Julie Powell memoir is found less than satisfying so far
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It’s unlikely that Julie Powell -- blogger turned author turned media celebrity and played by Amy Adams in the film ‘Julie & Julia’ -- is smiling over the early reviews for her new book, ‘Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession.’ The book chronicles her troubled marriage, her sordid affair with another man and her desire to learn the art of butchery. Some highlights: From the Los Angeles Times, which calls the memoir vain and lacking insight and the author an ‘unreliable narrator’: ‘ ‘Cleaving’ is an ambitious undertaking. ... An entertaining writer, she almost pulls it off. ... Yet despite some fine writing about butchery, and some not-so-fine writing about romance, ‘Cleaving’ turns out to be not much more than a rambling recitation -- not to say defense -- of all sorts of bad behavior.’
From the Village Voice, whose review includes some of Powell’s more explicit language regarding her affair: ‘How much you’ll enjoy the book also depends on how much you’ll enjoy Powell’s voice, which is by turns solipsistic, grating, endlessly self-indulgent, and, worst of all, boring.’
So far, no word on whether this book will be turned into a movie.
-- Rene Lynch
