By: Julie Powell
Genre: Nonfiction,
Memoir, Cooking
Julie Powell is a twenty-nine year old secretary in New
York. She is married to her high school sweetheart, working at a job she hates,
and being urged by her doctors to get pregnant as soon as possible. But Julie
isn’t sure she’s ready for parenthood, in fact, she’s not sure what she wants
at all; only knowing that she is not happy where she is. Then, one day, while
visiting her parents in Texas, she discovers her mother’s copy of Julia Child’s
Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
and embarks on a yearlong blog project where she will cook every single recipe
in the book. With the help of her husband, friends and “bleaders” she works her
way through the novel one or two recipes at a time.
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I’ve seen previews
for the movie and swore to myself that I would read the book first. Well, now I
have, and I hope the film adaptation has more to offer than the book does.
My biggest issue with the book is the writing style. Powell
doesn’t seem to understand writing in a chronological order. I often found
myself confused as she had jumped from talking about one thing to some anecdote
from her past that somehow relates to it – and sometimes there was no spacing
in between these to indicate that the subject is changing. For instance, in the
chapter where she is discussing lobsters, she is in the middle of talking about
the lobster recipes and then the chapter turns into her holiday vacation with
her family. It eventually wraps back around to her cooking the lobsters in her
apartment, but it takes a while. Also, I found many of her anecdotes
unnecessary.
I found it strange how she would gloss over the more
important details that happen dealing with her blog, in favor of telling the
readers about her friends and family. She barely gives any details about being
interviewed for newspapers, magazines and television news, but tells us all
about the sexual antics of her friends. I don’t care about your friends’ sex
lives¸ or that one friend is leaving her husband for a man she met on the
internet¸ I want to know about how your blog became so successful. I want to
read about how you gained recognition – what it was like to be interviewed, to
have not just the attention of a few devoted readers, but also the attention of
news media. You gained what many bloggers dream about, lady! We want to hear
about your success!
Powell also passes over in-depth discussion of the recipes
in favor of talking about her life overall. I wasn’t necessarily looking
forward to reading about the cooking aspect, but it does play a major role in
the blog and got her name out there, so it seems like it would be important.
Usually when the food is discussed, it is done so through Julie’s anxieties and
frustrations with recipes. She will tell us the name of a recipe, but often not
what it actually is. So, you’re making Oeufs a la Bourguignonne? Great! What is
that?
Julie, herself, gets on my nerves a lot. She got off to a
bad start with me when she condescendingly referred to the homeless woman in
the subway as a “loon” and rushed away from her. The woman did seem to have a
mental illness, yes, a lot of homeless people suffer from one form or another,
but she is more than just some “loon” on the street, she’s a person too, Julie.
She is constantly putting down the Republican Party, and even though I don’t
support the conservative belief system, that got irritating too. Her jibes had
no basis and there were many of them littered throughout the book. I don’t
understand what the Republican Party has to do with cooking blogs. I get it
that she works for a government agency with republicans, but they aren’t
important to the progress of this memoir, are they?
I didn’t feel like I could relate well to Julie at all. The
most we have in common is our love for Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, and I think I may be a bigger fan than she is. She
drinks a lot, smokes regularly, and envies the sex lives of her friends. There
are times where she puts down her husband, Eric, even though he’s been nothing
but supportive and even gave her the idea to start the blog in the first place.
She encourages her friend to get involved with a married man, which is terrible
advice. She also allows cooking to take over her life to the point where she
doesn’t clean up properly and discovers maggots growing under her dish
strainer. How can someone let that happen?
Lastly, she complains all the time
about her crappy job, crappy apartment, and the lack of support from her family
and friends – even though many followed her blog and would take part in the
dinners she cooked.
They were supportive, but they also worried about her
because she became so obsessed.
The only parts of the book that I really liked were the
parts based on Julia Child. We learn about her relationship with her husband
and how she got into cooking. Her parts are styled in italics and often short,
but she seemed like a much more interesting woman – strong, witty, and intelligent,
she captures Paul’s love and follows him to Paris where she discovers her true
passion in the art of cooking. I can see why she inspires Julie, I just wish
Julie were a bit more inspiring.
Overall, this was an okay read at best. I wasn’t a fan of
Julie or her writing style, and I felt there could have been more on the blog,
Julie’s success/interviews, the actual recipes, and Julia Child, herself.
4/10
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