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Julie & Julia

By: Julia Powell
Narrated by: Julie Powell
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Summary

Simultaneous release with screening of feature film, starring Meryl Streep.

Trapped in a boring job and living in a tiny apartment in New York, Julie Powell regularly finds herself weeping on the way home from work. Then one night, through her mascara-smudged eyes, Julie notices that the few items she's grabbed from the Korean grocery store are the very ingredients for Potage Parmentier, as described in Julia Childs' legendary cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And The Project is born.

Julie begins to cook - every one of the 524 recipes in the book, in the space of just one year. This is Julie's story, as gradually, from oeufs en cocotte to bifstek sauté au beurre, from 'Bitch Rice' to preparing live lobsters, she realizes that this deranged Project is changing her life. The richness of the thousands of sauces she slaves over is beginning to spread into her life, and she begins to find the joie de vivre that has been missing for too many years.

©2009 Julie Powell (P)2009 Bolinda
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Critic reviews

"What lies at the heart is the power of food to transform the everyday act of eating into a complex and potentially life-changing experience." ( Guardian Review)
A gem of a book... both hilarious and touching." - Glamour."Restore(s) your faith in eating for pleasure." ( Vogue)
An entertaining romp portraying the joys and frustrations familiar to any ambitious domestic cook." ( Sunday Times)

What listeners say about Julie & Julia

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Not really enjoyable

I really did wonder were the story was in this book. Sure she managed to complete the task set but that was it.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

food, laughter and tears

great book, Julie is a great writer, I love her wit and her really dry humour. I felt I could identify with her and I loved the tales of cooking disasters and triumphs. I would recomed to anyone

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and easy listen

Finished the book while renovating my living room, I was looking for something fun to listen to and after watching the movie I thought I'd give it a go.

I think the reviews of Julie's two books are a bit outdated. I am scratching my head at people who think Julie swears too much? I like that she isn't perfect, that she gives bad advice, that she is human, honest and nuanced. Everything a real person is. We're all flawed.

The performance is very good as well! I wish Julie the best and hope that if she decided to write another book, it would be received better today, where women are not all put into the 'perfect' box with the lid shut.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful

I came across this by accident and listened to it because I loved the film. Some very dodgy French pronunciation but it's a great story, with life and cooking complementing each other. Julie Powell, very sadly, died suddenly at only 49.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Would appeal to older people

I'm in my 20's and couldn't connect or enjoy this book. In fact I didn't finish it. The pace was too slow and I didn't get the storyline even though I love cooking. A disappointment. I think it would perhaps appeal to older people - maybe 40+. Its just not a young person book. It lacked action and pace.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Movie MUCH better than the book!

After seeing and enjoying the movie, I was really looking forward to hearing the book. This is one of those rare cases where the movie is much better than the book! The author comes across as a foul-mouthed, self important, self indulgent mean girl without any discernable moral code. I have no desire to finish this book after slogging through over half of it, hoping it would get better. I'm disappointed. I'm also impressed that they somehow made the movie version of her so likable.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not a pleasure to listen to

What would have made Julie & Julia better?

less bad language - don't mind some but this was OTT.

Would you be willing to try another book from Julia Powell? Why or why not?

absolutely not if this is how she writes - and I have read the fifty shades trilogy and it wasn't as bad as this.

What does Julie Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

excessive swearing - ok at the beginning but Iit went on and on and on. Every other line seemed to have the words sex, sexy, F***K etc., with all sorts of inuendoes I enjoy a laugh as much as anybody else with swearing but even I found this amount shocking and it certainly wasn't in the film. Has totally ruined my enjoyment of both film and book.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Julie & Julia?

Anything with excessive swearing.

Any additional comments?

Yes - take it off - its offensive and nothing like the film.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Enough to make you a vegetarian

Some parts of this are really good,some of Julie's cooking stories are entertaining. But other parts I found difficult to listen to as they made me squirm. Especially when she decides to cut up a living lobster. Enough to make you a vegetarian(if you're not already)!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

What was all the fuss about?

I downloaded this only because I hadn't got around to seeing the movie that was based on this book. The only part I liked about it were the small fictional pieces about Julia Child. I found nothing particularly likeable about the rest of it.

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2 people found this helpful