Back in the day I swore I would not, under any circumstances, join a sorority. All those sheeple. Yet, at the beginning of my sophomore year, I went through Rush. I joined a sorority and went through all the newbie nonsense and happy la-la crap we brainwashed ourselves with. It was not all peaches and cream. Ultimately, I was bothered by the hypocrisy, the peer pressure, and a variety of other concerns. A year later, now on the other end of Rush, I was told that my even being in the sorority was because of a mistake in the rush process.
My last days were a mess–when I finally got the courage to announce that I was quitting, attempts to sway me with their arguments showed how little anyone knew me or my priorities. On the final day, and two other girls who had chosen to leave and myself were bullied and threatened. I clearly should have listened to my earlier self telling me not to rush.
The same thing happened with Julie & Julia. Sure there were no matching twinsets and campy songs about how awesome the Greek Alphabet was. But I told myself over and over that the book didn’t sound particularly good nor did the movie. Yet somehow I ended up in a dark theater and then with the book in hand. Both situations are sort of like that last drink when out celebrating with friends. You know you shouldn’t, decide it’s okay, and then completely regret it the next morning and swear you’ll never do it again.
Listen, I get what Julie Powell was doing. In fact, I had a lot of moments reading the book where I saw more than a few similarities between the two of us and the existential crisis of turning thirty and wondering what you’ve been doing with the past decade with all that “potential” people said you had. I get taking on a challenge to see what kind of person you’ll be at the other end. What I don’t get–being such a narcissistic bitch. A friend pointed out that she didn’t like books like this, where the writer is so obviously itching for attention and willing to share all the details of their life while trying to impress the unknown reader.
As a result Julie & Julia is okay. The writing is decent, but it reads like a blog post where every other line is some snarky comment meant to show just how awesome Julie is. Quite possibly she’s a very nice woman. Reading her book just makes me think she’s trying too damn hard for a bunch of strangers. Just because you can write a great and entertaining blog doesn’t mean you should write your book in the same way. A boon to her is that she does manage to write past the content on her blog rather than just rehashing old posts. Sadly, the style is engaging for all of four pages before I was ready to just move on–the style is overused by bloggers ’round the world, so there is nothing new or interesting about the way the book is written.
I love a good challenge. My attempting to read 100 books this year or do something new for every letter of the alphabet are examples that I’ve been willing to share. So kudos to Julie for attempting this. It should have just been left on the web and not put into book format.
UPDATE (9/9/09) – I should have mentioned something regarding the movie–LOVED the Julia Child bits. In fact, they were twenty times better then in Julie & Julia the book. While Julie still comes across as a bitch in the movie, I liked the focus on the cooking and her progess working through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So much of the book felt like airing dirty laundry for our entertainment and seemed like Julie had missed the “Joie de Vie” attitude of JC that would have made for a nice life lesson along the way.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Julie defintly got annoying. I don’t understand how her husband stayed with her. Not because of her project but becasue she is so mean and self-centered. I heard that they’re getting a divorse because she cheated on him even though the movie and book make no mention of it. She has a new book coming out about it.
I had liked the book (desptie the bitchyness) until I found that out. Makes the fun of the project seem greedy instead of enlighting.
OMG – I so want to do what Julie did! I can’t imagine staying up so late to eat and trying to cook all that. It’s got to be better tham my TV dinners though!
What a great review. I did not read the book but had come across some of the passages on the blog and I think that you described it perfectly – she comes across like a narcissistic bitch. It is not that her plight was completely new and I think she had a creative way of working it out but it seemed all too attention getting to me.
Hope to see you Sunday at the Brooklyn Book Festival…
.-= Christine ´s last blog ..back to reading… =-.
Christine – There’s also very little of Julia Child – the “chapters” about her are short, few, and mostly about the details leading up to getting married and not cooking. So it really should have been titled: “Julie”
I’ll hopefully be at the Brooklyn Book Festival – there are a few panels I want to check out but I’ll be flying in from Chicago late that morning after a bachelorette party – I might be too sleep deprived to make it! I’m hoping to also go to the the JASNA outing in a few weeks up to Yale.
I liked her sarcasm and, to a degree, her outspokenness, but what bothered me about her was her self-absorption and selfishness. She’s bitching about dealing with grieving friends/family of 9/11 victims….really?? Come on. Thoughts like that STAY IN YOUR HEAD; you never say these things outloud because people will think less of you.
I’m curious, what is this “style overused by bloggers” that you speak of?
.-= Kari´s last blog ..A Note on Sarcasm and Wit =-.
That sarcasm is sort of the “Blogger Style” – Not all bloggers use this style (and I admit to being guilty of it myself). You’ll see a lot of one liners for shock value, repetition of phrase, EMPHASISING IN ALL CAPS!, and the super annoying “Shatner. Pause. Between. Each. Word.”, and *sigh*-ing.
http://www.dooce.com is a great example of this. However, I think she’s a forerunner in using the style and her success as a blogger has caused others to emulate her personal voice. She purposefully puts everything on a high-drama level that initially drew readers in and gave later bloggers an example of how to be engaging.
It works for the short blurb nature of blogs but looses some of the effect when used in a book. It’s like a gimmick that would make more impact used sparingly rather than in Every. Single. Paragraph. Sort of how a number of curse words lost their shock impact once people started using them so prolifically.
I wonder if Powell really is that self-absorbed or if it’s the writing style and choice of anecdotes that work well with the style that make her come across so poorly – like she’s fetching for stories and examples that she can be overly emotional about and instead just sounds obnoxious.
EDITING TO ADD: I think part of the problem is not Powell but sort of the publisher – bloggers are use to writing in a very conversational/personal manner with extra effect to bring readers in (i.e. it has to be more in your face than the same event in a private journal/diary would be). And the majority of bloggers are not actually writers – not in the sense of a novelist or historian. Someone like Powell is on her blog not to share news, but her own life/growth – by nature it is self-absorbed. Being asked to write a book about the same experience is naturally going to result in a book of the same vein.
Ha, I am most definitely sometimes guilty of this style at times. Minus the caps, because caps are a pet peeve. And. all. the. periods.
I get what you’re saying now, though, and yes, it is definitely more appropriate for a blog. A blog entry is more like a conversation, right? You try to use letters and punctuation to emphasize the voice inflection you would use if you were TELLING the story to someone, rather than writing it. It gives the writing a personality and a voice that is way more descriptive than using correct grammar rules.
I have wondered the same exact thing about how Powell comes across in her book versus on her original blog. Since I read the book, and especially since the movie came out and EVERYONE read the book, I have heard so much criticism of her as a person. Yet, when she was writing her blog years ago, she had so many faithful readers. Wouldn’t those people have complained about her personality and attacked her thoughts as well?
I’m glad I read this post of yours…I’ve wanted to discuss this issue for a while!
.-= Kari´s last blog ..A Note on Sarcasm and Wit =-.
Omg, yes! I felt exactly like you when reading the book. I was bored, annoyed and just plain irritated with the book.
That might be because in the very beginning she says she has a tendency to lie. Okay, then why am I reading you?
I did say I liked the movie a bit, but that may have been because I adore Amy Adams.
.-= Ari´s last blog ..Recovery =-.
I liked the movie as well….but I liked the Julia parts. I wanted more of that, less Julie. It was well done and the acting great. Amy Adams is definitely talented, you always forget her past roles and she manages to take on each new character making them come to life.