Perfection by Julie Metz
Published by Voice, an imprint of Hyperion Books
Rating: 4.5 stars
Perfection is Julie Metz's intriguing memoir about coping with death and then betrayal. Her husband of twelve years, Henry, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism leaving Julie and their six-year old daughter to deal with their grief. Just as Julie was coming to terms with his death and recovering from her loss, she finds out that her marriage to Henry had been filled with affairs, secrets and lies. Not only did Henry have multiple affairs with other women but he also had an ongoing relationship with one of Julie's good friends. After hearing about this, Julie let go of the perfect image she had of her husband and began investigating his past lovers to get to the truth.
Perfection reads like a work of fiction, with its complex characters navigating plot twists and tragedy. It is unfortunate that Julie had to live through such painful events however it is clear from this book that she has emerged a new woman. Just as a fictitious character grows and develops from a book's beginning to its end, Julie takes us from her naive and unsuspecting beginnings to grief, pain, anger, exploration, acceptance and finally renewal.
While I cannot even begin to imagine how it must have felt to be in her position, the way Julie narrates her own life story made me feel like I was right there with her. Though I couldn't relate to her predicament, I did relate to her passion, her depth and her strong sense of emotion throughout her journey to acceptance. I felt her anger and her pain and though I usually shy away from foul language in my reading, there were times when certain words were justified and even I relished in their usage!
Some of the greatest parts of this book are those that touch upon topics of friendship and family. Julie shows us the importance of supportive friendships and unfortunately, the detriment of having friends who betray you. There are also heartwarming chapters illustrating Julie's special relationship with her daughter that nearly brought tears to my eyes.
With its passionate writing and elaborate narrative, I'm sure this book will capture your attention and especially your heart, as it did mine.
BIG THANKS to Hyperion for my review copy
3 comments:
All I can say is wow! She is a brave woman to tell her story like that.
Wow, that sounds like such an impressive story! She is brave, really. I'm not sure I'm in the mood right now for something like this, but I'm definitely keeping it in mind for later.
there's was an excellent "At Home with Julie Metz" article in the NYT last week. I think it was Thursday 6/25.
what a story!
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