One of Julie Powell's greatest childhood memories is her mom making Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon for a dinner party. She also loved flipping through her mother's copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Now, Julie is quickly approaching the dreaded 3-0, her dream of becoming an actor didn't work out and she eventually accepted the invitation to turn a temp job into a full time job--as a secretary, she has a "syndrome" that makes it difficult for her to have a child, and her and her husband moved into a small apartment. But she loves to cook!
Eric, Julie's husband suggests that Julie take on a challenge and Julie decides to work through the Master the Art of French Cooking in one year, recording every success, failure, and disaster with a blog.
Along the way, Julie shares snippets taken from Julia's life.
As she works through her hefty tasks, Julie shares her life, her cooking experiences, and how Julia Child--in one form or another--changed her life.
What I Thought:
What an interesting book! I will be honest, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I had seen the movie before reading the book which usually is not a smart thing to do!
The movie and the book do differ quite a bit, but I think that is a great thing.
The book gets into a lot of background of why Julie took on this project, her family's feelings about her endeavor, emotional breakdowns and stories about many of the dishes both the ones to eat and the ones to clean! There are several snippets of Julia's life, mostly ones of her years before she found her cooking.
This book was kind of hard for me to get through, as I said I ruined it by seeing the movie first. (I so know better than to do that!) However, I think that it was an interesting read and I feel inspired to cook! (Maybe even try a Julia Child recipe!)
Recommended, especially for foodies!
Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Reviewed from a library copy.
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