My Year of Meats

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Summary: No More Meat For Me!
Review: I've been teetering back and forth on the brink of vegetarianism for years. This book helped me decide to give up red meat once and for all. But don't worry, "My Year of Meats" isn't just a literary swipe at the meat industry...it's a damn good read with lots of interesting characters, drama and humor. Ruth Ozeki takes on a lot of different issues in a single book, and manages to make it all work out in the end.

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Summary: [e-mail]
Review: This is a very fine book. I enjoyed the dual perspectives of the Japanese wife and the Amerasian director. It clearly presents some real problems with the way food is processed in this country. I think some of the information is presented in a very biased way (the beef industry obviously did not have a chance to respond). However, I rethought my own approach to nutrition after reflecting on this book, particularly beef consumption.

I enjoyed the numerous characters with which Ms. Ozeki peopled her story. They came from all walks of life and had varied and interesting backgrounds and lives. The story also played out as a bit of a detective story as our protagonists find out more and more information about beef and their own lives. I look forward to more books from Ms. Ozeki.

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Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I loved everything about this book -- Jane's character (half and half), the foolish t.v. show My American Wife!, the expose on the meat industry. I loved the characters too -- from the lesbian vegetarians to Jane's old-world mother to Bunny and Akiko who, through Jane, find the courage to change their lives. John Ueno (great name) made my skin crawl -- he is so slimy. There are so many things going on here and Oseki pulls it all off without a hitch. The references to Shonagon's Pillow Book piqued my interest so much I went out and bought it. I could go on and on. This book deserves much more acclaim than it has received -- I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Why have so few people heard of Ruth Ozeki's compelling narr
Review: Why have so few people heard of Ruth Ozeki's compelling narrative entitled My Year of Meats? Perhaps, few readers want to be confronted with the harsh realities of this country's meat industry. But what Ozeki accomplishes in her novel is much more than a simple expose on modern farming practices, but a funny and poignant tale that addresses the necessity for woman to work and support one another. She cleverly addresses the many ways that art can imitate life and vice versa.The book traces the lives of two women, Jane, a documentary film maker in New York, and Akiko, a housewife in Japan that watches Jane's films. A strange, funny, scary yet always pertinent series of events occur which cause the two women to have more of an effect on one another than could ever be imagined.This book is excellent and should not be missed!!

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Summary: The Enduring (In)Significance of Amy Tan
Review: A simple structuralist review of My Year of Meats, or The Enduring (In)Significance of Amy Tan

white man: sacred; good; complex; sophisticated; cool and rational; jazz like fingers and all

Asian man: profane; bad; simple; mad really; inscrutable; oriental yes men in need of Western pacification; false simulations of Western icons

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Summary: Two parts written intelligently
Review: My year of meats is certainly spell bouding. I have read many books but what message brought to live are so true yet hidden so deeply under our very eyes. Her novel not only focus on the changing lives of Jane and Akiko but also human values and beefy business. All her work of research I think was really worth it. She shows a work of her interest in the field of writting and as it is only her debut novel, more expected better.

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Summary: I'm both a vegetarian and a DES baby and now I know why!
Review: Twenty odd years ago I came across a small article talking about DES and meats, it was at this time I learned about my precancerous condition and my DES history. It's no coincidence that I embraced vegetarianism, however over the years I took on the meatless life style and forgot the reasons behind it. With the Year of the Meats, the reasons (more than I had 20 years ago) came back with a vengence and gave me a whole lot more reasons to continue my lifestyle. The book's documentary style comes across as a bit preachy at times, the characters are a little too strong or too weak or too nasty, but the book is interesting and offers some insights into the beef stock industry and American and Japanese cultures, neither of which come off wholely imperfect. It is a bit slow at times, but recommendable.

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Summary: This book will grab you, hold you and jab you in the gut.
Review: Written by a very intelligent and probably very cool Japanese-American woman, MY YEAR OF MEAT is about a very intelligent and cool Japanese-American woman named Jane Takagi-Little whom everyone, Japanese and Americans alike, call Takagi. In addition to some ambivalence about her bi-polar ancestry, she's also quite tall and prefers spiky hair. Not, perhaps, a perfect cultural ambassador (or "cultural pimp," as she says), she nevertheless falls into a job coordinating and finally directing a Japanese TV show to be shot in America for the purpose of promoting US beef in Japan.

The show, "My American Wife," is a weekly documentary featuring typical (read white, middle class, wholesome, meat-eating) American families and their favorite meat recipe. Takagi goes along for a while, but then starts to feel that she has a greater mission-to bring the true strength (diversity!) of America into Japanese homes. So she starts filming people like a bayou couple who have adopted eight Korean kids, and an interracial lesbian vegetarian couple. Not exactly what the sponsors and the Japanese agency jerk ("John" Ueno) had in mind. But the meat really hits the fan when she stumbles onto a story about what meat can do to you (and ME and YOU!). This appears to have been well researched, so I'm with you Oprah: no more beef!

With plot tangents involving Takagi's love life, Ueno's persecuted wife (who does indeed have her consciousness raised by the show), and various other engaging characters, all interspersed with quotes from Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, this is a book that will grab you, hold you, scare you and, with surprising frequency, jab you in the gut so you get a bit short of breath and fluttery eyed. It's a damn good book.

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Summary: Bold and humorous - a great read
Review: My Year of Meats is a bold and humorous novel that challenges cultural stereotypes and contemporary values. American Jane Tanaki-Little, who is "racially half", directs a Japanese television show called My American Wife! which is sponsored by American beef exporters. Each show is supposed to depict a "wholesome", attractive, traditional American wife cooking her favorite meat recipe, but Jane, who has her own ideas about what constitutes an American woman and a healthy diet, sabotages the directive. Meanwhile, Akiko Ueno, the miserable wife of BEEF-EX's Japanese representative, is forced by her husband to watch and rate the shows in ten categories including Authenticity, Wholesomeness, and Deliciousness of Meat. Although Ozeki gets a little too heavy-handed when she delves into the practices of the meat industry and her characters aren't always concretely drawn, this is an exceptional debut. Ozeki's memos and faxes brilliantly establish the relationships between the characters, as well as providing a hilarious exchange. This is truly a comic novel with - excuse the pun - a lot of meat to it.

Rating:
Summary: A novel subversion!
Review: Ruth Ozeki has written a fabulous first novel. Her characterisation, plotting and construction are stunning. The critics who claim the book is PC are missing the point and bringing their own prejudices to the surface. Make no mistake, this is a subversive and important book. The wonderful thing about Ozeki's deft touch is that she uses humor to such devastating effect - yet without a heavy hand. There is a sharp mind at work here and that she sets her sights on the meat industry is to her credit. Ruth Ozeki has just visited Australia and New Zealand where she was like a breath of fresh air blowing through the literary establishment. All power to her pen!