Nancy A. (Chocoholic) reviewed Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
This 2nd book by former blogger Julie Powell takes on the butcher shop. Julie seeks out a butcher shop where she can become an apprentice and learn the trade. Along the way, she discusses her marital woes and the details of an extramarital affair and weaves them nicely into the story using a variety of butcher shop metaphors. Her career exploration takes her to South America, Africa, and Japan where she makes peace with her tumultuous life. An interesting read that won't disappoint, but not for the faint of heart as animal butchery is discussed.
Madge C. (dmconn1) reviewed Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession on + 234 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Julie Powell should give up writing if this book is indicative of her skills now. I was very unimpressed with her story. Although I enjoyed her first book, "Cleaving" was just plain garbage. Julie goes on and on about her extramarital affair, and can't seem to get over her lover. She seems extremely narcissistic, and just quite boring. This book is definitely not worth your credit.
Helpful Score: 4
Wholly disappointing. Julie Powell is a one-trick pony.
Helpful Score: 4
In her sequel to Julie and Julia, Julie turns herself into a totally unsympathetic protagonist. Her adventures with butchery completely take a backseat to the story of her taking a lover and completely steamrolling her husband. She seems to feel very little remorse about her extramarital affair, and after her lover leaves her she spends a huge portion of the book recounting how she obsessed over him for months, including sending him hundreds of unreturned emails, text messages, phone calls, waiting for hours outside his office and even sending gifts for him to his mother's house. While Julie probably could have made herself more relatable if she were a better writer or had a better editor, she utterly fails at this. I spent the entire book feeling bad for her husband and hoping he would move on to someone who didn't take him 100% for granted.
Melanie F. (writergal76) reviewed Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
While the author's previous book was engaging and charming in its theme and vision, this book's narrative arc was a bit stilted. I wanted her to have more to compare her latest passion for butchery with than her struggling marriage and affair. While the prose is clear, I didn't find myself liking the narrator or, even more important for my own reading pleasure, pulling for her and understanding her struggle. It's probably unfair to compare a first book with another, so I think this book does have merit, but it was not quite what I expected going into it. I do applaud her forthrightness.
