Julia Child: My Life in France

By JULIETTE ROSSANT My Life in France (Knopf 2006) is a glimpse into the larger, largely unknown life of TV legend Julia Child, a woman who was much, much more than Food and Television. It is a final tribute from two people who loved her greatly, editor Judy Jones and grandnephew Alex Prud'homme (see his 2004 Op-ed in The New York Times). The book reveals the middle-life epiphany of food for Ms. Child and the even later arrival of her equally unexpected television stardom, but it also shows that there was much more to Ms. Child than either. Perhaps more importantly, My Life in France offers even harder to gain glimpses into the importance of husband Paul Child -- and into a now-vanished age in La Belle France itself, which Ms. Child tried to capture on television. Ms. Child was quite old when this project finally got underway, and the book has the feeling throughout of being somehow clipped and even just a little ragged, as if Mr. Prud'homme just could not get the whole story down, either because Ms. Child skipped over things, or because she was no longer available to consult. These laconae do not detract: rather, they help complete the overall feeling. The result which Alex Prud'homme and Judy Jones have achieved is worthy of note for other biographers and editors. My Life in France is no reworking of diary entries and letters: it provides vivid snapshots of Ms. Child & Co. in a memory-making, memory-enhancing photobook, published in what is now the age of digital video. It is precious. One might expect readers could never be satsfied, and this reviewer was not, though unsure whether criticism can be leveled. Let's say it, anyway: there is simply not enough about Paul Child. Granted, the subject is Ms. Child, but she herself attributes so much to her husband. His life, his thoughts, his career are central to hers. He is the leader in their early marriage, then she leads (much to his delight, one infers). We hear what Ms. Child thought about McCarthyism and cut-backs at the U.S. Information Agency (later USIS -- so prescient of our current Public Diplomacy shambles -- but what did Mr. Child think? Perhaps we to assume that much of the memoir is actually about the thoughts of "Pulia" (Paul + Julia). One thing is clearly missing, however -- more of the photographs, paintings, and designs by Mr. Child. The strange cover photo finally makes great sense and becomes part of a cascade of smiles created by two facing pages of Valentine's cards, but the text refers to much more. Do not more of Mr. Child's works remain? Are they not germaine to Ms. Child's autobiography? Mr. Child's work is so reminscent of the computer-based graphic imaging of today -- perhaps there is interest in a companion volume about his life and works, even if it sells more modestly? Or is it even likely that a book about Mr. Julia Child would really find itself only mid-shelf? Also, to attract more (younger) readers, the racier and highly amusing bathtub photo of Julia and Paul would have been far more eye-catching -- and more representative of who Julia Child and Paul Child were in their time, namely borderline bohemians, intellectually inclined, lighthearted, and adventurous to the point of living many years in France and abroad. In sum, My Life in France lets us peek into the heretofore hidden heart and mind of Julia Child, sufficiently that there is room for no further autobiography. It is a book complete in its incompleteness. It leaves us wishing we knew Ms. Child better. She would approve heartily and surely make a food allusion here, that one should never eat more than enough. It leaves us hankerng for more. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Excerpt ABC News Excerpt Washington Post Related news: New York Times (Alex Prud'homme Op-ed) Other reviews: Publishers Weekly TIME New York Times International Herald Tribune San Francisco Chronicle Boston Globe Baltimore Sun Newsday Louisville Courier-Journal Honolulu Advertiser (AP) Nashua Telegraph (AP) State Journal-Register Houston Chronicle (Newhouse News Service) St. Paul Pioneer Express (Newhouse News Service) New York Sun Bloomberg Epicurious USA Today Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Entertainment Weekly BookPage Paris Through Expatriate Eyes Washington Post Previous articles: Blooker Prize: Julie & Julia FOOD FLICKS: Julia Child Interviews Update: Julia Child's Channel Saved - For Now James Beard, Emmys to Honor Julia Child Julia Child Remember'd, by Judith Jones Forthcoming on Julia Child: The Spy, the Student, the Master Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Julia Child --> back to superchefblog