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Full title: Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal.
Most of this book was pretty depressing. Julie is in her early 40s, happily married and the mother of a six-year-old girl, when her husband suddenly drops dead in the kitchen. Devastated, Julie tries to put her life back together, but more and more of her husband's secrets start to surface. Eventually she's able to move on and start building a new life, but she has to explore some really dark places in her past first. It's depressing as all get-out, and possibly not the best thing ever for me to be reading (1, her husband dies suddenly and unexpectedly, and 2, her husband never got the chance to make amends for the mistakes he made--both difficult things for my brain to deal with right now). On the other hand, Julie writes movingly of her renewal, how this event forced her to take stock of her life and decide what she really wants, how now she appreciates everything more. In that sense, it was a very good book for me to be reading. The sad stuff definitely outweighs the good, but the good comes at the end, so in some ways it has more impact.
One thing that really, really bothered me throughout the entire book is the way that Julie handled money. She says that she sidelined her art to support her husband's writing career. And she's a freelance graphic designer. They had a fancy house with a pool and threw weekly dinner parties--on a freelance graphic designer's income? OK, maybe she's built a really good graphic design business. Then her husband dies and she worries about the estate not being settled, and she mentions learning that her husband had $40,000 in credit card debt. AND THEN SHE NEVER MENTIONS IT AGAIN. What happened, was there a huge life insurance policy or something? Julie has difficulty working because of her grief (completely understandable), but I would think that would mean she's not getting many paychecks, and yet she goes on to treat her new boyfriends to nice dinners, remodel her attic, take taxis in downtown Manhattan, buy fancy clothes and shoes, and get Botox. Where is her money COMING from? I found this incredibly distracting, especially since a few little sentences here or there would have cleared it up completely. She even acknowledges that she's been spending a lot since her husband's death, so what's going on? And not only was it distracting, but it really distanced me from Julie as a narrator, because even though I connect very deeply with what happened to her, I cannot connect at all with her lifestyle. And it makes me angry at her editor, too, because I am totally the target audience here and the editor didn't even notice this incredibly off-putting financial issue.
Overall, it's a good memoir, don't get me wrong, and Julie writes beautifully and in vivid details about her past, her memories, and her discoveries about her husband. If you like memoirs it's worth the read.
Most of this book was pretty depressing. Julie is in her early 40s, happily married and the mother of a six-year-old girl, when her husband suddenly drops dead in the kitchen. Devastated, Julie tries to put her life back together, but more and more of her husband's secrets start to surface. Eventually she's able to move on and start building a new life, but she has to explore some really dark places in her past first. It's depressing as all get-out, and possibly not the best thing ever for me to be reading (1, her husband dies suddenly and unexpectedly, and 2, her husband never got the chance to make amends for the mistakes he made--both difficult things for my brain to deal with right now). On the other hand, Julie writes movingly of her renewal, how this event forced her to take stock of her life and decide what she really wants, how now she appreciates everything more. In that sense, it was a very good book for me to be reading. The sad stuff definitely outweighs the good, but the good comes at the end, so in some ways it has more impact.
One thing that really, really bothered me throughout the entire book is the way that Julie handled money. She says that she sidelined her art to support her husband's writing career. And she's a freelance graphic designer. They had a fancy house with a pool and threw weekly dinner parties--on a freelance graphic designer's income? OK, maybe she's built a really good graphic design business. Then her husband dies and she worries about the estate not being settled, and she mentions learning that her husband had $40,000 in credit card debt. AND THEN SHE NEVER MENTIONS IT AGAIN. What happened, was there a huge life insurance policy or something? Julie has difficulty working because of her grief (completely understandable), but I would think that would mean she's not getting many paychecks, and yet she goes on to treat her new boyfriends to nice dinners, remodel her attic, take taxis in downtown Manhattan, buy fancy clothes and shoes, and get Botox. Where is her money COMING from? I found this incredibly distracting, especially since a few little sentences here or there would have cleared it up completely. She even acknowledges that she's been spending a lot since her husband's death, so what's going on? And not only was it distracting, but it really distanced me from Julie as a narrator, because even though I connect very deeply with what happened to her, I cannot connect at all with her lifestyle. And it makes me angry at her editor, too, because I am totally the target audience here and the editor didn't even notice this incredibly off-putting financial issue.
Overall, it's a good memoir, don't get me wrong, and Julie writes beautifully and in vivid details about her past, her memories, and her discoveries about her husband. If you like memoirs it's worth the read.
