I read the book because I had heard much about it and then I saw the subsequent Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie. The film version of Julie & Julia, re-envisioned by the recently late great Nora Ephron, seemed more cohesive and left me with a stronger sense of the joy of food, cooking and life. And I think that's how some other people and the Academy Award panel felt, but then again there is still a faction that prefers the edgier, more personal pace of the book, originally based on Julie Powell's blog. And there's also a part of me that totally respects the frustration from whence her blog/book came, in terms of being trapped at a job that is just not where you want to be in life and wondering desperately how to escape. The idea of taking on all of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was brilliant, and I think if I'd kept up with it as a blog before it was published I would have really enjoyed each new post and recipe success/fiasco and getting to know Julie as well as Julia. However, I can see where hardcore Julia Child fans or foodies might have expected something more sensual and richly paced like Under the Tuscan Sun, which is ironically, a better book than film. So as the French say, à chacun son goût, or everyone has his or her own taste and that's why books can earn 5 star Amazon reviews and/or end up in city dumpsters.
