It’s fast approaching that point at the beginning of a new year when we begin making resolutions – to be thinner, healthier, financially savvier; to transform ourselves for the better. And so it seems appropriate to read Peta Mathias’ new treatise on transformation Beat Till Stiff (Penguin, $36). The rather saucy title is a culinary term (of course it is, silly), referring to egg whites and the way they’re changed by the simple act of whipping them with a whisk.
Like her previous books this is a mix of wisdom and anecdotes stitched together with interesting scraps of history and fact. Mathias tackles the topic of transformation in a series of ten unrelated essays all of which lean towards the autobiographical. From dyeing her hair red to getting a tattoo, from a period working as a drug counsellor to a wild love affair in France, from healing her relationship with her mother to being orgasmic, she is extraordinarily open and yet somehow nowhere near open enough. We find out the details of how much she spends on her appearance, for example, but not what happened to the lover she ate truffles and made music with in Perigieux. Nor do we ever really discover how she went about transforming herself from nurse to chef to star.
Entertaining though each and every story is, I guess what I’d really like to read is Mathias’ autobiography, no-holds-barred and straight up, rather than these tantalising glimpses of her life. The sub-title of this book is A Woman’s Recipe For Living but for it to be truly that she needed to join the dots more fully between the chapter where she’s written a Letter To My Much Younger Self and the older more fabulous self she became, she who winters in Morocco, runs culinary tours, makes TV shows, refuses to be defined by her age and throws parties everywhere she goes. Beat Till Stiff is funny, thought-provoking, confessional and, as you read it, you can hear Mathias’ distinctive voice. It has an appealing vintage look with orange and polka dots and charming illustrations. Still you might think twice before snapping it up as a last minute Xmas gift for Nana unless you’re certain she’s open-minded. As Mathias’ parents (in their 90s and still married) would surely warn, there’s always a sex chapter. Plus there’s drug-taking, a near fatal encounter with a bottle of whiskey and a great deal of startling honesty. If Nanna can take all that then she’s going to have a good time with this book. Mathias is entertaining to her very bones, she just can’t help it. She’s the sort of person who gets described as “colourful” and irrepressible” and while not all of us can be those things, nor might we want to, the philosophy underpinning this collection of ideas, thoughts and memories seems pretty universal – that all of us can change ourselves for the better, whether that involves putting on a brighter lipstick or extricating ourselves from a bad situation.
Having said that…can you write us a proper autobiography next time Peta please?
Footnote:
Nicky Pellegrino, (left NZH photo), a succcesful Auckland-based author of popular fiction is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on 18 December, 2011