Features:
- ISBN13: 9780316013260
- Condition: USED - Very Good
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Product Description
Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell resolved to reclaim her life by cooking, in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves' livers and aspic, but a new life--lived with gusto.
Review
Julie & Julia is the story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalize her marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, in a period of 365 days. The result is a masterful medley of Bridget Jones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate, mixed with a healthy dose of original wit, warmth, and inspiration that sets this memoir apart from most tales of personal redemption. When we first meet Julie, she's a frustrated temp-to-perm secretary who slaves away at a thankless job, only to return to an equally demoralizing apartment in the outer boroughs of Manhattan each evening. At the urging of Eric, her devoted and slightly geeky husband, she decides to start a blog that will chronicle what she dubs the "Julie/Julia Project." What follows is a year of butter-drenched meals that will both necessitate the wearing of an unbearably uncomfortable girdle on the hottest night of the year, as well as the realization that life is what you make of it and joy is not as impossible a quest as it may seem, even when it's -10 degrees out and your pipes are frozen. Powell is a natural when it comes to connecting with her readers, which is probably why her blog generated so much buzz, both from readers and media alike. And while her self-deprecating sense of humor can sometimes dissolve into whininess, she never really loses her edge, or her sense of purpose. Even on day 365, she's working her way through Mayonnaise Collee and ending the evening "back exactly where we started--just Eric and me, three cats and Buffy...sitting on a couch in the outer boroughs, eating, with Julia chortling alongside us...." Inspired and encouraging, Julie and Julia is a unique opportunity to join one woman's attempt to change her life, and have a laugh, or ten, along the way. --Gisele Toueg
Customer Review:A3IXC749UVCXWF
Rating: 
Summary: Awful, whiny book. Skip it. Stick to the movie.
Something tells me that if I had read the book first, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the movie. Glad I saw it the other way around. The screenplay writers did an excellent job turning a sow's ear into a silk purse (or reasonable fascimile of it.)
I barely made it through the first chapter without wanting to just throw the book across the room. Turns out Julie Powell was a whiner far earlier in the book than she was in the movie. At least in the movie, some of the whining is charming. In the book it is not at all charming. You just want to smack her and yell, grow up already! In comparison, Julia's memoir is far more interesting, and while Julia definitely had her moments, it was clear she was far more emotionally mature than Julie. No wonder Julia blew off Julie and her blog.
Customer Review:A2NYQ6C5FQQWRZ
Rating:
Summary: Lazy, bad writing.
OK, if you want to be a writer, then write--don't let endless pop-cultural references do the work for you (" . . . his expression blank like a character on South Park before delivering a punch-line", or references to the movie Airplane, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Meryl Streep in "The Hours", and many, many others). Don't assume your readers have seen every movie you've seen, or watched every TV show you've watched. Even though I got most of her references and could form a mental picture of what she was trying to describe, it was rather annoying. I kept thinking, "This is the best description you could manage? Can you really be this lazy and still get published? What's happened to the publishing industry?" Lazy, BAD writing, with only an occasional humorous remark--most of them lose their humor for their mean-spirited delivery or whining tone. Unfortunately, when not relying heavily on pop-culture references, there is frequent lapsing into over-writing and just trying way too hard. The middle ground would have been preferable. One quickly notices a significant lack of anything resembling depth here.
I also wonder, like other reviewers, if perhaps the author could expand her vocabulary a bit beyond expletives. She came across as coarse, unimaginative, and emotionally immature. The end result is anything but a journey of the soul. It's just time spent with someone who comes across as highly dysfunctional, not very likable, and in serious need of an Alcoholics Anonymous group. Their lives sound pathetic, even as we go on what could have been a really fascinating journey of growth and introspection. This is just a bitch-fest that leaves one wanting to send a condolence card to her "sainted" husband, Eric.
She begins early in the book describing a clearly mentally-ill woman in a subway station, who is hitting her head on the concrete as simply, "The Loon". Not a trace of compassion or empathy, just a dehumanizing, nasty descriptor, repeated numerous times. This narcissist simply saw in that person the set up for her own whining about her life. This made me cringe, and should have been the tip-off, the red flag, telling me this is not someone with whom I want to spend my valuable reading time. I should have listened to my gut in the first chapter.
If you want to read about food and cooking, read Julia Child, herself, or I highly recommend anything by M.F.K. Fisher.
Will definitely skip Powell's next book . . . and any subsequent ones. You might want to do the same.
Customer Review:A18GRUTRHH7SO7
Rating:
Summary: Boring and not fun at all
I found this book at Goodwill and thought the movie was interesting so I thought the book would be as well. It wasn't. It was boring, had nothing to do with cooking, and I don't get a good impression of the author. The swear words were offensive, and I only got through the first couple chapters when I realized I had no interest in reading the rest of it. This book will be going back to Goodwill.
Customer Review:A11XMSYO15MLKN
Rating: 
Summary: Great and unique book
A lovely and unique book. I found the main character so relatable in so many ways. I loved the combination of history with current memoir. Great book!
Customer Review:A2DTYQ5WBSTAKW
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed with author
There is no other word to describe Julie Powell then unlikable. Having not seen the movie, I asked my mother if Amy Adams portrayed her as a foul-mouth, whiny person. Apparently, she did not. While I was not expecting a perky little house frau, I did hope that the author would have some redeeming qualities. For example, she is endlessly mean to her husband, passes judgement on all of her friends and collegues and gives intimate details of their sexual exploits,and even though I am a Democrat myself, I find her continual jabs at the Republicans she works with incredibly disrespectful. All this relates to Julia Child how? I'm still not sure. I am no prude and believe me I have had go arounds with my husband, cursed, and have been judgmental. I just don't feel the need to write any of my personal issues in a book. However, she swears like a truck driver and drinks to the point where she ruins some dishes. If that's what you are doing at 29 years old, perhaps lack of culinary expertise is the least of your issues. That and maybe her lack of heart in dealing with the families of 9/11 victims because she didn't like her job. A real stand up gal!
I hoped this would be more of homage to Julia Child. I own both volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Both were my Grandmother's. We used to watch the show together on PBS back in the 70's. I felt like Julia was an after thought and it was only towards the end where her significance is truly addressed. I felt that there was not really a great love for this culinary icon so much as she was a means to an end. I guess I was hoping this would be about love of food and a passion for cooking and a tip of the sauce pan to a great legend of the kitchen. Instead, I found it self-indulgent and insufferable. It's much more of a complaint about how awful she precieves her life to be instead of a great chance to really honor an outstanding woman. No wonder Julia didn't care so much for Julie.
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