Julie and Julia

by Julie Powell

Julie Powell is 30 years old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a secretarial job that's going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In the span of one year. At first she thinks it will be easy, but as she moves from simple potato soup into more complicated realms, she realizes there's more to Mastering the Art than meets the eye. She haunts the local butcher, buying kidneys and sweetbreads. She rarely serves dinner before midnight. She discovers how to mold the perfect Orange Bavarian, the trick to extracting marrow from bone, and the intense pleasure of eating liver. And somewhere along the line she realizes she has eclipsed her life's ordinariness through humor, hysteria, and perseverance.--From publisher description.

• ISBN10: 1306755883
• ISBN13: 9781306755887
• Publish Date: 1 January 2005
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 19 May 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little Brown and Company
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[sstaley]

I was so disappointed in this book. I loved the movie and wanted to read the book. I should not have wasted my time. The book is full of vulgar language, a lot of sexual talk and overall I got tired of her attitude. The "cute" Julie I saw in the movie is not there in the book. I was also disappointed that Julia is not a huge factor in the book, where in the movie there was more bout her life.

My recommendation is... see the movie but skip the book.

[Eve1972]

I probably should have just stuck to the movie, the book was just OK. I found Julie to be self-absorbed and whiny and just not all that likable to be honest. Sure there were funny parts, but overall a disappointing read for me...

[mbtc]

I wasn't as impressed with this book as I had hoped I would be. I'm still happy I read it, as I'm looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation and I typically prefer to read the books first. But the tone of Julie in this book is a harsh one and it doesn't mesh well with my personal preferences. It was okay. At best.