Bread & Jam, As If!

I don't know why Bread & Jam for Frances is so beloved. First of all, the sentences are so long they give Proust a run for his cookie. Second: Those meals! They go on and on and the packed lunches even include flowers and salt and pepper shakers. I don't have my copy with me, but the first time I read the damn thing as an adult, I felt wildly inadequate. At the time I was even making lunches for my kids, but I knew I'd never be able to pack a salami sandwich and an egg and carrot sticks and a clementine, not to mention a napkin. Not to mention my children would never even eat all that stuff. I recognize that the elaborate lunches are meant to stand in contrast to Frances' preferred bread and jam, and I remember loving, just loving, these books as a child. But now? I've got to say, not so much.