I'm Not Julia Roberts

by Laura Ruby

Book Overview

Does every second wife look like Julia Roberts? Lu Kleincertainly doesn't, and her life is anything but glamorous. When she marrieda man with children, Lu had no idea that she was also marrying his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446578746
• ISBN13: 9780446578745
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

My Opinion - "I'm Not Julia Roberts"

As several previous reviewers have done a masterful job of it, I will not attempt to summarize "I'm Not Julia Roberts". Rather, I will just say what I told the author in an email to her after I finished the book (in just a little more than 24 hours). I loved it. It was a deeply satisfying read in all the ways that I consider a book satisfying. I love Ruby's writing style and voice. It's a well-crafted, brilliantly told and highly engaging story - not an easy accomplishment given the complicated ties among all the families. Her insight into the complexities of relationships across multiple age-groups and genders rings true. She nails them all with great accuracy, humor and compassion. Wonderful book!

My New Best Friend Lu

I was hooked on "I'm Not Julia Roberts" the minute I read the jacket cover: "...the bio mom gets cancer and DIES in that idiotic movie ('Stepmom'). Who here is going to get that lucky?" Did she really write that? I want more! And Laura Ruby delivers. Her characters are funny, sarcastic, bitchy and touching, each flawed and totally human. I couldn't get enough of the new stepmother Lu Klein, seemingly in over her head, who speaks with humor , honesty and wit. Beatrix, the bio-mom, whom we should hate out of loyalty to our new best friend Lu, gets a fair shake with her own story of trying to cope the best that she can. Laura Ruby's clever, unique and honest writing made me think, made me feel and best of all, made me laugh out loud.

A humorous look at blended families

Lupe Klein is not Julia Roberts. She may look like Julia Roberts. She may have the same sense of humor as Julia Roberts. And she may find herself in the same situations as Julia Roberts. But she is not Julia Roberts. She is especially not the Julia Roberts who portrayed the astonishing stepmom in the movie of the same name. You remember, the one in which the real mom is dying of cancer and lovely Julia is waiting in the wings to mother her children and comfort her husband. In this case, lovely Lupe is already married to Ward; his ex-wife Beatrix does not have cancer but is the victim of terminal control-freakitis. And his three sons have become the pawns in this all-too-typical blended family scenario. While it's true that Loopy (the boys' nickname for her) could have benefited from a snappy scriptwriter, she does an admirable job of being stepmom to Ward's trying trio. Devin, Britt and Ollie are basically good kids, pushing the parental boundaries but willing to give her a fair chance if she doesn't crack under the strain. She does well considering that she never has had any children of her own to practice on. I'M NOT JULIA ROBERTS is not so much a novel as it is a series of episodes from "Knot's Landing" --- four or five yuppie couples live on a cul-de-sac, creating endless drama and striving to get their needs met regardless of who or what must be sacrificed. It is a distressing but accurate commentary on life in a culture where the divorce rate is over 50%. As a result, children in blended families are cast in roles they were never meant to play: monsters, matchmakers, gossip mongers. They also become understudies to the adults, and when they come of age, many are destined to continue the marriage, divorce and remarriage cycle. If there is a lighter side to all of this, Laura Ruby has managed to find it and captures the essence of each gender and age group in a way that makes you smile knowingly or laugh out loud, depending on how long ago it was that you dealt with these problems. For example, Roxie is another of the "not Julia Roberts" moms and her daughter, Liv, enjoys making her life miserable. "....Liv discovered that devouring truck-loads of junk food in front of Roxie...she of the perpetual diet...was a far more effective and enjoyable brand of torture, especially since she could burn it all off with one good hissy fit." Generously sprinkled with candid observations and comic relief, Laura Ruby has created a book with a serious theme and presented it in a way that is sure to comfort already-blended families and provide food for thought for those who have not yet taken that important step. [...]

A wicked look inside blended families

As a member of a blended family myself, I was rolling with laughter over Laura Ruby's descriptions of the hopelessly dysfunctional kin in "I'm Not Julia Roberts." The role of the step-parent is first and foremost on her mind, but the bewildered state of the divorced biological parent also gets a moment on the stage. Even the evil ex-wife with control issues gets her chance to express her view of the whole extended-family disaster. The writing may be a bit savage at times, and some readers may quail at the descriptions of the hopelessly lost children. But the truth is that kids are not always adaptable to change and their behavior can be alienating at best. Most do come around, however, and there is a hint in this book that change is possible. My only beef is the family tree at the beginning of the book. I found myself hopelessly lost as to the inter-relationships of the characters and found that the tree wasn't helping very much. I'm not sure what sort of device would work better, however. All in all, a witty and biting look at the state of families today. It's a must for anyone who's been divorced, remarried, and dealing with children.

Many POV on blended families

This is not our mother's novel, and in spite of the aproned figure on the cover, this is not the story of June Cleaver, either. I'm Not Julia Roberts is a collection of interwoven stories chronicling the blended family. The title alludes to Julia Roberts' character in the movie Stepmom. She is the unseen foil to Lu Klein, one of the stepmothers in this collection. Lu, along with her husband's ex-wife Beatrix, and Beatrix's husband's ex-wife, Roxie, are just a few of the women we meet in this oddly interconnected world. If not for the "family tree" diagram in the front of the book, I might have gotten hopelessly lost! It was immensely helpful, not only for the marriages current and broken, but also for the children's names and their interconnections. Laura Ruby's writing style is descriptive, yet straightforward. She tells the story in a circular rather than linear fashion--and in the case of one chapter, through emails and notes, entirely backwards. Occasionally her imagery is so poignant, so true, it made me stop reading and ponder. One of the strengths of the book is that each story has a different point of view. By the end of the book, we've seen not only the main characters' own points of view, we've also seen these characters' views of each other. This adds a touch of reality because we get to see everyone's side of the story--wives, husbands, and children. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those who are from intact families, because it gives the reader a glimpse into the world of blended families and the balancing acts therein. I also recommend this book to those in blended families, for they will understand even more of the nuances and subtexts, and perhaps even smile in recognition. Armchair Interviews says: Unique view of blended families.