“Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession” by Julie Powell
Reviewed by Lauren O.
Julie Powell, fresh from Julie and Julia
To her credit, Powell assembled the raw materials of delicious nonfiction. She found the setting, an upstate New York “hippie butchery” that she periodically forgets is magical, and a cast of slightly caricatured but charmingly rendered co-workers. The scenes at Fleisher’s are warm, visceral, and engaging – her descriptions of a turkey roulette, cutting through boars’ heads, and, yes, even a pig slaughter, warranted repeat reads. This is a red-blooded woman, and her passion for the product and labor of butchery made for some delicious reading.
Yes, Powell can certainly write about meat. Unfortunately, she writes about all the meat, including that of her ever-suffering husband, Eric, and her mostly-off-again affair partner, D. In a book that encompasses recipes with items like “behead animals; soak in brine,” it may be a surprise that the most cringe-worthy moments address Powell’s personal life. Consider this unsavory triumvirate: her husband knows that she is having the affair; D, short for douche bag, dumps the author partway through and displays little to no personality; and Powell details every pitiful, pink-wine-soaked voicemail she leaves in an attempt to win back this ever-charming man.
There’s something to be said for honesty in memoir, but when you are honestly a self-pitying, married woman with a job (okay, unpaid internship) you don’t hate, and you’re still behaving in an embarrassingly adolescent, self-destructive manner, it’s time to stop pouring more ink into the wound. It’s just time to stop, period.
Powell’s strongest moments occur in the kitchen or the cutting room, a place where her hands are too busy to get her into trouble, her mind is focused on a novel, visceral task, and her companions fall into a natural rhythms of conversation. Whether she’s detailing her family’s reactions to her Christmas-dinner crown-roast or breaking down an entire cow side, these are the choice cuts of Powell’s prose. If only there had been larger portions…
Check out our review of Julie Powell’s first memoir, Julie and Julia
Lauren has always been a voracious, though somewhat indiscriminate, reader. Professionally, she’s run the gamut from bartender to teacher to legal assistant, but she’s published a few articles in Ohio, Montana, Vermont, and Argentina.
This book was provided free of any obligation by Hachette Book Group. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Biographies, Cooking, Food, Wine, Memoirs
I loved Julia and Julie but I won’t be reading this one! Just seeing the photo of her with the knives is enough for me. I have been a vegetarian for 18 years and I can’t stand to read about animals being butchered. So, when I read more of this review, I was surprised that she would use her affair and other stuff that I don’t want to know about as fodder for her book.
Carol Wong
I didn't know she covered her S&M experiences as well. I agree with Colleen as well … I read for enjoyment and this book may be far from enjoyable.
I will add one more negative comment … I wonder who created the cover … Being an artist I find the cover design to be unattractive.
Wow, I had had this one on my TBR list for awhile, since I read Julie and Julia and loved it! After reading this review I will definitely reconsider this. It makes me sad to think this book is focusing on her having affairs when Eric was my favorite person in her last book. I have a feeling I would just get frustrated and off put by her oh poor me attitude while she is adding to the possible destruction of her marriage. I tend to read for enjoyment, so this might not be the book for me.
I think a lot of people had a problem with the graphic way she described the affair, not necessarily the affair itself. For example, she talks about her S&M experiences, and to me, that's just TMI.
Lauren – I love your line: “it's time to stop pouring more ink into the wound.” Absolutely brilliant! I found it interesting that she would want to write a second memoir after Julie & Julia and this time to honestly detail an affair that she had. I read an article in USA today where she stated " I do not recommend infidelity as a way of dealing with marital problems. It did turn out to be the thing that made us examine what exactly was going on and rebuild our marriage."
She admits her behavior was "selfish and hurtful," and she expects many fans of Julie & Julia to condemn her.
Her final comment in the USA today article is that she felt people would react very negatively and what she did as reprehensible. But she goes on an states, “But to counterbalance the negativism, I hope there will be people who empathize with my experience, who maybe feel the book addresses things they wish they could talk about more."
I went on to find out in this article that not only did she have an affair but her husband, Eric, did likewise. The logical fallacy of “two wrongs don’t make a right” is still true!
She is still married to Eric and they are still working through their marriage. By the way, Eric gave his blessing to her writing about the affair. I can only hope that the two of them can work through their butchered marriage.
I still think it’s amazing that she would honestly write about her affairs. Let’s face it, most people especially authors would not let a drop of ink detail something this personal. I applaud her for her honesty. Dr Holly Hein in her book Sexual Detours states that nearly 70 % of all married men and 60 % of married women had affairs. That’s two out of every three marriages. I wonder how many authors have had affairs and are willing to write about them?
Now for the real question … will read this book. I took the time to read several reviews of this book and it has gotten a lot of negative reviews … with most reviews detailing the self-pitying as a main concern. Lauren and bookjourney have both stated this as their concern as well. I guess Julie Powell was correct that most would look at what she did negatively, but maybe she didn’t understand the reason would be her self-pitying display in the book as the reason. I doubt that I will read this book; however, the film rights have not been sold for this book and with the right director I would really like to see this on the big screen.
Self-pity is one thing I actually absolutely hate in memoirs, even though memoirs are one of my favorite genres. I think I will skip this one.
I haven't heard very many good things about this book, but this was the best written review I have seen! Lauren's phrasing is just perfect.
There's no way I would pick this book up, based on all the poor reviews, but I feel a little sad for Julie Powell. She had such a unique idea with her website, and her first book did so well only to be followed up with this. poor.
I was excited when I first heard about this book, but nothing that I've seen since has convinced me I actually want to read it.
I hope she's pulled her life together, and that her next book is a better read.
I tried listening to this one on audio and I finally had to shut it off… it was awhile ago so I don't remember all the specifics but I do remember the "oh poor me" got old real fast.