Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I read Julie & Julia for my book club not that long ago: tonight, Mike and I went to see the movie, with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. It was wonderful and seemed very true to the book, complete with some of Julie's disasters, emotional melt downs, and cooking triumphs. You could almost taste the food -- smell the food -- as the movie switched back and forth from scenes of Julie cooking to Julia cooking. I enjoyed the contrasting settings, with Julia walking in the streets and market places and sitting in the restaurants of Paris and Julie in her cubicle, cooking in her tiny kitchen in an apartment over a pizza place, and entertaining on the roof.

I also liked the portrayal of the two very supportive men who were separated by decades, but strikingly similar in their love for their wives, appreciation of good cooking, and ability to enjoy (do I dare say savor?) life.

For those not familar with the story, Julie & Julia is about a young secretary who works at a job that might be difficult for many to do: she works for a company helping to coordinate efforts after 9/11 and takes phone calls from angry, grieving people all day. She likes to cook but doesn't really think she is all that good; after all, she is no Julia Child. Julie is also a self proclaimed failed writer, having invested several years in a novel that did not get finished and that no one wanted to publish anyway. As her 30th birthday approaches, however, she feels a need to do something significant; talking with her husband, Eric, she decides to cook her way through Julia Child's famous cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking--and then blog about it. So there are a number of scenes where she sits at her laptop and composes her blog entries; I was struck again by the way she found her voice online, and how she addressed an audience that didn't exist at first.

Back in 2002, blogging was not as common and the blogosphere was less crowded, so it may have been easier to get noticed. At first, she isn't sure anyone is reading her blog except for her coworker, her mom, who is not totally supportive, and Eric. But as she makes progress through the list of recipes, and continues to document her efforts, she becomes aware that people are reading her postings. At the end of the year she has accomplished her goal of cooking all 500+ recipes, but she has gained much more than the mastery of cooking techniques. She feels that she has truly taken back her own life. At the same time, she starts getting contacted by editors and agents and the rest is history!

I loved the book; I loved the movie. While Meryl Streep is an amazing actress, I was not prepared for how much she took on the role of Julia Child; she captures the loud, exuberant voice, gestures, and seems to channel JC. She is just the way I picture Julia in the book; Stanley Tucci plays her husband, Paul, and they are wonderful together. Likewise, this is a great role for Amy Adams: she has a lovely quality that is very authentic and likeable in spite of her emotional meltdowns. She is a real woman living in post 9/11 New York city.

If you're hungry for a good read, check out Julie and Julia; you can find it at the WPL in either the CDbook area or in the nonfiction section.

You might also be interested in the movie site, which you can find at www.julieandjulia.com/

You may also want to go to Julie Powell's current blog,
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/


c Waterloo Public Library 2009