Blue Plate Special: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Food [Hardcover]

Frances Norris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2005

Thirty-three-year-old Julia Daniel doesn't really feel at home anywhere. Her life in L.A. is lonely, and her career as a food stylist for a struggling gourmet magazine falls well short of her desire to be a photographer. Although she liked growing up in Kentucky, ever since her mother's death and her father's remarriage, her birthplace hasn't felt like the right fit either. After the tragic deaths of her father and stepmother in a plane crash, Julia's true odyssey begins. Orphaned and adrift, she tries to find her way in the world while fending off a crazy boss, a pilfering stepsister, and a looming depression.

Though shored up by two good friends and an excellent psychologist who helps her work through her grief, it is an unexpected-and comically disastrous-trip to Sedona for the magazine that finally enables Julia to move forward. Returning to L.A., she searches for the strength to strike out on her own, take a chance on love, and seek a tentative peace with her wayward stepsister.

Both humorous and heartbreaking, Blue Plate Special serves up an uplifting exploration of the courage it takes to embrace life after loss.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Food stylist Julia Daniel would love to extricate herself from her dead-end life. She's got an evil boss at her Los Angeles magazine and a wicked stepsister back in Kentucky and, at 33, she's been newly orphaned. Years before she'd left the Bluegrass State to try her luck as a photographer in L.A. (your palette, says one art director, is "at best pedestrian, at worst beggarly"), Julia Daniel watched her mother die of cancer, and she never forgave her father for his speedy remarriage. But now, with her father's sudden death in a plane crash, Julia understands that she's been drowning in sadness for years. As Norris plumbs the depths of Julia's sorrow and charts the lengths she must go to heal, she reveals that Julia's photography career was stymied by depression as much as by big-city competitiveness and that she's sunk so low that killing cockroaches makes her feel "wily and powerful." Norris gives Julia neither jaded interior dialogue nor hipster wit, and while this is appropriate for a book about grief and recovery, the novel's sorrow can feel both familiar and mildly suffocating. A tag line designating this "a novel of love, loss and food" may catch the eye of chick-lit fans, but instead of the genre's traditional yuks, they'll find a thoughtful look at making one's way in a world that's uncertain.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Like many thirtysomethings, Julia Daniel feels trapped in a dead-end job, unsure of what she wants from life and where she belongs. Adding to Julia's problems is the death of her mother and the more recent deaths of her slightly estranged father and stepmother. Much to her Kentucky relatives' collective bafflement, Julia works as a food stylist for a gourmet magazine in Los Angeles. She dreams of being a photographer, but her depression and her obnoxious boss prevent her from seeing a way to make her dreams come true. This charming first novel follows Julia's travels from Kentucky to Los Angeles and back as she attempts to make a life for herself. An overly expository writing style bogs down the first half of the book, but once Julia returns to Los Angeles the pages begin to fly. The book's comic moments, including a hilarious send-up of a movie star's poetry, outshine some of the more typical chick-lit moments. Marta Segal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (January 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312322321
• ISBN-13: 978-0312322328
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,028,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary page turner, February 13, 2005

By 

Honor Bret Harte (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Plate Special: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Food (Hardcover)

The main character is a food stylist, which is what intrigued my about this book from the beginning. The world of magazines and food photo shoots is hilariously observed, and the book is a comic wonder because of this inspired choice. But what I hadn't expected were the deeply felt and haunting passages on greif and loss - the main character has suffered a recent tragedy and the story is about her struggle to regain emotional level ground. I loved this first novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars candy for the reader's soul, April 19, 2005

By 

Josephine Gross, Ph.D. (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Plate Special: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Food (Hardcover)

Dear Francie:

I just finished your book. What a wonderful story, full of feeling, wisdom, beauty and hope. I really enjoyed the characters, not to mention that you are an incredibly gifted writer style-wise. I lived the whole trip to Sedona as if I was there. And the end is so sexy, yummy, I love it!! All I can say is, keep writing, girl! And like I said, some day we may see the movie "Blue Plate Special", very attractive title to my ears. Thank you for your gift to the world of readers,

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful little novel, March 31, 2005

By 

Michael Lewyn (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blue Plate Special: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Food (Hardcover)

The only reason that I got this book was because the author went to my high school - so I have to admit that my expectations were not that high. But I really, really enjoyed this book, for the reasons stated so eloquently by other reviewers. It was gripping though sad.