Customer Reviews

Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nancy Barr writes beautifully. This sweet-spirited account of her decades with Julia Child provides an insightful, well-integrated, honest, clear lens with which to get one more glimpse of the beloved Julia who inspired and taught so many of us, so well, for so long. Backstage with Julia is a joy to read. Then I headed to the kitchen and started pulling out copper pans, a chickeny chicken, herbs and quantities of butter. Thank you, Ms. Barr!

Ages ago I attended the cooking demonstration that Julia Child gave at the Rhode Island School of Design mentioned in this book, the event that was the beginning of the author's relationship with Julia. In a fit of nostalgia I was recently looking for the recipes from the program book that I lost along the way. I "accidentally" bought this book because it appeared it might have them documented since they are mentioned under "Recipes" in the index. Unfortunately, there are only a couple of recipes in the book and these were not among them. The index is misleading that regard. But the book was a light, entertaining read anyway. It charmingly portrays Julia as I would like to remember from seeing her on TV and at this one memorable live encounter: a warm, fun loving person who just loved to cook and wanted everyone else to fearlessly share her passion. If you want a gritty, in-depth expose of Julia's life, this isn't it. But if you remember Julia fondly this will leave you feeling good.

The book caught my eye in the library, and I read it in a couple of sittings over a weekend (a speed I rarely attain). Though the auther clearly adored Julia, I felt it was nevertheless a transparent view. I found the humor in particular delightful: like the time they became lost together on an auto trip following Julia's road map skills (from a 40 year old map), and, when confronted with a street that ended abruptly with a large rock outcropping Julia exclaims "meteors!"

A great read on a relationship between genius and her clear headed "straight man."

I picked up this boook as I had enjoyed other books about Julia Child and this did not disappoint. The behind-the-scenes details are fascinating. I never watched Julia Child's show and am not interested in gourmet cooking at all. But Verde Barr takes us back in time to meet the real Julia - I like that she does not sugarcoat facts and is honest with both her own faults as well as Julia's. Even the smallest details are written so well there is never a dull moment. I am having a hard time putting this own down and am already recommending this to my friends. Also, thank you Ms. Barr for writing this wonderful book as it has inspired me to start thinking of writing my own story of working backstage in a casino showroom - only hope I can do as well as this. This book should have at least four stars if not five!

As others have written, this isn't a deep read. More it is like a fan journal. The author clearly adored Julia Child, and the adulation can get annoying. I read it during a few evenings on the Puget Sound, sipping some decent wine. While the book isn't much, what I took from it is much. Julia Child found her passion in life and seized on it. While most of us don't come from the privilages that she did, the book so clearly inspires us all to make the most what we have to give. When I read the book I thought it a bit stupid, but as the weeks go by I find myself built up by the portrait of Julia Child as this incredible human being, who never said no. For anyone feeling lost this is a tonic.

BACKSTAGE WITH JULIA is an insider's account of working with her and comes from Julia Child's Executive Chef and close personal friend for 24 years. Her memoir blends anecdotes and stories with culinary insights, keys to understanding the behind-the-scenes action of culinary TV shows, and more, and is a 'must' for any collection strong in Child or French cooking.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Great book! Highly recommended to anyone who is a fan of Julia Child. The author uses a great personal style...makes the reader feel they are right there with them in the scene...like we are personally friends with Julia herself. Great weekend or summer read!

This was a fun, easy read, and a great behind-the-scenes look at a woman who changed the face of the culinary world in America. No dirt-dishing here, just an interesting tapas bar of delicious insights to Julia Child over the years. Barr has a nice way of telling enough details to set up the story without bogging it down. I recommend the book to anyone who grew up hearing "bon appetit" and loving it.

I am enjoying all of "Julia Child's" books recently and this one was really fun to read and lots of facts and interesting things about her, she must have been an amazing person

This is a sweet book full of anecdotes and the bright one-liners of the irrepressible Julia Child. I have read several books by and about Julia Child and she had such a wide-ranging and varied personality that each book covers a different time, place, and aspect of the original foodie -- or "cook", as she called herself.

I did find myself skimming through the last half of this book, though -- mainly because the print and the pages were so small that it was difficult to read, and the reproductions of old hand-written postcards and recipes were impossible to make out without using a magnifying glass. Even some of the photographs (and almost all of the captions) had to be magnified, which is a shame because the photo of Julia peeking through the slats of a truck full of lambs, some of them looking back at her, was delightful, as were several others.

Nancy Verde Barr is a tiny woman and she and Julia came close to being a Mutt and Jeff type of troupe, so the book size fits Nancy, but it is too small for me, especially when my cat is snuggled on my lap and has to be constantly moved around when I have to get to my small magnifying glass, but without it I would not be able to read the recipes, etc., so for this reason I am glad there are so few in this book.

Nancy Barr also lost me at some point in the last quarter of the book, which could have been avoided with some editing. Julia's husband Paul seems to be ill for the entire book, popping up now and then with a witty remark, and then dies ... I can't figure out the ages of the author's children as there are photos of them as little boys and two or three pages later they appear to be adults ... The author gets divorced and there are several photos of herself with someone named John but then towards the end of the book she mentions marrying an artist named Roy Bailey, but two pages after that she says that he had been dead for some time and Julia was concerned about Nancy's well-being. I was confused. Maybe it was just me, but I tried to figure out the time-line here and couldn't do it.

Nevertheless, any book about Julia Child is fun to read. At this point, my favorites are As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, and My Life in France by herself.