Sunday, January 3, 2010

Book Review: Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia, Julie Powell (2005) [***+] This book has been following me around for awhile. A year and a half ago, when I was looking for decorating inspiration for our newly renovated basement, I found a tiny piece of a robin's egg shell and thought, "This is it!" I set it on a shelf, and when I returned to match paint swatches, I realized the egg shell was exactly the same color as the book it was sitting by -- Julie and Julia. The cover art then inspired the entire decorating scheme of my basement ... but still I didn't read the book, even though Julie (my Julie) had liked it and thought I would too. Then this summer, we saw the movie with our friends Suzanne and Dan, and Suzanne and I were both charmed and inspired. In September we made Beouf Bourguignon for my birthday, and it really is one of the best things I've ever eaten. Suzanne and I have been cooking together monthly ever since. Still, I was not inspired to read the book. A couple of weeks ago, we watched the movie again with Trixie, who loves to cook, and for Christmas Julie (my Julie) got me both volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. For Christmas dinner Trixie and I made cream puffs and a pear tart. Yum. When we packed for Ohio, Julie tucked Julie and Julia into the book bag, thinking Trixie might like to read it, but Trix was obsessed with her new Kindle. I thought about picking it up, but started reading the new Barbara Kingsolver book instead. Then a few days ago, while on a date at a bookstore with Julie (my Julie), I started reading Julie Powell's new book, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession, and just the first chapter was like watching a train wreck. It was awful, just like a train wreck, and I had to read it, just like a train wreck. But I was restrained, and did not buy the second book in hardcover, and decided instead to read Julie and Julia. Which I did in just a couple of days, and even though I found Julie Powell insufferably self-absorbed and irritating, I have to admit that I laughed out loud often and thoroughly enjoyed myself. You probably know by now that Julie and Julia is the story of Julie Powell's Julie/Julia Project, in which she cooked her way through the 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days in a tiny apartment kitchen in Long Island City, and also wrote a blog about it. Many of my friends have found her self-deprecating humor and turning-thirty angst charming and spot-on; I did not particularly. Maybe I've become hopelessly middle-aged and humorlessly maternal, but I just wanted to tell her to quit drinking so much and to clean her house. Also, my Julie clearly was remembering the movie rather than the book when she suggested that Trixie might want to read the book: Amy Adams as Julie Powell is pert and sweet and lovable; Julie Powell as Julie Powell is foul-mouthed and obsessed with her friends' sex lives -- apparently because her own is not much to write home about. Which perhaps explains the train-wreck in the new book. And yes, I probably will read it -- but in paper back, and on the beach. Now I'm off to finish Barbara Kingsolver.

5 comments:

Johannah said...

The movie was so wonderful yet I could barely stand the personality and whining of Julie so if she's worse in the book, it's off my future reading list. The movie shocked me with memories of how formative Julia Child was for me as an older teenager. I was never very interested in French cooking but watched as much of the first year of her show as I could, when home from boarding school. I just loved her way of being, an unselfconscious odd duck doing her thing and devil take the hindmost. She has been within me ever since. Still an uninspired cook here whose husband is chief cook.
Johannah

Beth A. said...

I actually read a bit of the original blog when she was writing it. I don't remember finding it that compelling at the time, so I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the book, even though I loved the movie. For one thing, like so many other people, I loved the movie for the wonderful Julia portion and could take or leave the Julie. Although to be fair, it would take an incredible actress playing an extraordinary character to be able to match Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. My parents were big Julia Child fans, so I have very fond memories of her from childhood.

Sara said...

I'm with Beth - it'd be way hard to match the level of awesomeness of Meryl Streep playing Julia Child...and that you laughed out loud a number of times means I'll put it on my list. But even just from watching the movie - there's a level of neediness? in the Julie character that I know will bug me if it's a part of the book too (which I'm guessing it is).

Kate Haas said...

I saw Julie Powell speak here when J&J (the book) came out and she was much like the book: foul-mouthed and irritating, but really pretty funny. Especially when she told the story of her mother responding to that nasty commenter on the blog. (I can only imagine what her poor mother thinks of Cleaving). This was one of those very (very!) rare situations where the movie was better than the book. Although the movie was also based on My Life in France, wasn't it? Now *that* was a delectable book!

Still haven't made the Beouf Bourguignon, but I am inspired by the pics you posted of those cream puffs. Creme Patisserie, here I come...

Brook Stableford said...

This is truly inspiring. Barbara Kingsolver will be presenting writers' workshops at the San Miguel Writers Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico February 19-23 2010. I just signed up. It looks like a rare opportunity to meet her. Are you going?