Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession (vuoden 2009 painos)

1. I don't really want to know such detail about butchery, because it's kind of gross.

2. The author is seriously messed up.

3. I feel sorry for her family and anyone who knows her, because who wants to read such horrible stuff about someone?

4. The main reason I read this book is that the library summer reading program has a "food" theme, so I get a raffle ticket for books that have something to do with food. I'd better win something good! ( )

I hate bad mouthing authors, it is an unspeakably difficult thing to write a book, let alone one that exposes yourself to the audience ... yet ... Julia has demonstrated that this is not the case and written ... well, it's not a book, it is a really long blog post.

She provides a glimpse into a life that is falling apart and interspersed with recipes and her trying to reclaim some glory or validation from a past achievement that was in itself only amazing because of the shoulders she stood upon by entering a world of butchery.

What makes it worse is that neither story is related by anything other than the fact that she lived the two at the same time. She is not strong in either scenario. She shows no sign of strength or empowerment with her affair, her failing marriage or in her new career. Her recitals of the sex she is exploring and apparently enjoying is as flaccid as her description of her sausage making.

The fact that it is randomly interspersed with recipes doesn't offer it any respite as most are, at best, uninspired.

I struggled through this book. I should, in hindsight, have stopped at the second chapter and composted the paper instead. ( )

Sometimes I wonder if people do really shitty things with their lives just so they can write a mediocre memoir about it. As opposed to “A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession”, the subtitle should really just be “A Story of Obsession”. I’ll admit that I spent close to 80% of this book just feeling embarrassed for Julie Powell. While the other 20% is deliciously precise and intelligent writing with evocative descriptions of the art of butchery and its subtleties, this is entirely lost to her senseless ravings over her sleazy, sadistic lover and her inability to act like a grown woman. ( )

Kind of a let-down after Julie and Julia, especially if you thought the author was delightful after watching Amy Adams in the movie version. Graphic butchery scenes, raw and somewhat unexpected sex and infidelity, a touch of self pity. Certainly open and honest, but not an especially enjoyable read. ( )

Don't read this book if:
1) you're squeamish, a vegetarian, or a card-carrying PETA member. The descriptions of butchery get pretty graphic.
2) you'd like to believe that life after Julie & Julia was all kittens and roses. After her first book was published, the author's life pretty much went to pot [spoiler alert!:] - manic depression, alcoholism, infidelity, and even dabbling in a little male prostitution.


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