Book #46 of 50 of 2011: Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession by Julie Powell Ugh, this bitch. I checked this e-book out before our flight back to NY over Thanksgiving, having finished my other book and faced with a few hours to kill. With limited choices available to checkout from the NYPL, I settled on this one, intrigued to read about butchery and spurred on by my enjoyment of the movie adaptation of Julie and Julia. But unlike Julie and Julia, this book is simply a whine fest hosted by Julie Powell- she started having an affair with a man she refers to throughout the book as “D,” then throws a tantrum after he ends it. I think it’s one thing to have trouble in your marriage, but it’s entirely ridiculous to act as she describes herself - like giggling at blackberry messages from your lover right in front of your husband, and having met-on-craigslist type sexual encounters with strangers when both of her relationships were on the rocks? It’s just such a slap in the face to her husband and gross to read about. {It’s astonishing that after the way she treated him (plus his own infidelity) they got back together.} After her butchery phase she then goes on a totally superfluous trip to Argentina, the Ukraine, and Tanzania. I only kept reading because I was stuck on a plane, and by then I’d gotten too far and wanted to know if there was a point to all of this b.s. Verdict- read literally any other book if you’re curious about meat/butchery/cooking.

Book #46 of 50 of 2011: Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession by Julie Powell

Ugh, this bitch.

I checked this e-book out before our flight back to NY over Thanksgiving, having finished my other book and faced with a few hours to kill. With limited choices available to checkout from the NYPL, I settled on this one, intrigued to read about butchery and spurred on by my enjoyment of the movie adaptation of Julie and Julia. But unlike Julie and Julia, this book is simply a whine fest hosted by Julie Powell- she started having an affair with a man she refers to throughout the book as “D,” then throws a tantrum after he ends it. I think it’s one thing to have trouble in your marriage, but it’s entirely ridiculous to act as she describes herself - like giggling at blackberry messages from your lover right in front of your husband, and having met-on-craigslist type sexual encounters with strangers when both of her relationships were on the rocks? It’s just such a slap in the face to her husband and gross to read about. {It’s astonishing that after the way she treated him (plus his own infidelity) they got back together.} After her butchery phase she then goes on a totally superfluous trip to Argentina, the Ukraine, and Tanzania. I only kept reading because I was stuck on a plane, and by then I’d gotten too far and wanted to know if there was a point to all of this b.s.

Verdict- read literally any other book if you’re curious about meat/butchery/cooking.

Notes

  1. messily said: Just reading about this book almost ruined Julie& Julia for me. Now I’m kind of glad Julia never wanted to meet her — clearly she had good instincts! (I also highly recommend My Life in France if you haven’t already read it.)
  2. daphers said: how can you even finish books like that? she sounds utterly wretched. even in the movie, she was a whiny biatch…
  3. mariellie posted this