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By CategoryJulia... Her Life
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Julia... Her LifeAmerica’s Favorite Movie Star
2006-02-01
Article Written by: Sami Jo
How does one tell the story of an unfinished life? In Julia…Her Life, James Spada provides an informative timeline of Julia Roberts’ life from the time she was born through the beginning of her pregnancy, just before Mona Lisa Smile was released in theaters. Spada sets the tone by providing family history on the Robertses in Atlanta. Julia’s family was active with theater long before Julie Fiona was born on October 28, 1967.
The book discusses the ups and downs of Julia’s family life – her parents divorce, her upbringing in Smyrna, Georgia and her notoriously rocky relationship with her brother, fellow actor Eric Roberts. However, most of the book covers her films and her infamous high profile love affairs. Spada takes his time discussing each of her films thoroughly, delving into her experiences with her co-stars and crews, other events taking place in her life at the time of each film and how each project led to the next.
While it is obvious that Spada did his homework (the bibliography alone takes up six pages), he seemed to take on this project as if were a term paper instead of a novel. The book is indeed interesting, but Spada cannot be credited for Julia Roberts living a fascinating life. His best work is in the beginning chapters where he conveys the fascinating background of the Roberts family. Julia’s love life and cinematic history can easily be found in magazines and online at any given time. While Spada provides one location to find all of this information, it doesn’t appear as if he brings anything new to the table.
Even though it’s been over a year since Julia Roberts has appeared on the big screen, she’s easily still the most powerful and famous woman in Hollywood. As time goes on, it is inevitable that many more biographies on Julia Roberts will hit the shelves, all of them somewhat similar in detail. Hopefully at least one author will be able to uncover the answer to one question. Who is Julia Roberts?
In all fairness, of the biographies currently released about Julia Roberts, Spada’s book contains the most information and he is quite possibly the most respectable author to write about her life yet.
Final Thought: The book is extremely fascinating, but doesn’t provide enough information to satisfy a true fan of everyone’s favorite Pretty Woman.
