My suggestion to anyone harboring curiosities, fondnesses or a seemingly like mindedness regarding the infamous Julia Child is to read (or audio book) "My Life In France" written by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme.
Having watched Julia Child's "The French Chef" as a child growing up and having become a fan of Mrs. Child in my adult years, I baulked when the trailer for 2009's Julie & Julia ran across my television set.
Now, I understand that the fans of the novel (and I suppose movie) are numerous and this is just one gal's opinion, but I couldn't help feeling cheated for good old Julia when I saw the portrait of her that Hollywood was about to unveil.
Admittedly, I have not seen the movie Julie & Julia. However, of the reviews that I have read all seem to agree that the story of Julia Child (and not Julie) is the foundation and strength of the movie, stating that her character and her story are what have resonance with the audience. This commonality amongst reviewers speaks for itself and, in a way, brings resolution if not satisfaction to my skepticism.
My problem really is not with the movie itself, but simply that I have a profound respect for Julia Child stemming from childhood memories and from reading her auto biography, My Life in France, and in seeing this movie released I feared that she would be marginalized, kookerized and over simplified. I felt that to the masses Julia Child would not be a person to be taken seriously and that the life events I had heard (I went for the audio book) told about her would be made into hyperbolically comical jokes. Simply put, I didn't want people to think that they knew who Julia Child was by watching this movie, but I knew they would.
Whether or not this movie did marginalize and kookify Julia I can not say and probably will never be able to say as I have no intrest in watching the movie. All skepticism aside, I'm simply not interested. Why? Because I have read My Life in France and that, is all the Julia Child biography I may ever need.
Before the movie had ever been heard of I recommended this book and had the movie never existed I would still have been recommending this book.
Julia Child is a fascinating woman. To listen and to learn about her and her story is enthralling and entertaining. She was so much more than what defined her to the public, being a chef. She was a wife, an expatriate, a hard core leftist, a traveler and so much more. She was too, eccentric and at times kooky; although, my sense is if she did realize this about herself it was only in retrospect. She was determined, serious and confident.
If you are looking for a good, hearty, whimsical, fun and self satisfying audio book I suggest, the unabridged version of My Life in France. I can not stress enough the unabridged version. I have heard parts of the "bridged" version and had this been the only version I knew I never would have finished the book.
For those of you who loved Julie & Julia do yourselves a favor and find out more about the woman who inspired the novel, the movie.
Eunuch chickens aside Julia Child knows A LOT about food and France.
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