Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Julie & Julia, the book

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A few weeks ago I told you that I had been to see the movie, Julie & Julia. I enjoyed it. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD -- I think I'll own it (a rarity, I assure you).

Because I so thoroughly enjoyed the movie, I decided to reserve the book at the library. I started it about a week ago, and today, as I reached page 147 out of 307 pages, I quit. I will read no further.

There are a variety of reasons, and because my mother taught me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, I won't bash the author. Let's just say that the character portrayed in the movie by the cute, perky, virtuous Amy Adams, is nothing like the real deal.

As you may have heard, there is a lot of language in it. The majority of which is the F word.
Blech.

There is also a lot of Republican bashing. And I'm not talking about jokingly. I'm talking serious hate. There's just no reason why I should continue to subject myself to it voluntarily, and on page 147 I decided I just couldn't read another word when I read this sentence: "Aunt
Sukie is a schoolteacher in Waxahacie, Texas, and one of those smart, kind people who nonetheless mystifies you by continuing to vote Republican."

Another disappointment was the lack of quantifiable information about Julia Child. Most of the information about Julia in the movie must have come from the
screenwriter's researchers because maybe three percent of the book, at the very most, was about Julia directly.

I will sum up the tone of book with the author's own statement about herself. I think it says everything you should know before you read it. It might be confusing as she is referring to one of her best girlfriends before she makes the statement about herself in parenthesis.

"It's not as if Gwen is some uncontainable libertine, Falstaff personified as an impressively bitter, petite blond with fashion sense (and I say this as a person with nearly
depthless reserves of bitterness)."


As bitter as a square of unsweetened baking chocolate, I'd say.


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5 comments:

cmarie said...

Thank you for this - it sounds like you gave it a good look before you closed the book, on that book!

LauraSuz said...

That's a bummer...sorry it was a bust.

Anonymous said...

Barbara,
You can read Julia Childs side in her book called My Life in France. I can guarantee there are no F bombs in it. This is where they took Julia's part in the movie from. I think you would like this one better.

Jamie Jo said...

Interesting....thank goodness the movie is so much better!

Unknown said...

I second the recommendation for 'My Life in France'. My friend read it and really liked it. It is Julia's autobiography of her time there.