How
many books about Julia Child can a person thoroughly enjoy? Three, it turns
out. Having read Noel Riley Fitch’s biography, Appetite for Life, and Julia Child’s and Alex Prud’homme’s My Life in France, I wondered if Bob
Spitz’s Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child might prove to be too much of
the same. It did not. Though time line events were familiar, behind-the-scenes
anecdotes and interviews were new.
Because
of this third book about Julia Child, I think I understand her thinking and
principles and decisions a bit better. Spitz presents more of her hard edges
than the other books do. Whether his presentation of her driven, angry,
rebellious, and earthy sides is out of balance with the real Julia Child, I do
not know. Spitz also reveals business sides of publishing, television, and
celebrity. As usual, my favorite take-away was renewed admiration for Julia
Child’s belief in herself and her vision, as well as her exuberant taste buds
and teaching passion.
The
strength of Spitz’s biography is the stories. I didn’t want them to end.
Conversations, negotiations, funny moments fascinated me. It is from many of
these conversations that the book’s title came; Dearie was how Julia Child often addressed people. The book’s
weakness, in my opinion, was a dearth of photos.
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