I recently finished reading "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell. This is the book that inspired the movie of the same title. I've seen the movie and I wasn't amazed, but I found the book at Homesense for five dollars, and figured that it would be worth a try.
I liked it! It wasn't the most amazing book ever, but it was... fuller than the movie (of course). As a result, the things that bugged me in the movie didn't stand out as much in the book. The relationships were more realistic in the book, and time didn't seem to speed by as fast.
The premise is the same in both the book and the movie: a dissatisfied secretary who likes cooking decides to improve her cooking skills and add meaning to her life by cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and writes a blog about these cooking adventures. It's a memoir of a true story (although for privacy reasons she changes most people's names, and renames her brother Heathcliff, which I thought was funny), and it includes illustrations of Julia Child's life as well. In the book these historical glimpses are largely limited to how Julia met her husband Paul. The movie includes more information from Julia's own memoir and tells the story of how her cookbook was written and published.
The movie really toned things down: the language, the sexual discussion, Julie's craziness. (She's pretty crazy, and she doesn't try to hide it.) It's a better movie because it's censored, and it's something people need to be aware of if they consider reading the book. The uncensored book was able to make Julie seem like more of a realistic person, though.
I liked it! It wasn't the most amazing book ever, but it was... fuller than the movie (of course). As a result, the things that bugged me in the movie didn't stand out as much in the book. The relationships were more realistic in the book, and time didn't seem to speed by as fast.
The premise is the same in both the book and the movie: a dissatisfied secretary who likes cooking decides to improve her cooking skills and add meaning to her life by cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and writes a blog about these cooking adventures. It's a memoir of a true story (although for privacy reasons she changes most people's names, and renames her brother Heathcliff, which I thought was funny), and it includes illustrations of Julia Child's life as well. In the book these historical glimpses are largely limited to how Julia met her husband Paul. The movie includes more information from Julia's own memoir and tells the story of how her cookbook was written and published.
The movie really toned things down: the language, the sexual discussion, Julie's craziness. (She's pretty crazy, and she doesn't try to hide it.) It's a better movie because it's censored, and it's something people need to be aware of if they consider reading the book. The uncensored book was able to make Julie seem like more of a realistic person, though.
The thing that bugged me most about the movie was the purpose of her blog and what she hoped to get out of it - and how that is diametrically opposed to what I want from my own blog. By blogging, Julie wants to become famous and found - she's eager for strangers to read her thoughts and whines when she thinks she has no followers (except her Mom, who she says doesn't count). I, on the other hand, view my blog as a more quiet, private matter. I write mainly for myself, although it also turns out to be a convenient way to share my thoughts and adventures with my friends. I expect to only have a limited readership, and it makes me uncomfortable to discover that I have been found by strangers. I have a hard time understanding Julie's approach to blogging, and it kind of got on my nerves.
As this is a true story, it would be really cool to be one of the original readers of Julie's blog, considering all the fame and success that has come of it. It's nice to be able to say that you liked something before it became popular.
I think this book and movie have increased public awareness of Julia Child. I personally knew very little about her beforehand, and now I have a pretty good idea of who she was and what she did. I also think that people have been inspired to cook and explore recipes more. This was what gave me the idea of making a New Years goal of cooking 12 recipes out of the same cookbook (a much more easily attainable goal than that of Julie's - but it still isn't going all that well).
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