Blue Plate Special by Frances Norris

From the Publisher

Thirty-three-year-old Julia Daniel doesn't really feel at home anywhere. Her life in L.A. is lonely, and her career as a food stylist for a struggling gourmet magazine falls well short of her desire to be a photographer. Although she liked growing up in Kentucky, ever since her mother's death and her father's remarriage, her birthplace hasn't felt like the right fit either. After the tragic deaths of her father and stepmother in a plane crash, Julia's true odyssey begins. Orphaned and adrift, she tries to find her way in the world while fending off a crazy boss, a pilfering stepsister, and a looming depression.

Though shored up by two good friends and an excellent psychologist who helps her work through her grief, it is an unexpected-and comically disastrous-trip to Sedona for the magazine that finally enables Julia to move forward. Returning to L.A., she searches for the strength to strike out on her own, take a chance on love, and seek a tentative peace with her wayward stepsister.

Both humorous and heartbreaking, Blue Plate Special serves up an uplifting exploration of the courage it takes to embrace life after loss.

Publishers Weekly

Food stylist Julia Daniel would love to extricate herself from her dead-end life. She's got an evil boss at her Los Angeles magazine and a wicked stepsister back in Kentucky and, at 33, she's been newly orphaned. Years before she'd left the Bluegrass State to try her luck as a photographer in L.A. (your palette, says one art director, is "at best pedestrian, at worst beggarly"), Julia Daniel watched her mother die of cancer, and she never forgave her father for his speedy remarriage. But now, with her father's sudden death in a plane crash, Julia understands that she's been drowning in sadness for years. As Norris plumbs the depths of Julia's sorrow and charts the lengths she must go to heal, she reveals that Julia's photography career was stymied by depression as much as by big-city competitiveness and that she's sunk so low that killing cockroaches makes her feel "wily and powerful." Norris gives Julia neither jaded interior dialogue nor hipster wit, and while this is appropriate for a book about grief and recovery, the novel's sorrow can feel both familiar and mildly suffocating. A tag line designating this "a novel of love, loss and food" may catch the eye of chick-lit fans, but instead of the genre's traditional yuks, they'll find a thoughtful look at making one's way in a world that's uncertain. Agent, Jay Mandel. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Julia Daniels picked up and moved from her native Kentucky to "Crazy L.A." after her mother died of cancer and her father quickly remarried. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but Julia's photography career has taken a downward turn. She works at a gourmet food magazine as a food stylist, which calls for her to apply shaving cream to strawberry shortcake (it holds up better under the lights) and dab mayonnaise on scones (for a glistening effect). Then Julia's father and stepmother are killed in a plane crash, and Julia finds herself grieving for both her parents and a lost sense of home. A therapist, a couple of good friends, and a business trip from hell finally bring new opportunities so Julia can begin to recover. Norris has written a realistic thirtysomething novel, funny and sad; recommended for public libraries.-Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0641824378
  
• ISBN-13: 9780641824371
• Format: Hardcover, 304pp
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Pub. Date: February 2005
• Edition Description: Bargain

• Reading Group Guide

Reading Group Guide

Though shored up by two good friends and an excellent psychologist who helps her work through her grief, it is an unexpected-and comically disastrous-trip to Sedona for the magazine that finally enables Julia to move forward. Returning to L.A., she searches for the strength to strike out on her own, take a chance on love, and seek a tentative peace with her wayward stepsister.

Both humorous and heartbreaking, Blue Plate Special serves up an uplifting exploration of the courage it takes to embrace life after loss.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• How does Julia view her journey home? What do you think she's looking for beyond the estate business and family reunion? Do you think it's significant that her hometown is not named?

• What are some of the reasons for the tensions between Julia and Constance? How are their personalities different? How are their approaches to grieving different?

• What role does Trudy play in Julia's life? Why is she so important to her at this time? Why do you think Constance is so opposed to Trudybeing a part of her family? How do issues of class play into the tension between Trudy and Constance?

• As a food stylist for a third rate gourmet magazine, Julia must manipulate the appearance of food in order for it to look appealing. How does the theme of outward appearance vs. reality apply to Julia's life – is she herself sometimes fooled by the outward appearance of people or things?

• Why is the freelance job with the LA Times (covering a celebrity poetry reading) so important to her? Is it related in any way to her grieving?

• The celebrity poetry reading is one of the most humorous and revealing scenes in the book. What does it uncover about the nature of Hollywood and the power of celebrity?

• Why do you think Julia spirals into a depression after she fails at freelancing? What losses is she experiencing at this point in her life? How do losses in your own life relate to her experience?

• Why does Julia think a man will assuage her sadness? Is her reasoning sound? Do you think the right man could have helped her before therapy? Do you believe in the healing power of love and is it enough in a grieving situation like this one?

• How does Naomi, a no-nonsense therapist, begin to change Julia's life and what's the most important realization Julia makes with her?

• During the photo-shoot in Sedona, Julia and Stone encounter many people who claim to be something other than who they are. What similar experiences have you had with phony people – especially ones who are trying to sell something?

• Who ultimately helps set Julia free from her job? Stone, Clair, Sally -- or is it all three? In what ways has each person helped her grow?

• What fears does Julia have to overcome to form a relationship with Stone and does she overcome them by the end of the novel?

• Why is it so important for Julia to return to Kentucky for the auction?

• Do you think Julia is right to ignore Constance's final transgression? Have you had similar experiences with forgiving family members in difficult situations?

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Frances Norris is a teacher and writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and other magazines. She was raised in Kentucky and currently lives in Los Angeles, CA, where she teaches English and Creative Writing at the Harvard-Westlake School.