As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto Paperback – April 10, 2011

Earlier I reviewed this book based on having read 21% of the content; which remains embedded within this updated review. Now, with the entire book completed, I see more depth in the totality of letters exchanged between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto than was evident in the early letters.This is a "book of many colors". It is historical. It is political. It is about relationships. It contains elements of hope; frustration; despair; persistence; and,ultimately, triumph over what at times must have seemed like overwhelming odds.I am only 21% of the way through these fascinating letters be Julia Child and Avis DeVoto so this is but a very brief review of this work, however, it is also the only time I have been so engrossed in a book that I find it valuable to write a review as a "work in progress".As an amatuer cook given to experienting will numerous styles of cuisine, I am not sure what I expected when I ordered this book in Kindle format but I assure those who read this that what I received is far more than what I believed the book would be. I guess I expected, well, a cookbook. To this point in my reading I have come to see this work as something far more important and, for those interested in history and travel, something totally unexpected.If you are familiar with Julia Child through her cookbooks and PBS shows, then you, like I, don't know Julia as a person outside of her known field of expertise. Born in the mid-1940's, much of what is discussed in the letters relative to the political climate of the United States, post-World War II resonates with what I, and every other "Baby-Boomer" grew up with in the 50's and beyond. It provides an interesting perspective of what Julia and Avis (both obviously staunch Liberals) see as dangerous within the U.S.; Julia as an American living abroad with her husband working for the State Department, and Avis living in the U.S. married to a successful, if too liberal, author.Highly recommended for cooks and those who aspire to be cooks; historians and those who think history is boring.The preceding 4 paragraphs are from the original review.Throughout these letters and Reardon's commentaries, we see a progression as the "pen-pal" friendship blossoms. The letters become more intimate. Attitudes and prejudices surface revealing much about both Julia and Avis. Julia loves France but seems, at times. to dislike the French. Avis mentions friends with a "certain condition", namely, that they are lesbians - revealing the deep-seated prejudice against gays and lesbians prevalent up until very recently (when viewed in the context of history). The use of the word "gay" in some of the letters is quickly explained to mean the true definition of the word as opposed to the sexual orientation it has come to represent.Nothing in these letters serves to diminish the accomplishments of Julia, Simca, and Avis in the authorship and publication of Julia's and Simca's recognized masterpiece; nor, Julia's success as a star on PBS. These letters show what life was like from the late 40's through Avis' death and, in the Epilogue, beyond to further discuss (in commentary) Julia's continued success as an author and television personality.Deserves more than 5-stars but that's all that are available.

I am really enjoying reading the correspondence in this book. Such a cool insight on what was going on in the world at the time and also interesting to watch their relationship grow. There are some laugh out loud parts which really highlight Julia's good nature and sassy side.

It started out with a letter about a knife, of all things. Julia and Paul Child had been in Paris about three and a half years when Julia read an article published in a 1951 issue of Harper's, written by Bernard DeVoto. His rant on the quality of American kitchen knives apparently spoke to Julia, so she wrote him a short letter and sent a him a knife, "a nice little French model as a token of [her] appreciation." (p. 7). Bernard DeVoto's wife, Avis, answered most of her husband's letters, so she was the one to respond to Julia.And so it began. Before long, a close friendship between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto had been forged and the making of a culinary icon had begun. I was looking forward to reading this book once I heard about it. I was interested to learn more about Julia Child and her iconic cookbook, of course, but I was more interested in learning about the friendship between Julia and Avis. These two women corresponded primarily by letter for years as Julia and Paul moved from one country to the next. While it started out by discussing kitchen knives, the letters soon became about so much more, no topic was off limits it seemed- current events, politics, family life, travel. Julia's writing is (to me) surprisingly poetic in some instances, like her description of life in Norway:"Every two or three days we have about 3 inches of snow, and a mist and snow clings to the trees so that every prickle and knobble is outlined in white. We can put on our skis and start right out from the front door....Little babies of 4 dressed in blue and red on tiny skis plow down the hills with happy ruddy faces. Little boys of 7 or 8 are learning how to jump." (Julia to Avis, 2/22/1960).Once they began exchanging letters with some frequency, it's easy to see the women grow more comfortable with one another, exchanging thoughts about a variety of things. It's fascinating to read the effect modern technology had on cooking and entertaining. Avis and Julia exchanged thoughts about dishwashers, blenders, the pros and cons of frozen poultry and canned soups, and the modern marvel of Avis's "pig"- the garbage disposal she had installed! Pretty sure I've never heard it called a "pig". Both women had strong opinions about some of these modern advances and weren't afraid to share them.That there will be plenty of food talk is obviously a safe assumption to make. I often wished I had a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking sitting right next to me so I could follow along as they talked food and tweaked recipes together. I'd be lying if I said my mouth didn't water more than a few times! Julia describes food and the art and science of cooking in a way that I knew how passionately she felt about it. And the research she did! Oh, the research! The amount of testing, retesting, and refining Julia did is impressive! I can see why this project took years to complete.With her connections and knowledge of the publishing world, Avis DeVoto played a huge role in eventually getting Mastering the Art of French Cooking published. But she also acted as an unofficial recipe tester, copy editor, sounding board, and shoulder to cry on:"...most Americans don't know anything at all, NOTHING, about the techniques of good cooking and that every detail (EVERY ONE) must be thoroughly explained. So I am deeply depressed, gnawed by doubts, and feel that all our work may just lay a big rotten egg." (Julia to Avis, 1/12/58)."We must somehow convince the reading and eating and cooking public that there is nothing psychologically horrifying about this presentation, quite the contrary. What you are doing is casting a great light over the mysteries of French cooking. Stand by your guns, my lamb." (Avis to Julia, 1/17/58).What a roller coaster this process must have been! I already knew the ending- obviously Julia Child becomes an icon, her masterpiece is published- and there were times it was heart breaking to go through the process with these two women. The letters convey how invested they both were. The joy when they find out the book will be published is wonderful and I felt like I was part of their celebration.Overall, the book was a great read. I think it had something for everyone- the foodie, the history buff, the travel lover. For me, it was heartwarming to see this deep friendship develop over time, during a much simpler time- a time without email, text messages, social media. It's a good example of how two very busy, very capable, intelligent, and interesting women can devote time and energy to build a strong meaningful relationship. I bet more than a few of us could learn from this example today.I will say the book was lengthy and at times I was glad to set it aside for a while, but I always came back to it. I think if you're someone who doesn't know a lot about the political events happening at the time, or aren't at all interested in them, you may find those sections are the ones that lag for you, at least, those were sometimes the ones that did for me. But overall, the book was well worth the read!http://heididiariesbookaddict.blogspot.com/