(Charles Munitz for WBUR)īoth the memoir itself and Fey’s adaptation are at once potently comedic and deadly serious, the story of a bold journalist making her way in a war zone.īarker says very few women were assigned to cover the war at its outset by The Chicago Tribune, where she was working at the time. Kim Barker, posing next to a poster for the film based on her time covering the war in Afghanistan. In the end she thinks “they managed a balance between the humor, the sadness and the dark parts really well,” and Barker was very happy with the result. Fey got wind of the review and a couple of weeks after it appeared, according to Barker, Fey had plans well underway with Paramount Pictures and producer Lorne Michaels to do a film based upon it.Īfter seeing funny trailers, but before actually seeing the film, Barker wondered whether screenwriter Robert Carlock and directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, all well known for their accomplishments with film and television humor, were going to carry that tone through the entire film. Michiko Kakutani wrote that Barker depicted herself “as a kind of Tina Fey character” in her 2011 review of the book in The New York Times. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Tim ProbertBased on her five years as a war reporter in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2004-2009), her memoir is written, as she recounted in an interview in Boston on a recent visit, in a way that would draw in readers with its light touch but teach them something significant along the way. Us-and if you think you can handle it-you. Only a few people know how it all started. Honestly, I don’t even like pickles that much. Now you know we’re not really an organization of picklers. Check it out-Click on the “Fizzy Pickle Soup” recipe, and then click on the word “simmer” down at the bottom.

On meeting days we take turns making a show out of carrying around some vinegar or a sack of cucumbers. You’d expect somebody would think it was fishy that a group of kids are excited enough about making pickles to meet every week.

Five of us meet on Thursdays, after school in the science lab.

Can you think of a club a person would be less curious about? That’s the point. I’m talking about the League of Pickle Makers. If somebody is that old, this isn’t their kind of story, anyway. I’ve been paying attention, and I’m pretty sure that’s when a person’s sense of humor starts leaking out. I’ll assume that you can keep the important stuff secret and not pass this book on to anyone older than twenty. But I want to tell you everything that happened. I’m already in a whole lot of trouble, and it’s not just me. Can I trust you? I mean, to tell you this story I need to know that you can keep a couple of secrets.

Pickle by kim baker