Grinnell, EWU) and landed at the Iowa Writer¹s Workshop where I received my MFA.
My first two books, Round Rock (Knopf 1997) and Jamesland (Knopf 2003), were both New York Times notable books and also finalists for the LA Times Book Award. My third novel, Blame, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2009), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and also a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. My fourth novel, Off Course, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2014), is coming out April 1, 2014.
Along the way, I’ve received a GE Younger Writers Award and a Whiting Award for Fiction. For many years my “day job” was reviewing restaurants and writing about food for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly and other publications. I’ve received a James Beard award (for “feature writing with recipes”) and an assortment of other awards for food journalism.
I’m presently teaching creative writing to undergraduates at UCLA and writing the occasional bit about food. I live with my husband Jim Potter, dog (Piper), cat (Mr. Pancks), and talkative African Grey parrot (Helen) in Altadena.
I was born in Altadena, California just a mile from where I live now. I college-hopped (Scripps, Grinnell, EWU) and landed at the Iowa Writer¹s Workshop where I received my MFA.
My first two books, Round Rock (Knopf 1997) and Jamesland (Knopf 2003), were both New York Times notable books and also finalists for the LA Times Book Award. My third novel, Blame, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2009), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and also a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. My fourth novel, Off Course, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2014), is coming out April 1, 2014.
Along the way, I’ve received a GE Younger Writers Award and a Whiting Award for Fiction. For many years my “day job” was reviewing restaurants and writing about food for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly and other publications. I’ve received a James Beard award (for “feature writing with recipes”) and an assortment of other awards for food journalism.
I’m presently teaching creative writing to undergraduates at UCLA and writing the occasional bit about food. I live with my husband Jim Potter, dog (Piper), cat (Mr. Pancks), and talkative African Grey parrot (Helen) in Altadena.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,021 reviews
June 4, 2022
5 big unexpected stars
While the premise of this book called out to me, I wasn't sure if it would work in reality. But it did, even more than I expected.
I’ve been a member of two Episcopal churches that underwent searches for new ministers. It’s a fraught time, with lots of contrary opinions, not just the age division so obvious here.
The book is written as a memoir, written by the female main character that actually spent two years in the seminary. At the time she’s asked to join the search committee, she was absent more than present on Sundays. As she wrote, “Once you miss a couple of Sundays, I’d found, it’s easy to keep skipping.”
I appreciated how much time the author spent rounding out the individuals on the committee, so I really felt I got to know them, their faults and strengths. That allowed me to get very invested in the search and how what people said they wanted didn’t always align with their actual choices.
I definitely related to Michelle. She initially tried to be the centrist in a field of polarized opposites. She put in the time, unlike some. When she formed an opinion, I was usually right there with her, having the same issues, especially when it related to Alanna and Jennie. Now bear in mind, I’m even older than Michelle, so I struggled with the rashness of the younger members of the committee. (It may also be that as the chair of my church’s finance committee, I truly understand how important the down and dirty things like finances and building maintenance are.) But I also understood the argument that younger members should have a minister that was closer to their age and they could all come along together.
While there’s a lot of drama here, it was also a deep book and touched on the different meanings of theology and religion. I loved the interviews and the questions and answers given. It made me think a lot about my own beliefs.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in both character “dramas” and spiritual issues.
My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for an advance copy of this book.
While the premise of this book called out to me, I wasn't sure if it would work in reality. But it did, even more than I expected.
I’ve been a member of two Episcopal churches that underwent searches for new ministers. It’s a fraught time, with lots of contrary opinions, not just the age division so obvious here.
The book is written as a memoir, written by the female main character that actually spent two years in the seminary. At the time she’s asked to join the search committee, she was absent more than present on Sundays. As she wrote, “Once you miss a couple of Sundays, I’d found, it’s easy to keep skipping.”
I appreciated how much time the author spent rounding out the individuals on the committee, so I really felt I got to know them, their faults and strengths. That allowed me to get very invested in the search and how what people said they wanted didn’t always align with their actual choices.
I definitely related to Michelle. She initially tried to be the centrist in a field of polarized opposites. She put in the time, unlike some. When she formed an opinion, I was usually right there with her, having the same issues, especially when it related to Alanna and Jennie. Now bear in mind, I’m even older than Michelle, so I struggled with the rashness of the younger members of the committee. (It may also be that as the chair of my church’s finance committee, I truly understand how important the down and dirty things like finances and building maintenance are.) But I also understood the argument that younger members should have a minister that was closer to their age and they could all come along together.
While there’s a lot of drama here, it was also a deep book and touched on the different meanings of theology and religion. I loved the interviews and the questions and answers given. It made me think a lot about my own beliefs.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in both character “dramas” and spiritual issues.
My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for an advance copy of this book.
May 9, 2022
I found “Search” by Michelle Huneven hysterically funny. Huneven pokes fun at the dysfunction of committees, in this case a search committee to find the perfect minister for the progressive Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church, which is affectionately referred to as “Awk”.
Our main character is Dana Potowski who is a famous restaurant critic and memoirist. She was asked to join the committee of 8 because she’s been a member of the church for 24 years and went to seminary school in her 30s. At the time she was asked, she just completed a book tour and needed fodder for a new novel.
Hence, Huneven structures the novel as a Memoir of Dana’s. Because the search committee was going to consume the majority of her time for a full year, Dana figured why not write about her experiences in the committee. To add some fun, she’ll include recipes of the dinners the committee enjoyed.
The interesting attribute of Unitarian Churches is that all are welcome: Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, Wiccan, etc. In fact, the Church’s opinion about God is ambivalent. The committee itself is comprised of diverse members in age, gender, race, and sexuality. They send out surveys, elect officers (Dana makes sure she’s the secretary), meet and discuss.
The group discussions of the different candidates are so funny. “I’m not impressed by some wussy bread baker who wears black dress socks with his Birkenstocks.” The group members could not be more different. The group dynamics along with the strange chemistry of the members makes this a truly fun read. Dana, who started in the group as just garnering an interesting story out of the process ends up really caring about who the group picks. The group becomes splintered with “the olds” which includes Dana and the group who want to pick a staid and experienced person and the youngs led by a tattooed young woman who is determined to find a hip, female BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People Of Color), and preferably a lesbian.
This is a fun character study of the silly ideas and behaviors we bring and fall into while being a part of a committee that is appointed to select an option, in this case a minister. There are petty fights, silly observations, and amusing conversations. This is a story not to miss!
I listened to the audio narrated by the wonderful Cassandra Campbell. She was the perfect voice in all the different characters.
Our main character is Dana Potowski who is a famous restaurant critic and memoirist. She was asked to join the committee of 8 because she’s been a member of the church for 24 years and went to seminary school in her 30s. At the time she was asked, she just completed a book tour and needed fodder for a new novel.
Hence, Huneven structures the novel as a Memoir of Dana’s. Because the search committee was going to consume the majority of her time for a full year, Dana figured why not write about her experiences in the committee. To add some fun, she’ll include recipes of the dinners the committee enjoyed.
The interesting attribute of Unitarian Churches is that all are welcome: Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, Wiccan, etc. In fact, the Church’s opinion about God is ambivalent. The committee itself is comprised of diverse members in age, gender, race, and sexuality. They send out surveys, elect officers (Dana makes sure she’s the secretary), meet and discuss.
The group discussions of the different candidates are so funny. “I’m not impressed by some wussy bread baker who wears black dress socks with his Birkenstocks.” The group members could not be more different. The group dynamics along with the strange chemistry of the members makes this a truly fun read. Dana, who started in the group as just garnering an interesting story out of the process ends up really caring about who the group picks. The group becomes splintered with “the olds” which includes Dana and the group who want to pick a staid and experienced person and the youngs led by a tattooed young woman who is determined to find a hip, female BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People Of Color), and preferably a lesbian.
This is a fun character study of the silly ideas and behaviors we bring and fall into while being a part of a committee that is appointed to select an option, in this case a minister. There are petty fights, silly observations, and amusing conversations. This is a story not to miss!
I listened to the audio narrated by the wonderful Cassandra Campbell. She was the perfect voice in all the different characters.
April 25, 2022
A thoroughly enjoyable book about a committee at a church formed to find their new pastor? Yes! It is so engrossing, yet also uncomfortable and relatable.
There was so much about this book that was so very familiar. I've attended and been a member of many churches in my lifetime. I consider myself an evangelical/protestant Christian, so a book about a Universalist/Unitarian pastor search was a little more "out there" than what I've experienced in the church world. However, as I was reading, even though it didn't feature the same belief system I adhere to, I came to realize that any organized group, particularly any organized church group, is going to be more similar than it is different.
I loved the dynamics of the search committee, how each member brought in their own worldview and past experiences to create a small microcosm of the rest of the church body. I appreciated the dilemmas they encountered as they went about their search and the obstacles that stood in their way. I related to so much of the drama and the desire for their church to grow, yet also to not leave everything familiar behind in order to meet that desire.
There are also recipes included in the end, along with a great number of delectable meals and foods consumed along the way. If you're looking for a captivating book with interesting characters and situations, I recommend giving this a try because you just might be as surprised as I was at how much you like it.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
There was so much about this book that was so very familiar. I've attended and been a member of many churches in my lifetime. I consider myself an evangelical/protestant Christian, so a book about a Universalist/Unitarian pastor search was a little more "out there" than what I've experienced in the church world. However, as I was reading, even though it didn't feature the same belief system I adhere to, I came to realize that any organized group, particularly any organized church group, is going to be more similar than it is different.
I loved the dynamics of the search committee, how each member brought in their own worldview and past experiences to create a small microcosm of the rest of the church body. I appreciated the dilemmas they encountered as they went about their search and the obstacles that stood in their way. I related to so much of the drama and the desire for their church to grow, yet also to not leave everything familiar behind in order to meet that desire.
There are also recipes included in the end, along with a great number of delectable meals and foods consumed along the way. If you're looking for a captivating book with interesting characters and situations, I recommend giving this a try because you just might be as surprised as I was at how much you like it.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
April 28, 2022
Audiobook….read by Cassandra Campbell …
….13 hours and 8 minutes
Totally an enjoyable delicious and exquisite audiobook companion!! 🎧🫒🥗🥖🍫🍷✝️✡️☸️☯️☮️
It’s gotta be said—if it hasn’t already a dozen times—that the premise for this book is really clever.
A great kick off start… a satisfying/compelling ending…
the diverse community characters were a blast-of-laughs….
…..fascinating….probably pretty true storytelling of the actual innuendos of hiring a leader of a religious congregation.
There were disappointments, accusations, assumptions, decisions to be made, yummy foods, (warm dumplings, seafood chowder….
tomato basque soup?
Tofu, veggies, and noodles,
French Chardonnay,
chocolate cake, etc.)…
And…..at its core was:
‘the search”: (meeting the contenders),
the process of narrowing down applicants, amateurs, ambitious people, gossip, the drama queen, bossy pants, community funnies,
heads filled with theory, those lacking experience, people who listen and manage others, people to trust, people to mistrust,
drama queens,….
pages of ongoing drama!!!
There were serious issues to contemplate as well….
But…but…but….
….you know sometimes we shouldn’t have to explain why we simply enjoy a book ….
Overall -this was an engaging clever story…..
Great choice topic, and ambitious successful crafting.
Fascinating church culture!!
In all honesty I never gave this entire topic an ounce of thought — not sure why I haven’t — I mean—
I’ve seen new Rabbi’s come and go….
but
I was never directly involved in the process of hiring with committee congregants.
So….
I found the hiring process informative and thought provoking.
MOST
as I said at the beginning…..it
was….
*TOTALLY-ENJOYABLE*!!!
….13 hours and 8 minutes
Totally an enjoyable delicious and exquisite audiobook companion!! 🎧🫒🥗🥖🍫🍷✝️✡️☸️☯️☮️
It’s gotta be said—if it hasn’t already a dozen times—that the premise for this book is really clever.
A great kick off start… a satisfying/compelling ending…
the diverse community characters were a blast-of-laughs….
…..fascinating….probably pretty true storytelling of the actual innuendos of hiring a leader of a religious congregation.
There were disappointments, accusations, assumptions, decisions to be made, yummy foods, (warm dumplings, seafood chowder….
tomato basque soup?
Tofu, veggies, and noodles,
French Chardonnay,
chocolate cake, etc.)…
And…..at its core was:
‘the search”: (meeting the contenders),
the process of narrowing down applicants, amateurs, ambitious people, gossip, the drama queen, bossy pants, community funnies,
heads filled with theory, those lacking experience, people who listen and manage others, people to trust, people to mistrust,
drama queens,….
pages of ongoing drama!!!
There were serious issues to contemplate as well….
But…but…but….
….you know sometimes we shouldn’t have to explain why we simply enjoy a book ….
Overall -this was an engaging clever story…..
Great choice topic, and ambitious successful crafting.
Fascinating church culture!!
In all honesty I never gave this entire topic an ounce of thought — not sure why I haven’t — I mean—
I’ve seen new Rabbi’s come and go….
but
I was never directly involved in the process of hiring with committee congregants.
So….
I found the hiring process informative and thought provoking.
MOST
as I said at the beginning…..it
was….
*TOTALLY-ENJOYABLE*!!!
May 30, 2022
As a UU minister, I've struggled with writing a review of this book because I fear that my negative assessment, in the midst of so many glowing reactions, will come off as hyper-sensitive or defensive. After all, the faith that I love ends up looking like a dysfunctional country club with no underlying theology or core principles. The ministers (with only a few possible exceptions) have terrible boundaries, at best, not even counting the blatant misconductors. Each member of the search team is a caricature crafted from a White, cisgender, heterosexual, non-disabled, middle-aged, financially privileged perspective. In the midst of so many power games, the narrator emerges as the center of reason. Of course she does. "Normalcy" is the gift of privilege.
And here's the thing... there's a lot of truth in this novel. I laughed out loud at points because some scenes could have been taken directly from my lived experience as a minister. And at other points, I wanted to yell. One thing the book does well is show the ways that entrenched systems of power undermine and ultimately destroy the very organizations that were shaped by those systems in the first place. But organizations like congregations aren't unfeeling, abstract entities. They are made up of people -- people who love them, and depend on them, and can be deeply wounded by them.
In the end, the thing that upsets me most about this novel is the lack of upset. In the end, it is all just so cute. We are watching the death of a congregation. A congregation that has the potential to feed people's spirits and offer an alternative to a culture based in competition, perfectionism, othering, and exclusivity. It is a tragedy. A tragedy about which the narrator (and, I think, the author herself) never really care. Not when it can function as fodder for a book with recipes and cocktails.
And here's the thing... there's a lot of truth in this novel. I laughed out loud at points because some scenes could have been taken directly from my lived experience as a minister. And at other points, I wanted to yell. One thing the book does well is show the ways that entrenched systems of power undermine and ultimately destroy the very organizations that were shaped by those systems in the first place. But organizations like congregations aren't unfeeling, abstract entities. They are made up of people -- people who love them, and depend on them, and can be deeply wounded by them.
In the end, the thing that upsets me most about this novel is the lack of upset. In the end, it is all just so cute. We are watching the death of a congregation. A congregation that has the potential to feed people's spirits and offer an alternative to a culture based in competition, perfectionism, othering, and exclusivity. It is a tragedy. A tragedy about which the narrator (and, I think, the author herself) never really care. Not when it can function as fodder for a book with recipes and cocktails.
May 3, 2022
I would never have believed that I’d review — and love — a novel that includes recipes. But Michelle Huneven’s “Search” and her Midmorning Glory Muffins have made me a believer. Which is appropriate because “Search” is a story about the evolving nature of belief.
Others, though, may feel skeptical about entering this explicitly religious novel. After all, “Search” is about a church looking for a new minister. The chapters present a long series of committee meetings — a plot that could test the faith of even the most devout reader, despite the inclusion of Escarole Salad with Favas, Mint, and Pecorino. Indeed, in summary “Search” sounds weirdly ecclesial and culinary, like Marilynne Robinson with a light vinaigrette.
Behold: What follows isn’t so much a review as an act of evangelicalism.
Huneven’s narrator, Dana, is a restaurant critic and memoirist who belongs to a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arroyo, Calif. The wealthy, highly educated group of about 300 members is liberal to a fault, more devoted to diversity than divinity: Atheists Welcome! They’re wholly focused on social action and generally uncomfortable with Jesus-talk. By some heavenly coincidence, the church goes by its initials AUUCC, pronounced “awk.”
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
Others, though, may feel skeptical about entering this explicitly religious novel. After all, “Search” is about a church looking for a new minister. The chapters present a long series of committee meetings — a plot that could test the faith of even the most devout reader, despite the inclusion of Escarole Salad with Favas, Mint, and Pecorino. Indeed, in summary “Search” sounds weirdly ecclesial and culinary, like Marilynne Robinson with a light vinaigrette.
Behold: What follows isn’t so much a review as an act of evangelicalism.
Huneven’s narrator, Dana, is a restaurant critic and memoirist who belongs to a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arroyo, Calif. The wealthy, highly educated group of about 300 members is liberal to a fault, more devoted to diversity than divinity: Atheists Welcome! They’re wholly focused on social action and generally uncomfortable with Jesus-talk. By some heavenly coincidence, the church goes by its initials AUUCC, pronounced “awk.”
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
April 28, 2022
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I requested a copy of Search to review - but sometimes it pays to look outside your reading comfort zone … this was a fascinating and engrossing read!
The narrative takes the form of a memoire, told from the perspective of Dana Potowski, describing her experience as a committee member in her Altadena Ca. church's search for a new senior minister. When the incumbent, Tom Fox, announces his intention to retire in a year's time, eight members of the congregation - including 50-something food critic Dana - are appointed to select his replacement. They're a diverse group, representing long-standing and more recent members, different life stages and widely divergent views on what the AUUCC (Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church) most needs to secure its ongoing prosperity.
Dana joins the search committee in good faith, though with some reservations as to what it will require of her. While the church's theology is multi-faith and extremely liberal, human nature proves fairly universal. Before long, Dana's having some less-than-charitable thoughts about some of her fellow committee members. People who make excuses and under-deliver, those with a single, unshakeable agenda, brow-beaters, conciliators, fuss-pots and sticks-in-the-mud. While I'm not a practising member of any religious denomination or spiritual association, I found many of Dana's experiences and reflections chimed with my own recollections of having served on project groups, and especially employee selection committees.
I found Search a thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking read, the heavier spiritual and group dynamic themes enhanced by the lighter food-related sub-plot and inclusion of delicious recipes at the end of the book. I'll be incorporating some of these into my own meal-planning over the next few weeks! I should also mention the gorgeous cover, featuring an artwork entitled "Mountain Path" by artist Astrid Preston.
I'd heartily recommend Search to any reader who enjoys contemporary human drama and great characters. Readership is in no way limited to those who have a religious affiliation, although readers with an interest in the way such institutions operate will particularly enjoy the novel.
My thanks to the author, Michelle Huneven, publisher Penguin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent title.
The narrative takes the form of a memoire, told from the perspective of Dana Potowski, describing her experience as a committee member in her Altadena Ca. church's search for a new senior minister. When the incumbent, Tom Fox, announces his intention to retire in a year's time, eight members of the congregation - including 50-something food critic Dana - are appointed to select his replacement. They're a diverse group, representing long-standing and more recent members, different life stages and widely divergent views on what the AUUCC (Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church) most needs to secure its ongoing prosperity.
Dana joins the search committee in good faith, though with some reservations as to what it will require of her. While the church's theology is multi-faith and extremely liberal, human nature proves fairly universal. Before long, Dana's having some less-than-charitable thoughts about some of her fellow committee members. People who make excuses and under-deliver, those with a single, unshakeable agenda, brow-beaters, conciliators, fuss-pots and sticks-in-the-mud. While I'm not a practising member of any religious denomination or spiritual association, I found many of Dana's experiences and reflections chimed with my own recollections of having served on project groups, and especially employee selection committees.
I found Search a thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking read, the heavier spiritual and group dynamic themes enhanced by the lighter food-related sub-plot and inclusion of delicious recipes at the end of the book. I'll be incorporating some of these into my own meal-planning over the next few weeks! I should also mention the gorgeous cover, featuring an artwork entitled "Mountain Path" by artist Astrid Preston.
I'd heartily recommend Search to any reader who enjoys contemporary human drama and great characters. Readership is in no way limited to those who have a religious affiliation, although readers with an interest in the way such institutions operate will particularly enjoy the novel.
My thanks to the author, Michelle Huneven, publisher Penguin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent title.
April 7, 2022
During these terror-filled days, I need a novel that will excite me, but in a calmer way than speculative fiction and disaster novels. I was seeking an environment of peaceful, everyday citizens. This novel came along at the perfect time! I have read several Huneven novels happily, and I knew she had the chops for a novel of manners. She captured the languid tempo of the unincorporated area of Altadena (about 30 minutes from LA). Setting, theme, pastoral vibe, and has a Middlemarch mood. But it claims its own story. A search committee selecting the next minister at a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church discovers how their different personalities clash or engage as they negotiate decisions. Moreover, the narrator, a writer, has a divergent or secret agenda—a less surface reason for joining the committee. Can eight people from Gen Z to aging Boomer agree on a candidate? The search outward presses on the need for a search inward.
Readers are taken inside into the social contract of these diverse people; that’s where the drama arises from. Who would have thought that the search for a new minister at a UU church could be compelling even when, in our real lives, a madman is on the loose invading Europe, but it is. I escaped and fell into Altadena and the characters. For those not sure what a UU church is, it serves a spiritual quest rather than a religious one. There’s no creed or dogma, and has a liberal, progressive agenda toward social justice.
SEARCH is a page-turner that inspired me to ask myself poignant moral questions about accepting others’ points of view and connecting with people so different from myself. I was all in in this bucolic place, the rolling pastureland, with farm animals, and a deep dive into personality. The etiquette and attitudes were key. The narrator, Dana Potowski, is a talented and modestly successful writer of several books—memoirs, recipes—although she is able to live an undisturbed life with her husband, Jack, their dog, Bunchie, and a few donks. She’s in her early fifties, childless, a restaurant reviewer, too. She attended seminary school over 20 years ago, but with two paths before her—writing or becoming a minister, she decided on writing. Still nostalgic, she decides that she will write a book about her year on the search committee. The food reviewed by Dana or cooked by others made me hungry, too. I was also glad that she saved the recipes for after the final page, rather than interspersing them throughout the narrative. She keeps her agenda a secret from the others on the committee.
Huneven’s narrative is about the year they spent meeting and selecting their new senior minister. Yes, it is filled with plenty of quotidian drama and personal upheavals—it feels intimate, organic, sometimes tense. The search committee working together brings out the best and worst of each other and themselves. The candidates are also intriguing. Jennie, the Gen Z on the committee, has fierce ideas for electing a female minister, instead of the standard “old White men.”
Although all agree that the senior minister should be someone that reflects the diversity of life, the ingredients for what kind of person they need creates frequent flare-ups. Fractures and factions erupt, and every little drama is a new surprise. The conflicts that arise are mostly due to generational gaps rather than spiritual differences, although a little of that comes into play, too. And, oh, boy, those generation gaps can be utterly intense. This is a character-driven novel with lots of sizzling dialogue and introspection—convincing, authentic, and not one false note.
A huge thanks to Penguin Press for sending me an ARC to review.
Readers are taken inside into the social contract of these diverse people; that’s where the drama arises from. Who would have thought that the search for a new minister at a UU church could be compelling even when, in our real lives, a madman is on the loose invading Europe, but it is. I escaped and fell into Altadena and the characters. For those not sure what a UU church is, it serves a spiritual quest rather than a religious one. There’s no creed or dogma, and has a liberal, progressive agenda toward social justice.
SEARCH is a page-turner that inspired me to ask myself poignant moral questions about accepting others’ points of view and connecting with people so different from myself. I was all in in this bucolic place, the rolling pastureland, with farm animals, and a deep dive into personality. The etiquette and attitudes were key. The narrator, Dana Potowski, is a talented and modestly successful writer of several books—memoirs, recipes—although she is able to live an undisturbed life with her husband, Jack, their dog, Bunchie, and a few donks. She’s in her early fifties, childless, a restaurant reviewer, too. She attended seminary school over 20 years ago, but with two paths before her—writing or becoming a minister, she decided on writing. Still nostalgic, she decides that she will write a book about her year on the search committee. The food reviewed by Dana or cooked by others made me hungry, too. I was also glad that she saved the recipes for after the final page, rather than interspersing them throughout the narrative. She keeps her agenda a secret from the others on the committee.
Huneven’s narrative is about the year they spent meeting and selecting their new senior minister. Yes, it is filled with plenty of quotidian drama and personal upheavals—it feels intimate, organic, sometimes tense. The search committee working together brings out the best and worst of each other and themselves. The candidates are also intriguing. Jennie, the Gen Z on the committee, has fierce ideas for electing a female minister, instead of the standard “old White men.”
Although all agree that the senior minister should be someone that reflects the diversity of life, the ingredients for what kind of person they need creates frequent flare-ups. Fractures and factions erupt, and every little drama is a new surprise. The conflicts that arise are mostly due to generational gaps rather than spiritual differences, although a little of that comes into play, too. And, oh, boy, those generation gaps can be utterly intense. This is a character-driven novel with lots of sizzling dialogue and introspection—convincing, authentic, and not one false note.
A huge thanks to Penguin Press for sending me an ARC to review.
April 15, 2024
Dana is a restaurant critic and food writer, as well as a longtime member of her Unitarian church in California. She is asked to join the church’s search committee to find a new minister. Dana is cautious as she considers the offer because of her recent lack of engagement with church and the time commitment required, however, she also needs an idea for her next book and wonders if the search committee would be a good source for this material.
The committee is comprised of 8 congregation members with different personalities, professions, and hopes about the next new ideal minister for their church. There is often tension and disagreement among the group regarding the best way to proceed forward or about who should handle what, but there is also friendship and bonding among the group. I found some of the characters frustrating at times, others funny at moments, and all, human. As the search continues, Dana realizes how deeply she cares about the church and its future.
I felt invested in this story from the start! It felt like I was in the room, eating meals and debating with the committee members. I know nothing about the inner workings of a church or how this type of search is conducted, so I found these aspects interesting and informative. Dana’s job as a food critic and restaurant reviewer was an added bonus.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Search and highly recommend it! This is based on Michelle Huneven’s real life experience participating in a church search committee. Even if you don’t consider yourself a religious person, there is plenty to like in Search.
The committee is comprised of 8 congregation members with different personalities, professions, and hopes about the next new ideal minister for their church. There is often tension and disagreement among the group regarding the best way to proceed forward or about who should handle what, but there is also friendship and bonding among the group. I found some of the characters frustrating at times, others funny at moments, and all, human. As the search continues, Dana realizes how deeply she cares about the church and its future.
I felt invested in this story from the start! It felt like I was in the room, eating meals and debating with the committee members. I know nothing about the inner workings of a church or how this type of search is conducted, so I found these aspects interesting and informative. Dana’s job as a food critic and restaurant reviewer was an added bonus.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Search and highly recommend it! This is based on Michelle Huneven’s real life experience participating in a church search committee. Even if you don’t consider yourself a religious person, there is plenty to like in Search.
July 16, 2022
Full disclosure: I am Unitarian, although I have never been involved in a search committee, I have taken on other roles within my congregation.
I found this book so irritating in so many ways.
I read for character and insight, and halfway through this book the only character we have more than a rough sketch of is the protagonist/narrator, and she is just boring and awful. No depth. I don’t expect characters to be “likeable” but I do want them to be interesting and compelling. This is just some super basic middle-aged middle-class white woman who pats herself on the back for being so earnest while variously painting everyone she meets as one-dimensional and making shallow judgements about them. Her total lack of self-awareness is galling - repeatedly fat-shaming Jennie, and not feeling even a twinge when Jennie calls out Riley for fat-shaming the Sanderses, for example (instead she makes a nasty comment about his appearance). Her gross desperation to make Adrian her personal “magical Negro” and excitement at being able to pretend she’s friends with “the polyamorists” and claiming edginess by proxy. She insults everyone else’s potluck offerings and praises her own. The whole book is peppered with the people she drags saying “you’re so chic/smart/kind/sparkling/whatever.” I hate self-aggrandizing humblebraggers almost as much as I hate critical complainers, and she is both
More frustrating, there were numerous moments where it seems like maybe Dana will have an epiphany/revelation/moment of growth, but she falls short. Like when she is asked to “take Jennie in hand” and they go out to dinner - Jennie confesses that she’s missed meetings because her mom was trying to get her to gossip, and she was adhering to their confidentiality covenant and getting punished for it. This was a moment where Dana could have showed compassion, shared something of herself, tried to deepen and build their relationship - but nope, a few pages later, she blithely comments that Jennie will be gone soon to her fellow schemer. This also after a whole bit about how her fave old minister Sparlo had the decency to lift people into alternate positions rather than simply firing them from committees with nothing else to do.
The worst was when Charlotte - after 30 years of sobriety, and severe physical pain - succumbs to pills, instead of compassion, Dana feels betrayed! Actually the worst was when Sam - whose wife has just had a severe stroke - asks the committee to be there for him when he is nearing the end, and they laugh at him. That actually made my blood boil at the cruelty. Who could be that mean?
Throughout, while reiterating to “the kids” that they need to consider what the congregation needs and not their personal desires, she personally focuses on whether she could see a given candidate as her “friend.” When they were deciding between the two candidates, she could have said something compelling about Elsa but instead made it all about how she doesn’t like young people. Constantly insulting and sniping at others, never taking responsibility for her own role beyond being mad that people weren’t deferring to her.
And that awful bit at the end about how she befriended Elsa and Elsa helped with the book and encouraged her to “take risks” - what risks, painting Elsa as a superstar and Alanna as a fool? It’s just intellectually lazy. Especially when the “downfall” that happened to the congregation after Tom left was largely in motion before the search even concluded - the loss of endowment, the departure of tenants, the leaking roof.
I get that she’s a food writer and as such not used to deep dives into character and motivation, but this was horrible. This was just an awful assortment of shallow caricatures.
I found this book so irritating in so many ways.
I read for character and insight, and halfway through this book the only character we have more than a rough sketch of is the protagonist/narrator, and she is just boring and awful. No depth. I don’t expect characters to be “likeable” but I do want them to be interesting and compelling. This is just some super basic middle-aged middle-class white woman who pats herself on the back for being so earnest while variously painting everyone she meets as one-dimensional and making shallow judgements about them. Her total lack of self-awareness is galling - repeatedly fat-shaming Jennie, and not feeling even a twinge when Jennie calls out Riley for fat-shaming the Sanderses, for example (instead she makes a nasty comment about his appearance). Her gross desperation to make Adrian her personal “magical Negro” and excitement at being able to pretend she’s friends with “the polyamorists” and claiming edginess by proxy. She insults everyone else’s potluck offerings and praises her own. The whole book is peppered with the people she drags saying “you’re so chic/smart/kind/sparkling/whatever.” I hate self-aggrandizing humblebraggers almost as much as I hate critical complainers, and she is both
More frustrating, there were numerous moments where it seems like maybe Dana will have an epiphany/revelation/moment of growth, but she falls short. Like when she is asked to “take Jennie in hand” and they go out to dinner - Jennie confesses that she’s missed meetings because her mom was trying to get her to gossip, and she was adhering to their confidentiality covenant and getting punished for it. This was a moment where Dana could have showed compassion, shared something of herself, tried to deepen and build their relationship - but nope, a few pages later, she blithely comments that Jennie will be gone soon to her fellow schemer. This also after a whole bit about how her fave old minister Sparlo had the decency to lift people into alternate positions rather than simply firing them from committees with nothing else to do.
The worst was when Charlotte - after 30 years of sobriety, and severe physical pain - succumbs to pills, instead of compassion, Dana feels betrayed! Actually the worst was when Sam - whose wife has just had a severe stroke - asks the committee to be there for him when he is nearing the end, and they laugh at him. That actually made my blood boil at the cruelty. Who could be that mean?
Throughout, while reiterating to “the kids” that they need to consider what the congregation needs and not their personal desires, she personally focuses on whether she could see a given candidate as her “friend.” When they were deciding between the two candidates, she could have said something compelling about Elsa but instead made it all about how she doesn’t like young people. Constantly insulting and sniping at others, never taking responsibility for her own role beyond being mad that people weren’t deferring to her.
And that awful bit at the end about how she befriended Elsa and Elsa helped with the book and encouraged her to “take risks” - what risks, painting Elsa as a superstar and Alanna as a fool? It’s just intellectually lazy. Especially when the “downfall” that happened to the congregation after Tom left was largely in motion before the search even concluded - the loss of endowment, the departure of tenants, the leaking roof.
I get that she’s a food writer and as such not used to deep dives into character and motivation, but this was horrible. This was just an awful assortment of shallow caricatures.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2023
I loved this book so much I dreamed about it.
August 10, 2022
First off, if you read this book, prepare to be hungry throughout it with all the descriptions of the food the characters are eating, not to mention the exotic drinks they are sipping. I’m a vegetarian and don’t drink alcohol, but even I heard my stomach rumbling while reading, and I was thirsty for something different than my usual choices.
Why is there so much food and beverages in this book? This is because the MC is part memoir writer and part restaurant reviewer, plus now, she’s on a committee to choose the next pastor of her place of worship, a group that shares many a meal during the choosing process. Who knew a book centered around this topic could be so engaging, especially since the MC and many others on the committee weren’t always the most likable. But somehow, the author made me care about most of them, flaws and all, and the search took some twists and turns. A good dose of humor certainly helped things along, as did the MC’s secret note-taking when planning to write her next book based on the pastor search.
You don’t need to be religious to enjoy this book, which doesn’t really focus as much on churchly matters as matters of the hearts and minds of these characters. I’d call it a mostly lighter read, except for all those heavy meals. Should you read this book, have a snack and beverage handy as you dig in.
Why is there so much food and beverages in this book? This is because the MC is part memoir writer and part restaurant reviewer, plus now, she’s on a committee to choose the next pastor of her place of worship, a group that shares many a meal during the choosing process. Who knew a book centered around this topic could be so engaging, especially since the MC and many others on the committee weren’t always the most likable. But somehow, the author made me care about most of them, flaws and all, and the search took some twists and turns. A good dose of humor certainly helped things along, as did the MC’s secret note-taking when planning to write her next book based on the pastor search.
You don’t need to be religious to enjoy this book, which doesn’t really focus as much on churchly matters as matters of the hearts and minds of these characters. I’d call it a mostly lighter read, except for all those heavy meals. Should you read this book, have a snack and beverage handy as you dig in.
September 21, 2021
What a delicious surprise. Dana P, a published author who also reviews restaurants, is tapped to join the search committee for a new pastor for her church, a congregation of diversity both in character and age. Dana herself is in her 50's, and lands in a situation she had no idea would turn out to be so all-encompassing. Populated with a cast (I want to say of thousands) that comes to life and enhanced by recipes of dishes included in the narrative, this is a book that deserves credit and recognition and needs to be promoted.
January 14, 2022
I've heard of Christian thrillers and Amish romances, but this was the first time I considered the possibility that "UU horror" could be a genre.
Here we have Dana Potowski, a food critic, writer, and one-time seminarian who finds herself chivvied (not unwillingly) onto her southern California UU congregation's newly formed search committee for a settled minister to replace their tired and retiring spiritual leader. Forgoing the usually recommended step of an intentional interim minister, the congregation believes it's healthy enough, stable enough, and sufficiently self-aware to hire a permanent clergyperson.
The committee is a near-perfect cross-section of the congregation with representatives from every adult decade of life, a broad range of ethnic backgrounds, an array of sexual orientations and preferences, and a diverse history of prior religious affiliation.
From the start, the committee is doomed. One member's parents bought that seat on the committee in the hopes of influencing the outcome. One member isn't even a member of the church. One is cowed by persuasive women and has a clinical inability to complete tasks. Another maintains warm professional distance and abhors problems that take longer than 10 weeks to resolve, one is gentle but dim and insensitive, and two are the old-school powerhouses that have long been used to running things. And, of course, our own Dana P. is secretly embarking on this search in hopes of gleaning a new book to fill the void in her professional career.
In every character, we see glimpses of fullness. The abrasive provocateur has iron-clad ethics around confidentiality. The anxiously inept bell-ringer who wants so badly to please everyone finally finds solid footing. The befuddled evangelical makes extraordinarily salient points about what it means to "welcome all." The dim septuagenarian caring for his matriarchal mother-in-law pleads for more mercy than the ravages of age have shown her.
But those glimpses don't amount to much. Dana would have to reflect too painfully on her own foibles to acknowledge the inherent worth and dignity of all her fellow committee members.
As I said at the beginning, this should qualify as "UU horror." UUs believe in ideals and believe that embodying those ideals will lead to an ideal outcome. But all congregations are filled with people. Imperfect, unideal, self-preserving people. The retiring minister has glowing merits and some major communication problems. (He shouldn't be the only one who knows about upcoming problems.) The search committee's covenant is written by one faction to quash another. (No one reads it.) Ageism, sexism, ableism, and racism are all decried and embraced in equal turn. (Words are valued more than actions.) And social media--never once mentioned--reigns sneakily supreme. Curated videos rank above actual accomplishment. Publicly performing the trendiest values supersedes living out one's faith. Star power trumps suitability.
The story is carefully unwound, bit by bit, revelation by revelation, secret by secret. While slow at first, the pacing matches that of an actual search committee with some jostling as everyone vies for their position in the group before actually digging into the work ahead. Framing the novel as a memoir (and a second edition, no less!) made the story that much more acute and personal. Personally, I could have done with less food, but it and the recipes lend a marvelous realism and insight into Dana's own jumbled goals and fractured focus.
Full disclosure: I'm in a UU church currently searching for an interim minister. I'm not on the search committee, but I am on the board, and every step noted in this book is close to home. We've talked about swapping packets and the matching process. We've had retreats and interim search guidance from the UUA. We've had cottage meetings, some hard lessons, and missteps that sent us back to the beginning of the process. The book is precisely, sometimes painfully accurate about the inner workings of the UU's complicated world. I dreaded every word of this book, and I might have nightmares for the next few months. You can find me feverishly reading Mary Oliver poems in front of the chalice.
My thanks to Penguin Press/Random House and Netgalley for the ARC. My thoughts and review are my own.
Here we have Dana Potowski, a food critic, writer, and one-time seminarian who finds herself chivvied (not unwillingly) onto her southern California UU congregation's newly formed search committee for a settled minister to replace their tired and retiring spiritual leader. Forgoing the usually recommended step of an intentional interim minister, the congregation believes it's healthy enough, stable enough, and sufficiently self-aware to hire a permanent clergyperson.
The committee is a near-perfect cross-section of the congregation with representatives from every adult decade of life, a broad range of ethnic backgrounds, an array of sexual orientations and preferences, and a diverse history of prior religious affiliation.
From the start, the committee is doomed. One member's parents bought that seat on the committee in the hopes of influencing the outcome. One member isn't even a member of the church. One is cowed by persuasive women and has a clinical inability to complete tasks. Another maintains warm professional distance and abhors problems that take longer than 10 weeks to resolve, one is gentle but dim and insensitive, and two are the old-school powerhouses that have long been used to running things. And, of course, our own Dana P. is secretly embarking on this search in hopes of gleaning a new book to fill the void in her professional career.
In every character, we see glimpses of fullness. The abrasive provocateur has iron-clad ethics around confidentiality. The anxiously inept bell-ringer who wants so badly to please everyone finally finds solid footing. The befuddled evangelical makes extraordinarily salient points about what it means to "welcome all." The dim septuagenarian caring for his matriarchal mother-in-law pleads for more mercy than the ravages of age have shown her.
But those glimpses don't amount to much. Dana would have to reflect too painfully on her own foibles to acknowledge the inherent worth and dignity of all her fellow committee members.
As I said at the beginning, this should qualify as "UU horror." UUs believe in ideals and believe that embodying those ideals will lead to an ideal outcome. But all congregations are filled with people. Imperfect, unideal, self-preserving people. The retiring minister has glowing merits and some major communication problems. (He shouldn't be the only one who knows about upcoming problems.) The search committee's covenant is written by one faction to quash another. (No one reads it.) Ageism, sexism, ableism, and racism are all decried and embraced in equal turn. (Words are valued more than actions.) And social media--never once mentioned--reigns sneakily supreme. Curated videos rank above actual accomplishment. Publicly performing the trendiest values supersedes living out one's faith. Star power trumps suitability.
The story is carefully unwound, bit by bit, revelation by revelation, secret by secret. While slow at first, the pacing matches that of an actual search committee with some jostling as everyone vies for their position in the group before actually digging into the work ahead. Framing the novel as a memoir (and a second edition, no less!) made the story that much more acute and personal. Personally, I could have done with less food, but it and the recipes lend a marvelous realism and insight into Dana's own jumbled goals and fractured focus.
Full disclosure: I'm in a UU church currently searching for an interim minister. I'm not on the search committee, but I am on the board, and every step noted in this book is close to home. We've talked about swapping packets and the matching process. We've had retreats and interim search guidance from the UUA. We've had cottage meetings, some hard lessons, and missteps that sent us back to the beginning of the process. The book is precisely, sometimes painfully accurate about the inner workings of the UU's complicated world. I dreaded every word of this book, and I might have nightmares for the next few months. You can find me feverishly reading Mary Oliver poems in front of the chalice.
My thanks to Penguin Press/Random House and Netgalley for the ARC. My thoughts and review are my own.
January 2, 2023
This was a surprisingly good book written in a memoir-type style by a woman named Dana who was part of the search committee to find a new minister for their Unitarian-Universalist church in Altadena, CA. There were eight people on the committee, four women and four men, ranging in age from 20s to 80s and of several races, sexual orientation and backgrounds. Their differences slowly become a problem over the months that they serve and threatens to wreck their mission. It's a well-written character-driven novel, quite often amusing, occasionally heart-wrenching. The dynamics of working with others! I learned a lot about the UU church that I never knew before--quite interesting. I enjoyed the story and look forward to trying some of the recipes included. My last book read for 2022, ending the year on a high note.
April 25, 2022
First things first, lest my 3 stars jump out of the universe of 5 star reviews and set off all manner of mischief: For me, three stars means "I liked it." Truly. And I'll probably appreciate it even more in hindsight. I can easily see why lots of people are giving it 5 stars. It's smart and engaging and fun, and it looks at serious matters with an equal balance of respect and humor. I started "Search" with a lot of enthusiasm. By the time I was done, though, while I enjoyed reading "Search," the enthusiasm had waned somewhat. At the risk of sounding like a breakup cliche, I can only conclude that, well, it wasn't the book, it was me.
The titular search here is for a new minister for a California Unitarian Universalist church. The protagonist, Dana Potowski, is a woman who had studied for the ministry earlier in life but became instead a writer and professional food critic. She never stopped feeling drawn to spiritual questions. She's married to Jewish lawyer, with whom she tends to various animals (donkeys among them).
The book begins with a feint: it presents itself as a "second edition" of a "comic memoir with recipes" that unexpectedly sold tons of copies, generated lots of attention -- good and bad -- and was seen in some circles as "a surprisingly dramatic, cutthroat adventure." Lawsuits were threatened and friendships shattered. It is, of course, none of these things. But it does show the search, with all its warts, from the inside, from the creation of a committee to form a search committee (yes, for real) to the eventual selection of a candidate, and everything in-between. Not "cutthroat," but not without conflict either. How could it be otherwise? People have different expectations of what they want from their spiritual leaders. What’s more, this particular California church is exactly the kind of place where you’d expect to find a superabundance of competing expectations. The Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church (AUUCC, as it’s called by its members — pronounced awk) is a raffish mix of the highly educated left: Caltech and NASA scientists, schoolteachers, entertainment types and hospital workers, college professors, political activists, artists, and local soreheads. Its members come from lots of different backgrounds: they’re Christians and "post-Christians," former Jews and Buddhists, and atheist seekers of spirituality. They are straight, gay, single married, divorced, polyamorous… In short, it’s a Progressive, coastal, metropolitan congregation, with all the baggage that list of adjectives carries. (The departing minister describes the congregation this way: “One faction… lobbies to let the homeless pitch tents on our lawn and another faction wants to sell off the gardens and give the money to Central American refugees.”)
Dana’s reasons for serving on the search committee are heady and serious: I imagined myself among focused, intelligent adults engaged in heady theological discussion, my seminary education finally being put to use. Those two years were the deepest lived of my life intellectually and spiritually. I’d fallen in love with church history, the mystics, William James, and Lacan. I still yearned for the immersion in spiritual thought and values.
Such high aspirations. I can identify.
Needless to say, this intellectual collegiality was not what she found. Instead, there was friction on the committee, groups maneuvering against each other, secrets being kept. Some people took their responsibilities more seriously than others. They all -- from a woman in her 80s to the young man who found himself on the committee even though he wasn't a member of the church or even a Unitarian -- came to the process with biases for what they wanted in a new minister. Trust and respect didn't come easily. One member described another as "dumb as a mud fence.” Another — an assertive tattooed young mother — was remembered as having spoke of a previous minister as “a patriarchal oppressor” and a “racist homophobe.” Convinced she is right, she dismisses one of the current candidates, saying, “Excuse me if I’m not impressed by some wussy bread baker with an all-face beard who wears black dress socks with his Birkenstocks.” Yep, there's plenty of social and generational tension on the committee.
And then there are the candidates themselves. In the bio she submits to the committee, one identifies herself as "a pagan, a witch (Wiccan), and an environmental warrior. My totem animal is the black cat…”) Another is a former actress fond of multimedia worship. A third is... well, I leave it for readers to discover for themselves.
For all the humor, though, the book is serious in its treatment of religion. We read passages from sermons sent in by candidates, listen in on their conversations, read Dana's thoughts. One sermon in particular struck me so much that I feel obliged to quote it at length: In the nineties, I was in Israel when, not two hundred feet away from me, a suicide bomber activated his vest, and it was not like what you see on TV. It was so chaotic and horrifying, so unbearable and heartbreaking, my mind, my heart, my nerves have never been the same. Why do humans do such things? And as I sat there, stunned, with flames springing up, and cars on their sides, people ran past me, straight into the bomb zone, to help whoever they could… Why do humans do such things?” Why indeed? (Writing this review as horrors unfold in Ukraine, such questions take on added urgency.)
Having myself been involved in searches for new clergy — in my case, a rabbi and a cantor — I can say that the author gets it all right, the good, the bad, and the silly. It's a quite a revealing process, and Huneven does it justice. Again, I really can see why people love the book and why it's so eagerly anticipated. Sigh. As I said, it’s not the book, it's me. Maybe it was all the talk in the novel about food and cocktails, and the recipes at the end of the book. Maybe it was something else. No matter: I have no qualms at all about recommending it.
My thanks to Penguin Press and Edelweiss for providing an advance digital review copy in return for an honest review. (And I made up that "mischief" thing at the beginning.)
The titular search here is for a new minister for a California Unitarian Universalist church. The protagonist, Dana Potowski, is a woman who had studied for the ministry earlier in life but became instead a writer and professional food critic. She never stopped feeling drawn to spiritual questions. She's married to Jewish lawyer, with whom she tends to various animals (donkeys among them).
The book begins with a feint: it presents itself as a "second edition" of a "comic memoir with recipes" that unexpectedly sold tons of copies, generated lots of attention -- good and bad -- and was seen in some circles as "a surprisingly dramatic, cutthroat adventure." Lawsuits were threatened and friendships shattered. It is, of course, none of these things. But it does show the search, with all its warts, from the inside, from the creation of a committee to form a search committee (yes, for real) to the eventual selection of a candidate, and everything in-between. Not "cutthroat," but not without conflict either. How could it be otherwise? People have different expectations of what they want from their spiritual leaders. What’s more, this particular California church is exactly the kind of place where you’d expect to find a superabundance of competing expectations. The Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church (AUUCC, as it’s called by its members — pronounced awk) is a raffish mix of the highly educated left: Caltech and NASA scientists, schoolteachers, entertainment types and hospital workers, college professors, political activists, artists, and local soreheads. Its members come from lots of different backgrounds: they’re Christians and "post-Christians," former Jews and Buddhists, and atheist seekers of spirituality. They are straight, gay, single married, divorced, polyamorous… In short, it’s a Progressive, coastal, metropolitan congregation, with all the baggage that list of adjectives carries. (The departing minister describes the congregation this way: “One faction… lobbies to let the homeless pitch tents on our lawn and another faction wants to sell off the gardens and give the money to Central American refugees.”)
Dana’s reasons for serving on the search committee are heady and serious: I imagined myself among focused, intelligent adults engaged in heady theological discussion, my seminary education finally being put to use. Those two years were the deepest lived of my life intellectually and spiritually. I’d fallen in love with church history, the mystics, William James, and Lacan. I still yearned for the immersion in spiritual thought and values.
Such high aspirations. I can identify.
Needless to say, this intellectual collegiality was not what she found. Instead, there was friction on the committee, groups maneuvering against each other, secrets being kept. Some people took their responsibilities more seriously than others. They all -- from a woman in her 80s to the young man who found himself on the committee even though he wasn't a member of the church or even a Unitarian -- came to the process with biases for what they wanted in a new minister. Trust and respect didn't come easily. One member described another as "dumb as a mud fence.” Another — an assertive tattooed young mother — was remembered as having spoke of a previous minister as “a patriarchal oppressor” and a “racist homophobe.” Convinced she is right, she dismisses one of the current candidates, saying, “Excuse me if I’m not impressed by some wussy bread baker with an all-face beard who wears black dress socks with his Birkenstocks.” Yep, there's plenty of social and generational tension on the committee.
And then there are the candidates themselves. In the bio she submits to the committee, one identifies herself as "a pagan, a witch (Wiccan), and an environmental warrior. My totem animal is the black cat…”) Another is a former actress fond of multimedia worship. A third is... well, I leave it for readers to discover for themselves.
For all the humor, though, the book is serious in its treatment of religion. We read passages from sermons sent in by candidates, listen in on their conversations, read Dana's thoughts. One sermon in particular struck me so much that I feel obliged to quote it at length: In the nineties, I was in Israel when, not two hundred feet away from me, a suicide bomber activated his vest, and it was not like what you see on TV. It was so chaotic and horrifying, so unbearable and heartbreaking, my mind, my heart, my nerves have never been the same. Why do humans do such things? And as I sat there, stunned, with flames springing up, and cars on their sides, people ran past me, straight into the bomb zone, to help whoever they could… Why do humans do such things?” Why indeed? (Writing this review as horrors unfold in Ukraine, such questions take on added urgency.)
Having myself been involved in searches for new clergy — in my case, a rabbi and a cantor — I can say that the author gets it all right, the good, the bad, and the silly. It's a quite a revealing process, and Huneven does it justice. Again, I really can see why people love the book and why it's so eagerly anticipated. Sigh. As I said, it’s not the book, it's me. Maybe it was all the talk in the novel about food and cocktails, and the recipes at the end of the book. Maybe it was something else. No matter: I have no qualms at all about recommending it.
My thanks to Penguin Press and Edelweiss for providing an advance digital review copy in return for an honest review. (And I made up that "mischief" thing at the beginning.)
January 9, 2023
Dana Potowski is a fifty-something food critic and writer. She becomes part of a team searching for a new minister for Arroyo Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church in Altadena, California. The past two ministers have held the position for a long time and were much beloved. The committee is a diverse group with different backgrounds, demographics, faiths, and interests. When added to the nature of the UU viewpoints, which are plentiful, divergent, and progressive, the result is a humorous and bittersweet examination of human nature.
The story is written in first person from Dana’s perspective. Dana plans to turn the experience into a novel, and her thinking about what she can (and cannot) include provides an interesting sub-plot. Recipes and comments on food are plentiful, and even though I am not a foodie, I think these sections added an element of playfulness and fun.
I found it extremely clever. It may be somewhat exaggerated for effect, but it certainly captures a number of personality types and behavioral patterns we have likely all experienced. It serves as an entertaining case study about working as a team (or not). Let’s just say it would have helped to have a clear picture and agreement up-front on what they need. I particularly enjoyed the interview process, and the manner in which the team members interact under pressure.
When I first started reading this book, I would never have suspected I would enjoy it so much. There are several serious themes mixed in with the lighter food-oriented passages and humorous asides. I think it will appeal to those who appreciate character-based stories and those about group dynamics. I think Michelle Huneven must be an astute observer of interpersonal interactions. Even though the storyline is based around religion, I think the appeal of this book goes well beyond those with religious affiliations. I found it an immersive reading experience.
The story is written in first person from Dana’s perspective. Dana plans to turn the experience into a novel, and her thinking about what she can (and cannot) include provides an interesting sub-plot. Recipes and comments on food are plentiful, and even though I am not a foodie, I think these sections added an element of playfulness and fun.
I found it extremely clever. It may be somewhat exaggerated for effect, but it certainly captures a number of personality types and behavioral patterns we have likely all experienced. It serves as an entertaining case study about working as a team (or not). Let’s just say it would have helped to have a clear picture and agreement up-front on what they need. I particularly enjoyed the interview process, and the manner in which the team members interact under pressure.
When I first started reading this book, I would never have suspected I would enjoy it so much. There are several serious themes mixed in with the lighter food-oriented passages and humorous asides. I think it will appeal to those who appreciate character-based stories and those about group dynamics. I think Michelle Huneven must be an astute observer of interpersonal interactions. Even though the storyline is based around religion, I think the appeal of this book goes well beyond those with religious affiliations. I found it an immersive reading experience.
June 9, 2022
This book could not have come at a more providential (or ironic) time as I’m currently serving on our church’s candidate search committee. I can’t say more in the review about which details were utterly uncanny, but it amused and dismayed me in equal measures (though my own search fellow team members, I can say without spoiling, are a DELIGHT… no Jennies among us!).
But aside from my own personal parallel, this was spectacular. Her vocabulary is a delight (who uses the word “muzzy”??!!). The food aspects delectable. Huneven is a GENIUS at naming characters. With such a wide cast, this could have gone so wrong and yet was somehow never confusing.
Finally, my highest praise, this was like the literary fiction version of Mitford—a faith community that really cared about each other, but the stakes are high. If Jan Karon and Robert Capon Farrar and Gary Thomas had a literary love child, this would be it.
Now excuse me, I’m going to go order every single other thing Michelle Huneven has written.
But aside from my own personal parallel, this was spectacular. Her vocabulary is a delight (who uses the word “muzzy”??!!). The food aspects delectable. Huneven is a GENIUS at naming characters. With such a wide cast, this could have gone so wrong and yet was somehow never confusing.
Finally, my highest praise, this was like the literary fiction version of Mitford—a faith community that really cared about each other, but the stakes are high. If Jan Karon and Robert Capon Farrar and Gary Thomas had a literary love child, this would be it.
Now excuse me, I’m going to go order every single other thing Michelle Huneven has written.
July 26, 2023
Now this is what I want from my summer reading: pure pleasure; lit fic full of gossip and good food; the kind of novel I was always relieved to pick up and spend time with. I recommend it to readers of Katherine Heiny and Ruth Reichl. The setup to Search might seem niche to many: a Southern California Unitarian church undergoes a months-long process to replace its retiring senior minister via a nationwide application process. But in fact it will resonate with, and elicit chuckles from, anyone who’s had even the most fleeting brush with bureaucracy – whether serving on a committee, conducting interviews, or trying to get a unanimous decision out of three or more people – and the framing story makes it warm and engrossing.
Dana Potowski is a middle-aged restaurant critic who has just released a successful cookbook based on what she grows on her smallholding. When she’s invited to be part of an eight-member task force looking for the right next minister for Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church –
– she reluctantly agrees but soon wonders whether this could be interesting fodder for a second memoir (with identifying details changed, to be sure). You’ll quickly forget about the layers of fictionalization and become immersed in the interactions between the search committee members, who are of different genders, races and generations. They range from stalwart members, including a former church president and Dana the one-time seminarian, to a Filipino American recent Evangelical defector with a husband and young children.
Like the ministerial candidates, they’re all gloriously individual. You realize, however, that most of them have agendas and preconceived ideas. The church as a whole agreed that it wanted a gifted preacher and skilled site manager, but there’s also a collective sense that it’s time for a demographic change. A woman of colour is therefore a priority after decades of white male control, but a facilitator warns: “If you’re too focused on a specific category, you could overlook the best hire for your needs. Our goal is to get beyond thinking in categories to see the whole person.” Still, fault lines develop, with the younger contingent on the panel pushing for a thirtysomething candidate and the others giving more weight to experience.
Huneven develops all of her characters through the dialogue and repartee at the search committee’s meetings, which always take place over snacks, if not full meals with cocktails. Dana is not the only gifted home cook among the bunch (a section at the end gives recipes for some of the star dishes, like “Belinda’s Preserved Lemon Chicken,” “Dana’s Seafood Chowder,” and “Jennie’s Midmorning Glory Muffins”), and she also takes turns inviting her fellow committee members out on her restaurant assignments for the paper.
I was amazed by the formality and intensity of this decision-making process: a lengthy application packet, Skype interviews, watching/reading multiple sermons by the candidates, speaking to their references, and then an entire weekend of in-person activities with each of three top contenders. It’s clear that Huneven did a lot of research about how this works. The whole thing starts out casual and fun – Dana refers to the church and minister packets as “dating profiles” – but grows increasingly momentous. Completely different worship and leadership styles are at stake. People have their favourites, and with the future of a beloved institution at stake, compromise comes to feel more like a failure of integrity.
Keep in mind, of course, that we’re getting all of it from Dana’s perspective. She sets herself up as the objective recorder, but our admiration and distrust can only be guided by hers. And she’s a very likable narrator: intelligent and quick-witted, fond of gardening, passionate about food and spirituality, comfortable in her quiet life with her Jewish husband and her dog and donkeys. It’s possible not everyone will relate to her, or read meal plans and sermon transcripts as raptly, as I did. At the same time as I was totally absorbed in the narrative, I was also mentally transported to churches and pastors past, to petty dramas the ministers in my family have navigated, to the one Unitarian service I attended in Santa Fe in the summer of 2005… For me, this had it all. Both light and consequential; nostalgic and resolute about the future; frustrated with yet tender towards humanity. Delicious! I’ll seek out more by Huneven.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Dana Potowski is a middle-aged restaurant critic who has just released a successful cookbook based on what she grows on her smallholding. When she’s invited to be part of an eight-member task force looking for the right next minister for Arroyo Unitarian Universalist Community Church –
a “little chugger” of a church in a small unincorporated suburb of LA … three acres of raffish gardens, an ugly sanctuary, a deliquescing Italianate mansion, a jewel-box chapel used mostly for yoga classes
– she reluctantly agrees but soon wonders whether this could be interesting fodder for a second memoir (with identifying details changed, to be sure). You’ll quickly forget about the layers of fictionalization and become immersed in the interactions between the search committee members, who are of different genders, races and generations. They range from stalwart members, including a former church president and Dana the one-time seminarian, to a Filipino American recent Evangelical defector with a husband and young children.
Like the ministerial candidates, they’re all gloriously individual. You realize, however, that most of them have agendas and preconceived ideas. The church as a whole agreed that it wanted a gifted preacher and skilled site manager, but there’s also a collective sense that it’s time for a demographic change. A woman of colour is therefore a priority after decades of white male control, but a facilitator warns: “If you’re too focused on a specific category, you could overlook the best hire for your needs. Our goal is to get beyond thinking in categories to see the whole person.” Still, fault lines develop, with the younger contingent on the panel pushing for a thirtysomething candidate and the others giving more weight to experience.
Huneven develops all of her characters through the dialogue and repartee at the search committee’s meetings, which always take place over snacks, if not full meals with cocktails. Dana is not the only gifted home cook among the bunch (a section at the end gives recipes for some of the star dishes, like “Belinda’s Preserved Lemon Chicken,” “Dana’s Seafood Chowder,” and “Jennie’s Midmorning Glory Muffins”), and she also takes turns inviting her fellow committee members out on her restaurant assignments for the paper.
I was amazed by the formality and intensity of this decision-making process: a lengthy application packet, Skype interviews, watching/reading multiple sermons by the candidates, speaking to their references, and then an entire weekend of in-person activities with each of three top contenders. It’s clear that Huneven did a lot of research about how this works. The whole thing starts out casual and fun – Dana refers to the church and minister packets as “dating profiles” – but grows increasingly momentous. Completely different worship and leadership styles are at stake. People have their favourites, and with the future of a beloved institution at stake, compromise comes to feel more like a failure of integrity.
Keep in mind, of course, that we’re getting all of it from Dana’s perspective. She sets herself up as the objective recorder, but our admiration and distrust can only be guided by hers. And she’s a very likable narrator: intelligent and quick-witted, fond of gardening, passionate about food and spirituality, comfortable in her quiet life with her Jewish husband and her dog and donkeys. It’s possible not everyone will relate to her, or read meal plans and sermon transcripts as raptly, as I did. At the same time as I was totally absorbed in the narrative, I was also mentally transported to churches and pastors past, to petty dramas the ministers in my family have navigated, to the one Unitarian service I attended in Santa Fe in the summer of 2005… For me, this had it all. Both light and consequential; nostalgic and resolute about the future; frustrated with yet tender towards humanity. Delicious! I’ll seek out more by Huneven.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
June 4, 2022
Beautifully written, "Search" is a novel about a fictionalized Unitarian-Universalist church's search committee for selecting its next minister. The main character, Dana Potowski, is a 50+ year old woman who agrees to be a member of the committee. Dana wants to serve on the committee for two reasons. She has a strong connection to the church. Dana also thinks that the experience could lead to material for a book, intended to be a memoir.
Dana has an interesting background. She has attended her church for over 25 years and has close ties with two of its ministers. A restaurant critic for the L.A. Times, she is also a published author. She is married to a Jewish man who is active in his synagogue. Together, they share a home and yard with a terrier, a parrot, two miniature donkeys and assorted chickens.
I enjoyed everything about the book: learning about the U.U. Church, the nine month process of pre-selecting candidates and vetting them for the larger congregation, and getting to know both the members on the committee and the candidates themselves. Not to mention, reading about the mouth-watering dinners the committee members cook for their meetings.
As Dana discovers, the Search is not a smooth process - personalities clash and practically every person on the committee has their own agenda that they are pushing. It's the same for the candidates, some of whom are hiding certain serious flaws. To me too, it was interesting that the candidates' beliefs ranged from Buddhism, Pantheism, Non-theism, and even Wicca. A Christian young man on the search committee is bewildered by the lack of faith in a personal God among the candidates.
Huneven's writing is smart, combining humor with a touch of pathos. An added bonus is the recipes of the committee's dinners found at the back of the book. This is a book that I'll remember.
4.5 stars
Dana has an interesting background. She has attended her church for over 25 years and has close ties with two of its ministers. A restaurant critic for the L.A. Times, she is also a published author. She is married to a Jewish man who is active in his synagogue. Together, they share a home and yard with a terrier, a parrot, two miniature donkeys and assorted chickens.
I enjoyed everything about the book: learning about the U.U. Church, the nine month process of pre-selecting candidates and vetting them for the larger congregation, and getting to know both the members on the committee and the candidates themselves. Not to mention, reading about the mouth-watering dinners the committee members cook for their meetings.
As Dana discovers, the Search is not a smooth process - personalities clash and practically every person on the committee has their own agenda that they are pushing. It's the same for the candidates, some of whom are hiding certain serious flaws. To me too, it was interesting that the candidates' beliefs ranged from Buddhism, Pantheism, Non-theism, and even Wicca. A Christian young man on the search committee is bewildered by the lack of faith in a personal God among the candidates.
Huneven's writing is smart, combining humor with a touch of pathos. An added bonus is the recipes of the committee's dinners found at the back of the book. This is a book that I'll remember.
4.5 stars
July 27, 2022
Hoo boy, did that rub me the wrong way. The self-satisfied, elitist ageism. I found it hard to trust the author's portrayals of the characters she disagreed with, but even if they were every bit as awful or ridiculous as she paints them, it doesn't change how unpleasant and prejudiced she comes off as from the start. I can't imagine that most of the people she used to go to church with want to give her the time of day anymore, but with her privileged lifestyle and self-congratulatory attitude, I'm sure she won't suffer.
October 14, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Press/Random House! What a story! What started out a little slow for my tastes (me thinking oh no, what have I gotten myself into) has become a truly entertaining and emotional read for me. Even as I sit here writing this I am seething over the end. Actually, seething over the entire second half! The idea for this memoir about choosing a minister is so entertaining and I am floored by how it has made me feel (and learning the ins and outs of this church wasn't bad either).
Dana P is a food writer who is asked to sit on a committee to choose the new minister for her AUUCC church. The other members of the committee are a helter skelter bunch that you know will just bring on the drama. And they did. They are all supposed to go through a very lengthy nominating process, choosing from a large selection of possible candidates, and I loved the whole thing. I can't believe the way some of these members acted, and I think what I loved most was that Dana acted and thought exactly as I would have. I was right there with her, experiencing it all. To top it off, we get a lovely description of the food she gets to eat, and I wanted to try all of it. It wasn't thrown in your face, or overdone. It was just right, even giving us the recipes at the end. I only wish the beginning had thrown me in a little quicker, you really need to get into the thick of it. But please do! A roller coaster of emotions and feelings is what I needed, and what I got to read.
Dana P is a food writer who is asked to sit on a committee to choose the new minister for her AUUCC church. The other members of the committee are a helter skelter bunch that you know will just bring on the drama. And they did. They are all supposed to go through a very lengthy nominating process, choosing from a large selection of possible candidates, and I loved the whole thing. I can't believe the way some of these members acted, and I think what I loved most was that Dana acted and thought exactly as I would have. I was right there with her, experiencing it all. To top it off, we get a lovely description of the food she gets to eat, and I wanted to try all of it. It wasn't thrown in your face, or overdone. It was just right, even giving us the recipes at the end. I only wish the beginning had thrown me in a little quicker, you really need to get into the thick of it. But please do! A roller coaster of emotions and feelings is what I needed, and what I got to read.
June 22, 2022
I thought this was a outstanding novel about a church’s search for a new minister. I grew up in a Catholic environment, where I believe the parish priest was sent by the local bishop or the Vatican, or who knows, really. Apparently it is done very differently in other faiths, so I found this book quite fascinating. Although it is a fictional story, the author was on a search committee once, and so pulls the curtain back on the process. Highly recommend this one. It could also be a great book for a bookclub.
May 5, 2024
I just finished “The Search” by Michelle Huneven, in which she writes about a church search committee as they move through a collectively organized process of selecting and interviewing their candidates for the next senior minister for a mid- sized, progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation. Towards the end, which culminates in the delivery of some rather creative and thoughtful sermons, the committee must reach a consensus before extending an offer to the candidate who they can envision will best carry their church community forward into the future.
As it turns out, the initially amicable committee members have different visions of who and what that future looks like, alliances are tested, unanticipated feelings erupt.
Although I have never been part of a religious institution, I still found the book to be relatable, humorous and thought provoking. Loved the range and depth of the main character’s voice- as well as the ensemble of quirky committee members. As the author is also, in real life, a food writer - my taste and smell senses became fully activated when the committee and candidates met together over some kick- ass meals, and recipes are included as epilogue material.
I’d characterize “The Search” as a well written, witty and interesting story about defining inspirational leadership qualities and the inherently challenging (or even impossible?) task of finding consensus.
As it turns out, the initially amicable committee members have different visions of who and what that future looks like, alliances are tested, unanticipated feelings erupt.
Although I have never been part of a religious institution, I still found the book to be relatable, humorous and thought provoking. Loved the range and depth of the main character’s voice- as well as the ensemble of quirky committee members. As the author is also, in real life, a food writer - my taste and smell senses became fully activated when the committee and candidates met together over some kick- ass meals, and recipes are included as epilogue material.
I’d characterize “The Search” as a well written, witty and interesting story about defining inspirational leadership qualities and the inherently challenging (or even impossible?) task of finding consensus.
June 11, 2022
I’m as non-religious as can be, so I was surprised by how much I truly enjoyed this novel about a southern California church’s search for a new minister. Who knew that such a seemingly gentle and genteel pursuit would be so cut-throat, so full of intrigue and betrayal and backstabbing, and that I would be so invested in the genuinely suspenseful outcome? I truly enjoyed the voice of Dana, the narrator. She’s a 50-something food columnist and book author and, as committed as she is to her church, she agrees to serve on the search committee because she secretly plans to get a book out of it (which is the novel “Search.”) She’s experienced, wise, funny, and so hard-working, but nothing prepares her for the machinations of the committee. I was really fascinated by the whole search process, but at its heart lies the committee, and it’s as bad as any workplace committee you might have found yourself serving on: too big, too many people with an agenda, too few people doing the actual work while the rest are happy to coast by doing next to nothing. (Boneheads galore.) Really entertaining—and with recipes!
May 5, 2022
4.5
Such an original plot-
A search committee is formed to find a new minister for their progressive church. The narrator is by profession a food critic and a member of the search committee.
A study of faith and humanity woven with food and recipes made this a thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining novel.
Loved it!
Such an original plot-
A search committee is formed to find a new minister for their progressive church. The narrator is by profession a food critic and a member of the search committee.
A study of faith and humanity woven with food and recipes made this a thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining novel.
Loved it!
August 28, 2022
My husband and I got married in the library of a Unitarian church, so I’m predisposed to like this novel about a Unitarian-Universalist church’s year-long search to choose its next pastor. The drama is low key, the humor gentle and the characters well intentioned, all of which made for an enjoyable summer read.
December 4, 2021
People have been labeling The Wheel of Time as the next Game of Thrones, but they’re mistaken. This. This is the next Game of Thrones.
September 11, 2023
Totally gob-smacked how much I enjoyed this book!
Some reviewers have pointed out that the author has admitted drawing much of this from her own experience on a similar search committee since its publication as a novel. Maybe that's why it rang so true, and evoked conflicting emotions.
Search's main character, Dana, is a childless animal-loving food critic/novelist married to a Jewish lawyer living in SoCal. As a long-time member of her mother's Universalist Unitarian church who's also attended seminary school, she's asked to serve on a committee to choose their next minister. Think about the word "committee." One who is entrusted. This endeavor will take a lot of hours, work, energy, emotion, and finance over more than a year, and Dana does care enough to commit that to her church, but she also has a secret agenda: because they will meet frequently and share meals, she can use it as fuel for a new book. Initially I didn't like Dana because her duplicity seemed so underhanded, but over the course of the book, her devotion to the church as a whole became clear, and I realized that every person in this character-driven DRAMA (yes, it deserves all caps, haha) carries an agenda for their individual needs, and there are many secrets in the group.
Introduction to the UU church was enlightening, if this book truly illustrates who they are. I'd always thought it was a church accepting all--mainly those who felt unsettled about something in their own root denominations, or a place to worship if their faith had no representation where they lived, sort of a church of the miscellaneous. Obviously, that was a big misconception, as several committee members are atheists. If you're an atheist, you're not exactly worshipping. But the acceptance part was evident, as the committee was strongly invested in hiring someone female, or black, or gay, or young, or maybe all of the above. Church growth in any area of society that might suffer some oppression was desired. Still, the atheists' objection to applicants identifying as Christian, and committee member Jenny's frequently voiced aversion to "old white guys," still sounds like prejudice and oppression to me; same negative emotion going in a different direction.
One big requirement the congregation hoped they'd get was strong preaching, so it was informative that the book included sermons by the applicants that showed they seem to be just spiritual guidance on how to be a good human. (And apparently that means in this life, the here and now. An afterlife was not mentioned.) But there were a lot of considerations about the business side of a church I'd never have anticipated, rounding out the dramatic intrigue that dominated some of the chapters.
The differing viewpoints of all the committee members was quite well-written, allowing me to see and understand where they came from whether I agreed or not. Their interactions seemed true, how little alliances formed and broke apart, how they were influenced. The outcome and ending was satisfying and seemed true to life as well. The novel hit me with emotion and made me laugh, too.
As for the Audible Audio version, I recommend it highly. Cassandra Campbell was superb, changing her speech patterns for different characters instead of assuming fake voices (something I loathe). The audio includes a PDF of the recipes, which is nice, but I haven't tried any of them yet. Unfortunately, it does NOT include recipes for the cocktails, and that omission is just rubbish!
Some reviewers have pointed out that the author has admitted drawing much of this from her own experience on a similar search committee since its publication as a novel. Maybe that's why it rang so true, and evoked conflicting emotions.
Search's main character, Dana, is a childless animal-loving food critic/novelist married to a Jewish lawyer living in SoCal. As a long-time member of her mother's Universalist Unitarian church who's also attended seminary school, she's asked to serve on a committee to choose their next minister. Think about the word "committee." One who is entrusted. This endeavor will take a lot of hours, work, energy, emotion, and finance over more than a year, and Dana does care enough to commit that to her church, but she also has a secret agenda: because they will meet frequently and share meals, she can use it as fuel for a new book. Initially I didn't like Dana because her duplicity seemed so underhanded, but over the course of the book, her devotion to the church as a whole became clear, and I realized that every person in this character-driven DRAMA (yes, it deserves all caps, haha) carries an agenda for their individual needs, and there are many secrets in the group.
Introduction to the UU church was enlightening, if this book truly illustrates who they are. I'd always thought it was a church accepting all--mainly those who felt unsettled about something in their own root denominations, or a place to worship if their faith had no representation where they lived, sort of a church of the miscellaneous. Obviously, that was a big misconception, as several committee members are atheists. If you're an atheist, you're not exactly worshipping. But the acceptance part was evident, as the committee was strongly invested in hiring someone female, or black, or gay, or young, or maybe all of the above. Church growth in any area of society that might suffer some oppression was desired. Still, the atheists' objection to applicants identifying as Christian, and committee member Jenny's frequently voiced aversion to "old white guys," still sounds like prejudice and oppression to me; same negative emotion going in a different direction.
One big requirement the congregation hoped they'd get was strong preaching, so it was informative that the book included sermons by the applicants that showed they seem to be just spiritual guidance on how to be a good human. (And apparently that means in this life, the here and now. An afterlife was not mentioned.) But there were a lot of considerations about the business side of a church I'd never have anticipated, rounding out the dramatic intrigue that dominated some of the chapters.
The differing viewpoints of all the committee members was quite well-written, allowing me to see and understand where they came from whether I agreed or not. Their interactions seemed true, how little alliances formed and broke apart, how they were influenced. The outcome and ending was satisfying and seemed true to life as well. The novel hit me with emotion and made me laugh, too.
As for the Audible Audio version, I recommend it highly. Cassandra Campbell was superb, changing her speech patterns for different characters instead of assuming fake voices (something I loathe). The audio includes a PDF of the recipes, which is nice, but I haven't tried any of them yet. Unfortunately, it does NOT include recipes for the cocktails, and that omission is just rubbish!
January 9, 2023
This is a charming, heartfelt, and amusing novel about a search committee at a Unitarian church in southern California trying to choose its next pastor. And it includes 44 pages of recipes!
The narrator is Dana Potowski; a 54-year-old food critic, restaurant reviewer, and author of three memoirs all circling around food. Earlier in life, she attended seminary, but ultimately chose her first love of food over becoming a minister. Since her early 30s, she has been an active member of her neighborhood Unitarian Universalist church. When her church's pastor announces his upcoming retirement, Dana is one of eight church members selected to serve as the selection committee.
For anyone who grew up deeply engaged in a church, the fulcrum of this novel hinging around the work of a church committee -- complete with all of its bureaucracy, strong personalities, and food --will cause you to guffaw in laughter, nod your head knowingly, and wonder at the machinations of community.
The narrator is Dana Potowski; a 54-year-old food critic, restaurant reviewer, and author of three memoirs all circling around food. Earlier in life, she attended seminary, but ultimately chose her first love of food over becoming a minister. Since her early 30s, she has been an active member of her neighborhood Unitarian Universalist church. When her church's pastor announces his upcoming retirement, Dana is one of eight church members selected to serve as the selection committee.
For anyone who grew up deeply engaged in a church, the fulcrum of this novel hinging around the work of a church committee -- complete with all of its bureaucracy, strong personalities, and food --will cause you to guffaw in laughter, nod your head knowingly, and wonder at the machinations of community.
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