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I really enjoyed Julie & Julia. Mar 31, 2007 (108 of 117 found this helpful)
A friend of mine lent me Julie & Julia at a point when I needed something to cheer me up. I have to admit that few things make me more suspicious than a book that derived from a blog. I also have a pretty low tolerance for chick lit in general, and this smelled like chick lit to me.
But anyhow. Despite going into the book with poor expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. I found it well-written and it felt honest. It had several laugh-out-loud moments. Best of all, I found myself genuinely liking the narrator/author. It was good fun. And that was exactly what I wanted it to be.
Although you can get some foodie kicks from Julie & Julia, it is not really about food. Do not read the book if you are looking for technical details, deep reflection about Julia Childs and French cooking, or kitchen tips and tricks. It is not that kind of book. Think light read with cooking as a kind of character quest.
One quarrel-- in her author's note Powell declares that "sometimes she just makes stuff up". That made me less comfortable with the book, honestly. As a memoir it has a lot of charm. As a novel, it has much less interest. I am not sure why that should be the case, but it took a little bit of the shine off for me to see that note at the beginning.
Anyhow. If, like me, you are looking for some cheering up then this could be a book for you. Bonus points if you find yourself an urbanite with a foodie-wannabee cooking habit, because then the funny parts are going to be even funnier. I had to wince when remembering some of my own attempts at homemade mayonnaise. Recommended.
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Powell's Souffle Falls Flat Jun 23, 2009 (144 of 166 found this helpful)
Many a blog turned book falls into the "nothing new" trap; what we get on paper is just a reproduction of what we got on the screen. In her attempt to escape this pitfall, Julie Powell goes to the opposite extreme and tries to do way too much. The premise lured me in: approaching 30 and flitting from one temp job to the next, Powell attempts to do the improbable, tackle all of the 524 recipes found in the first volume of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one calendar year. What could have been an interesting story of using a culinary challenge to provide structure and direction to an otherwise chaotic New York lifestyle turns into a book with an identity crisis. Part memoir about family and friends and life in New York, part story of getting closer to Julia Child through her iconic cookbook, part recounting the blogging experience near the time of its inception, part fictional re-imagining of the relationship between Paul and Julia Child - the book felt like a shouting match between styles and genres each fighting fiercely for attention.
Was the book diverting? Yes, and sometimes it was hilarious. However, there are a number of books out there that successfully do what Powell is attempting here. If you have your heart set on reading this book, go for it. However, I would also like to offer the following recommendations depending on what drove you to look at this book up in the first place:
If you are interested in Julia Child and how she (and others) have influenced American cuisine, I suggest The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution.
If you are looking for a food memoir, someone learning about cuisine to better understand themselves and a culture, try Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China.
If New York is the draw, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is written by the former restaurant critic of The New York Times and includes stories of restaurants (with reviews), home cooking, and some tempting recipes.
If you are looking for great, laugh out loud memoir that actually pulls off the blog-to-book transition, but does not have much to do with food, pick up Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office
There has been a huge surge in the publication of food-related books over the past few years and many of them are excellent, but "Julie and Julia" is just not one of them.
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The Joy of Cooking, Julie/Julia style May 4, 2009 (25 of 26 found this helpful)
I've been a Julia Child fan for a long time, so when I stumbled on this book (I'm behind the literary times here; I know it's been out for a while, and her blog was written years ago), I was skeptical. I thought it sounded gimmicky. But thanks to the free sample option on my kindle, I read the beginning of the book. And I loved it! So I downloaded it and absolutely devoured the rest of it in a matter of hours, and there was nothing my newborn or my two year old (or my husband, for that matter) could do to stop me.
Now, you have to know what this book is, and what it is not. It's not a rehashing of JC's recipes, or an assessment whether the author succeeded or failed in her attempts to make all 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. It's not a paean to Julia Child, or to french cooking in general, or an attempt by the author to toot her own horn over her culinary skills (except for the deboned duck, which was well warranted); after reading about her filthy kitchen, as a matter of fact, I'm not sure ANYONE should eat Julie Powell's cooking, french or not. What this book is, is a memoir by a young woman lost and full of no small amount of despair in her everyday life. And she found purpose and enthusiasm for her life thanks to Julia Child. Does that sound hokey? Maybe. But Julie Powell pulls it off, and she does it in a damn funny and engaging way. Her voice is fresh and real; she sounds just like who she is: an almost 30-something. She swears; she's irreverent; she throws tantrums not unlike the ones I wanted to throw when I was her age.
Some reviewers have objected to her language, but balls to that. And some have said she is disrespectful towards Republicans and about 9/11. She certainly is bitter and ascerbic towards the GOP and its supporters, and when you put this in historical context, it makes absolute sense, especially for her age group. On the matter of 9/11, I think that's just over it. She's a New Yorker; she lived it, and continued to have to face the repercussions of it every day thanks to the job that she had. She just doesn't have the reverence for 9/11 that so many do - and I think that it's justified. In any case, it's a small part of the book. Another reviewer says that they walked away feeling that Julie didn't even like Julia Child. This reviewer must not have read the book, or at least very much of it, because it's very, very clear throughout that Julie admires and even adores Julia, so much so that she basically creates an imaginary friend Julia Child for herself, to keep herself going. I love it. I think its a beautiful tribute to a woman who lived life with verve.
I'm really looking forward to hearing more from this authentic and hilarious author. Way to go, Julie! I hold my vodka gimlet high in your honor!
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I think I need a shower May 24, 2008 (34 of 39 found this helpful)
Because this project has what I consider to be an irresistible premise and because a friend described the book as "funny," I was excited to read it. On the surface, I have a good deal in common with Julie Powell. We are close in age and background, similar in work history, and both enjoy good food, good drinks, cursing and leaving the cleaning to someone else.
After reading this book, if someone were to tell me I reminded them of Julie Powell, I would commit hari-kari. She is terribly unpleasant, self-absorbed and repellant. All of the characteristics with which I could identify are completely reduced to rubble in her hands. I find myself never wanting to hear or use the F-word ever again, and even I was repulsed by her disgusting apartment. I had to skip most of the passage involving maggots lest I lose my lunch. All the tales of sticky cat hair, brackish flooded fixtures and rotting floors didn't help either. I read most of the book with that look on my face people have when something nearby stinks.
I assume she was attempting humor and exaggerating many of her misadventures and personality flaws, but the end result is that I loathe her as a fellow human being and wish ill upon her. Her heartless exposure of her friends' and family's personal lives is inexcusable (and dull) and her husband appears to be a combination saint/fool for putting up with her. Powell hates the project, hates her job, dislikes her husband (she mentions her frequent desire to beat his head with sharp rocks. I mean really! Eric! Run for your life!), disdains her friends, scorns her mother, disrespects Julia Child and admires only her cats and her brother.
In its relentlessly bleak tone and insistence on examining the lives of detestable characters, this book reminds me of A Confederacy of Dunces. Another supreme waste of time and positive energy.
I think the lesson to be learned here is that a blogger does not an author make. The publishing industry needs to be really careful about offering book deals to just any successful blog author. Any fool with an internet connection can create a blog, after all. That doesn't mean they are worthy of anyone else's time or attention.
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Not good. Many mistakes were made Dec 12, 2005 (196 of 243 found this helpful)
I'm going to try to be as objective as possible since I was an editor for many years and would like to voice what I think the actual issues with the book are. Starting with the title: Julie and Julia, 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. This, to me says funny, light-hearted adventures in cooking ala the comedic genius of Julia Child. Not so. It's more of a memoir that is a bit dark at times. The title, I feel, misrepresents the content but this is only minor. The book jacket was extremely well done and actually reminded me of the first episode on the Julia Child French Chef DVD where she tries to use "conviction" to flip potatoes in the pan and a big hunk lands on the stove and she declares "well, that didn't go so well!" Hilarious stuff and she wasn't even trying to be funny.
Next, the author's opinions about republicans, the president, 9/11 victims etc... I don't have any objection to anyone having strong opinions. Many times, if something is controversial, it actually helps a book sell more copies and is often exactly what a publisher might have in mind right from the start. Where this fails is in the frequency of the remarks. Exhausting. Really good authors need only to mention something once to get a point across. In this case, anyone who is buying a book about someone as significant as Julia Child is likely part of a demographic that is educated and sharp enough to understand the author's position in one go. It was a bit in your face at times. And though the author may have been honest about her feelings with regard to 9/11 families, victims et al., there seemed to be a lack of general humanity in the tone of it - not that she actually felt a certain way but how she put it out for the world to read. The issue here in my opinion (and her editors should really take responsibility for this) is that anyone's first book is critical to that author's ability to make an impression and gain a reputation - one that will help push a career forward. You don't want to insult any group of people your first time around the block. Successful opinion-giving comes with getting your readers to trust and respect your opinions before hitting the sensitive areas. Everything is about timing. You can say anything and get away with it if you give it the proper placement. What all good authors want (and need) is to reach a wide audience particularly on the first go. You want to appeal to a variety of people unless you are writing a high tech book about some new technology/product/whatever that only affects a niche. And really good readers - the caliber of what any author would want - remember these critical first books and the impressions made. I'm guessing that there's the possiblility that the publisher pushed this through the system before it was ready to go in order to get it on the market in time for the gift-giving season. But I think a disservice was done to the author because it really needed a bit more work. She wasn't a trained, practiced writer. She could have used more time and assistance but, sadly, editorial help is no longer what it used to be. Anyway, specific examples include the beginning of the book. All of the gynecological stuff might have been better later in the book. The first few pages of the book seemed to be a forced reproduction of the first few pages in the Devil Wears Prada where the secretary is driving around trying to get too much done and everything is going wrong in the circumstances that she finds herself in - all beyond her control. Why it works in the Devil Wears Prada is because that woman is actually writing about what the book is about. Julie and Julia opens up with the author in the gynecologist's office getting bad news while the doctor is wiping off his speculum. (A book about food begins with a gynecologist wiping off his speculum? No no no!) And somewhere from there it goes on about selling her eggs to pay off debt. And then she's in the subway wit