Julia Child: A Life

by Laura Shapiro

Book Overview

Author of the forthcoming What She Ate-Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Summer 2017) With a swooping voice, an irrepressible sense of humor, and a passion for good food, Julia Child ushered in the nation's culinary renaissance. In Julia Child, award-winning food writer Laura Shapiro tells the story of Child's unlikely career path, from California party girl to coolheaded chief clerk in a World War II spy station to bewildered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143116444
• ISBN13: 9780143116448
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fun, Quick Biography

Not a lot of new information here but a fun, quick biography of my favorite culinary personality. A nice addition to my cooking collection.

Interesting

This was a very intimate story...it revealed Julia's character for the reader in a very personable way. I feel like Julia has become a very dear friend after reading this book, and her love of food has become contagious. Julia shares her discoveries about food, life and love... and the happiness each provided her. This book filled in the gaps of fact and fiction about Julia. Bon Apetit to all.

I love this book!

This book was exactly what I was looking for. It has just enough about Julia's background to let you know what lead her to become The French Chef without being overwhelmed with minutiae. The book focuses mainly on her love affair with food & its preparation and her drive to get people to go into the kitchen and cook. If you enjoy watching Julia, you'll enjoy this book.

A Pleasant Insight of Julia Child

A delightful book that renewed my interest in food and got me browsing through the Julia Child cookbooks I own. One sees all the effort and hard work that she and her dedicated husband put into her TV shows. My husband and I enjoy cooking and since reading this book, we have regained some venture and enthusiasm in trying new dishes. And even if things don't always turn out, neither did Julia's. One learns from mistakes, goes on and tries again.

Under the Crust

Did you know that Julia Child had an eye job and three face lifts? That's not the only surprise that lurks inside this deceptively small book. Author Laura Shapiro has written a biography that is mostly sympathetic to its subject, but doesn't shrink from showing Child's less attractive qualities. She was opinionated and rarely shrank from saying what was on her mind. She had no patience for people who didn't agree with her about food. She had no use for vegetarians, organic food, or California cuisine. To friends, she made some homophobic comments. In public she did not. Shapiro has managed to fit a lot of fascinating information into 181 small-format pages. Unfortunately, the Penguin Lives publishers didn't see fit to include an index, let alone notes. Shapiro addresses this in a note at the end of the book, offering to provide sources for anyone who requests them. It seems likely that most of the quotations she provides in the book were from letters Child wrote to friends or from published interviews. Even if you've already read about Child's spy days, her introduction to French food, and the first TV shows, here's your chance to read about her breast cancer, how she coped with her husband's decline after a stroke, or what she really thought about McDonald's.