Perfection
A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal
by Julie Metz

List Price: $14.99
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781401341350
Publisher: Voice

In the aftermath of her husband’s death, one woman discovers her life has been a lie.

Julie Metz’s life changes forever on one ordinary January afternoon when her husband, Henry, collapses on the kitchen floor and dies in her arms. Suddenly, this mother of a six-year-old is the young widow in a bucolic small town. And this is only the beginning. Seven months after Henry’s death, just when Julie thinks she is emerging from the worst of it, comes the rest of it: She discovers that what had appeared to be the reality of her marriage was but a half-truth. Henry had hidden another life from her.

“He loved you so much.” That’s what everyone keeps telling her. It’s true that he loved Julie and their six-year-old daughter ebulliently and devotedly, but as she starts to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life without Henry in it, she learns that Henry had been unfaithful throughout their twelve years of marriage. The most damaging affair was ongoing --- a tumultuous relationship that ended only with Henry’s death. For Julie, the only thing to do was to get at the real truth --- to strip away the veneer of“perfection” that was her life and confront each of the women beneath the veneer.

Perfection is the story of Julie Metz’s journey through chaos and transformation as she creates a different life for herself and her young daughter. It is the story of coming to terms with painful truths, of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood. It is a story of rebirth and happiness --- if not perfection.

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1. How does the author’s voice change as the book progresses? What does that tell the reader about her emotional state?

2. How does the book’s structure show the changes Julie experiences?

3. Have you ever witnessed a death, lived through the death of a person close to you, or watched a friend or relative cope with grief? How do your experiences compare to Julie’s? How do you think our culture copes with death?

4. What is the symbolism of food throughout the book? What did food mean to Henry? What does it mean to Julie and to her daughter Liza? What does umami mean to you?

5. The events in this story take place in a small town. How does this environment affect Julie? How does she respond to other environments in the book: France, Italy, Maine, and New York City? What is the impact of your own environment on your life? What role does travel play in the healing process?

6. Have you experienced betrayal in a relationship? How did you cope with this? If you have not experienced this directly, how do you think you might cope?

7. How do you feel about the relationships Julie has after Henry’s death?

8. How is Julie’s sense of family affected by Henry’s death? How does this understanding of family change?

9. How does Julie’s definition of love change over the course of the book? How do you define love?

10. What do you make of Professor Symons’ evolutionary analysis of human mating behavior? How do you see the differences between men and women?

11. Do you think that times of crisis have their hidden benefits? What do you think Julie learns from her experiences? How does it affect her life as a woman, mother, and artist?

12. What do you think are the various meanings of the title? What does the word “Perfection” mean to you?

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"It’s heart-wrenching but triumphant."

— Glamour

"It is impossible to put Perfection down as we follow Julie Metz through her true story of love, lies, loss, and moving forward. Her raw and brave writing makes you want to cheer Metz on as she pieces her life back together, one beautiful sentence at a time."

— Marian Fontana, author of Widow’s Walk and Middle of the Bed

"Perfection is a nuanced, spellbinding portrait of an extraordinarily complex marriage. Julie Metz has written a literary page-turner that is at once entertaining and moving. "

— Hilary Black, editor of The Secret Currency Of Love

"Six months after her husband's funeral, Julie Metz discovered his five mistresses, one of them her presumed friend. She writes, "I couldn’t kill Henry anymore, since he was, conveniently enough, dead.” The seed of Perfection was rage, yet Metz’s fury is not ugly, not even vengeful. Instead it provides this book’s beautiful testimony that, instead of killing the subject, the author can do something that diminishes him even more totally. She can forgive him and move on. That accomplishment, via prose, leaves me breathless. "

— Sarah Manguso, author of The Two Kinds of Decay