My Year of Meats

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is a great book. My only regret is that I couldn't put it down and consequentially had read it within a few hours. I have only ever been motivated enough to write 2 reviews, this one because the book is so good and America Psycho because it was so bad. "My Year of Meats" is well written with great characters and a bizarre (and all the better for it!) story line. Everybody who I have lent this book to has loved it.

Rating:
Summary: a laugh and a tear on every page--Good read!
Review: This book was great-- can't believe it is a first novel. I read it on the train commuting into Tokyo, just looking at all the John Ueno's pushing and shoving me. I felt sorry for Akiko, but know that many women are like her. I thought the cahracter descriptions were very good, and the story was captivating. The only question I would have is what kind of visa did Akiko have to just decide on a whimto move to the US and have a baby....

Rating:
Summary: Do i really want to eat meat anymore? :)
Review: Well I thought this book was really good. I kept wanting to read it, it was hard to put down. There were a few boring parts, but even though it was fiction, makes me think if i want to eat meat. I like how she worked in a little romance into the book too. Overall i suggest reading the book, i was emotionally involved and I just thought overall it was very good. :)

Rating:
Summary: masterpiece!
Review: I have not read Japanese modern novels lately. Why? Probably because I feel they are written only for Japanese readers. Ah, Japanese readers, they seem happy when they are freed from the real world; the history of WWII, their discrimination (against Koreans, the Chinese, Okinawaite, handicapped people, old people, gay, etc.), their depression after the high economic growth...

On the other hand, I've read brilliant American novels in 90's whose protagonists are Japanese or Japanese-Americans; <I>Sizuko's Daughter</I> (Kyoko Mori), <I>Snow Falling on Cedars</I> (David Guterson), <I>Audrey Hepburn's Neck</I> (Alan Brown), etc.

And now, Ruth L. Ozeki's <I>My years of Meats</I>! It covers several modern subjects; chemical poisoning (against human beings and beef cattle), racial prejudice and love.

The story is simple. Through Japanese TV series, 'My American Wife!,' whose sponsor is a big American meat company, Jane (director; Asian-American) and Akiko (audience; Japanese housewife) get at the truth of life at last. Its simple situation succeeds in getting reality.

<I>My years of Meats</I> is not only entertaining but also has a keen eye for truth.

From Tokyo.

Rating:
Summary: Savory!
Review: A delightful part of reading certain good books is falling in love with the protagonist. The experience is heightened if you come to this affection a little reluctantly and with distinct misgivings. But best of all is closing in on the conclusion thoroughly hooked, mincing along that classic balance between comedy and tragedy. "My," you suddenly think. "She's really not taking good care of herself. Say, this could end very badly. Oh, golly, not that..."

So it is with Jane Takagi-Little, the hero of Ruth Ozeki's "My Year of Meats." She first appears as an out-of-work (hungry) documentarian who gets an offer to work on a Japanese TV series to be called "My American Wife!" The series pretends to be about America and Americans, but really, "Meat is the message." Every week, a family of "real" Americans will share their life-and their favorite meat recipe. A council of beef producers (BEEF-EX) wants to sell Japanese housewives more meat. I was doubtful, but Jane needed to pay the rent. She bit.

Soon we're on the road with Jane and the meat show. The Japanese production crew needs her language and negotiating abilities to make TV programs with ordinary people. Right away we sense the exploitative flavor of making programs that are more interested in what people eat than who they are. But Jane is interested in people. Yet, she's definitely a edgy character-six androgynous feet tall with streaks of purple hair. First doubtful thing she does is take up with a vaguely menacing guy that she met through phone sex. Hmmm.

Just when we've had about enough of Jane for awhile, the narrative POV shifts to Akiko Ueno, a shy woman who watches My American Wife! at home in Japan and loves the show and really wants to eat more meat. Not coincidentally, Akiko is married to the sponsor's representative. And this is just the beginning of the complications.

Structurally, this is a thoroughly modern text. Instead of a straight narrative line, it weaves together first and third person voices, classical Japanese literature and, of course, meat recipes. But it's never heavy; in fact, it's increasingly hilarious. Some of the most riotous series are exchanges of faxes and emails between the producers and Jane. The slightly mangled syntax of Japanese English is letter perfect. And Jane's obsequious, double-edged replies are masterful-particularly for anyone who's ever had to write such a memo to ones higher-ups. Increasingly, Jane comes into conflict with her producers-ultimately with BEEF-EX itself-and the supposedly fawning memo is her first line of attack.

Why? Because Jane really does care. She finds beauty and nobility in the American heartland and she wants to tell the truth about it-even if that means making meat something of a side dish. And she has the artistic sensibilities to do a great job. First there's the Cajun couple who happen to have adopted 12 orphans of various races. (Think of all the meat they can eat.) Then there's the charming congregation of a primitive Baptist church. Trouble is, their best recipe is for fried chicken-not beef at all--and there's an odd thing about chicken. Wait a minute, these aren't the good corn-fed, wholesome Americans we had in mind. The producers are getting nervous. The pot really comes to a bubble when Jane decides to produce a segment about a really sweet lesbian couple. What's their favorite recipe? Unfortunately...

So now I'm sold. Jane's a keeper. This book is funny. But just when it seems like the novel is sorting itself out into a safe little farce, the gravy starts to burn. Jane starts doing research about the hormone DES-sometimes used as a feed supplement in livestock production. Here, things got distinctly personal for me. Wait a minute, DES? DES is what they mistakenly gave pregnant women back in the 50s and never found out that anything was wrong with it 'til their daughters started developing cervical cancer 20 years out. My mother was part of the DES experiment in a Chicago research hospital-she got the placebo, or so I'm told. And every year or so, I get a letter from the DES research council checking to see if I'm alive. But what about Jane? Oh, this could be really bad...But I've got to stop writing about it before I give something away.

Ruth Ozeki is the genuine article. She hits on every level and sneaks around and hits again. The Penguin edition has an informative series of appendices. They include a remarkable interview with Ozeki that convincingly spells out how the book evolved from a series of sketches about her experiences doing TV production. That sense of evolving artistic sensibility and the adventure of documentary research shines through at every turn. I have some critical quibbles about the structure of the ending. But I'm going to zip my trap because I want everyone to read it for themselves. No dessert 'til you've finished your main course.

Rating:
Summary: Savory!
Review: A delightful part of reading certain good books is realizing that you've fallen in love with the protagonist. The experience is heightened if you come to this affection a little reluctantly and with distinct misgivings. But best of all is closing in on the conclusion thoroughly hooked, mincing along that classic balance between comedy and tragedy. "My," you suddenly think. "She's really not taking good care of herself. Say, this could end very badly. Oh, golly, not that..."

So it is with Jane Takagi-Little, the hero of Ruth Ozeki's "My Year of Meats." She first appears as an out-of-work (hungry) documentarian who gets an offer to work on a Japanese TV series to be called "My American Wife!" The series pretends to be about America and Americans, but really, "Meat is the message." Every week, a family of "real" Americans will share their life-and their favorite meat recipe. A council of beef producers (BEEF-EX) wants to sell Japanese housewives more meat. I was doubtful, but Jane needed to pay the rent. She bit.

Soon we're on the road with Jane and the meat show. The Japanese production crew needs her language and negotiating abilities to make TV programs with ordinary people. Right away we sense the exploitative flavor of making programs that are more interested in what people eat than who they are. But Jane is interested in people. Yet, she's definitely a edgy character-six androgynous feet tall with streaks of purple hair. First doubtful thing she does is take up with a vaguely menacing guy that she met through phone sex. Hmmm.

Just when we've had about enough of Jane for awhile, the narrative POV shifts to Akiko Ueno, a shy woman who watches My American Wife! at home in Japan and loves the show and really wants to eat more meat. Not coincidentally, Akiko is married to the sponsor's representative. And this is just the beginning of the complications.

Structurally, this is a thoroughly modern text. Instead of a straight narrative line, it weaves together first and third person voices, classical Japanese literature and, of course, meat recipes. But it's never heavy; in fact, it's increasingly hilarious. Some of the most riotous series are exchanges of faxes and emails between the producers and Jane. The slightly mangled syntax of Japanese English is letter perfect. And Jane's obsequious, double-edged replies are masterful-particularly for anyone who's ever had to write such a memo to ones higher-ups. Increasingly, Jane comes into conflict with her producers-ultimately with BEEF-EX itself-and the supposedly fawning memo is her first line of attack.

Why? Because Jane really does care. She finds beauty and nobility in the American heartland and she wants to tell the truth about it-even if that means making meat something of a side dish. And she has the artistic sensibilities to do a great job. First there's the Cajun couple who happen to have adopted 12 orphans of various races. (Think of all the meat they can eat.) Then there's the charming congregation of a primitive Baptist church. Trouble is, their best recipe is for fried chicken-not beef at all--and there's an odd thing about chicken. Wait a minute, these aren't the good corn-fed, wholesome Americans we had in mind. The producers are getting nervous. The pot really comes to a bubble when Jane decides to produce a segment about a really sweet lesbian couple. What's their favorite recipe? Unfortunately...

So now I'm sold. Jane's a keeper. This book is funny. But just when it seems like the novel is sorting itself out into a safe little farce, the gravy starts to burn. Jane starts doing research about the hormone DES-sometimes used as a feed supplement in livestock production. Here, things got distinctly personal for me. Wait a minute, DES? DES is what they mistakenly gave pregnant women back in the 50s and never found out that anything was wrong with it 'til their daughters started developing cervical cancer 20 years out. My mother was part of the DES experiment in a Chicago research hospital-she got the placebo, or so I'm told. And every year or so, I get a letter from the DES research council checking to see if I'm alive. But what about Jane? Oh, this could be really bad...But I've got to stop writing about it before I give something away.

Ruth Ozeki is the genuine article. She hits on every level and sneaks around and hits again. The Penguin edition has an informative series of appendices. They include a remarkable interview with Ozeki that convincingly spells out how the book evolved from a series of sketches about her experiences doing TV production. That sense of evolving artistic sensibility and the adventure of documentary research shines through at every turn. I have some critical quibbles about the structure of the ending. But I'm going to zip my trap because I want everyone to read it for themselves. No dessert 'til you've finished your main course.

Rating:
Summary: Savory!
Review: A delightful part of reading certain good books is falling in love with the protagonist. The experience is heightened if you come to your affection a little reluctantly and with distinct misgivings. But best of all is closing in on the conclusion thoroughly hooked, mincing along that classic balance between comedy and tragedy. "My," you suddenly think. "She's really not taking good care of herself. Say, this could end very badly. Oh, golly, not that..."

So it is with Jane Takagi-Little, the hero of Ruth Ozeki's "My Year of Meats." She first appears as an out-of-work (hungry) documentarian who gets an offer to work on a Japanese TV series to be called "My American Wife." The series pretends to be about America and Americans, but really, "Meat is the message." A council of beef producers (BEEF-EX) wants to sell Japanese housewives more meat. I was doubtful, but Jane needed to pay the rent. She bit.

Soon we're on the road with Jane and the meat show. The Japanese production crew needs her language and negotiating abilities to make TV programs with ordinary people. Right away we sense the exploitative flavor of making programs that are more interested in what people eat than who they are. But Jane is interested in people. Yet, she's definitely a edgy character. First doubtful thing she does is take up with a vaguely menacing guy that she met through phone sex. Hmmm.

And just when we've had about enough of Jane for awhile, the narrative POV shifts to Akiko Ueno, a shy woman who watches My American Wife at home in Japan and loves the show and really wants to eat more meat. Not coincidentally, Akiko is married to the sponsor's representative. And this is just the beginning of the complications.

Structurally, this is a thoroughly modern text. Instead of a straight narrative line, it weaves together first and third person narration, classical Japanese literature and, of course, meat recipes. But it's never heavy; in fact, it's increasingly hilarious. Some of the most riotous series are exchanges of faxes and emails between the producers and Jane. The slightly mangled syntax of Japanese English is letter perfect. And Jane's obsequious, double-edged replies are masterful-particularly for anyone who's ever had to write such a memo to ones higher-ups. Increasingly, Jane comes into conflict with her producers-ultimately with BEEF-EX itself-and the supposedly fawning memo is her first line of attack.

Why? Because Jane really does care. She finds beauty and nobility in the American heartland and she wants to tell about it-even if that means making meat something of a side dish. And she has the artistic sensibilities to do a good job of it. First there's the Cajun couple who happen to have adopted 12 orphans of various races. (Think of all the meat they can eat.) Then there's the charming congregation of a primitive Baptist church. Trouble is, their best recipe is for fried chicken-not beef at all--and there's an odd thing about chicken. Wait a minute, these aren't the good corn-fed, wholesome Americans we had in mind. The producers are getting nervous. The pot really comes to a bubble when Jane decides to produce a segment about a really sweet lesbian couple. What's their favorite recipe? Unfortunately...

So now I'm sold. Jane's a keeper. This book is funny. But just when it seems like the novel is sorting itself out into a safe little farce, the gravy starts to burn. Jane starts doing research about the hormone DES-sometimes used as a feed supplement in livestock production. Here, things got distinctly personal for me. Wait a minute, DES? DES is what they mistakenly gave pregnant women back in the 50s and never found out that anything was wrong with it 'til their daughters started developing cervical cancer 20 years out. My mother was part of the DES experiment in a Chicago research hospital-she got the placebo, or so I'm told. And every year or so, I get a letter from the DES research council checking to see if I'm alive. But what about Jane? Oh, this could be really bad...But I've got to stop writing about it before I give something away.

Ruth Ozeki is the genuine article. She hits on every level and sneaks around and hits again. The Penguin edition has an informative series of appendices. They include a remarkable interview with Ozeki that convincingly spells out how the book evolved from a series of sketches about her experiences doing TV production. That sense of evolving artistic sensibility and and the adventure of documentary research shines through at every turn. I have some critical quibbles about the structure of the ending. But I'm going to zip my trap because I want everyone to read it for themselves. No dessert 'til you've finished your main course.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but flawed
Review: Honestly, the fact that I enjoyed reading this book says a great deal, considering how many things there were about it which I deeply disliked. Ozeki's writing style is clever and smooth and she has a good sense of both character development and situational humor.

Where the book went wrong, for me, was in her seeming inability to separate the documentary aspects from the novel. I realize that the main character was a documentary maker, but I think it constitutes an allusive fallacy to think that makes the unvarnished anti-meat politics any less grating. I am not really a meat-eater myself, but I prefer my politics a little better blended into the narrative than she accomplished here.

Furthermore, it seems to me that Ozeki gives in unnecessarily to the desire to make her point clear by making the situations so black and white. The relationship between Akiko and John started off fascinating (as was Akiko herself, an ex-manga artist turned meek housewife) but was much more interesting when the abuse was largely psychological and cultural. Akiko's victimhood felt as strained as her sudden and ultimate rehabilitation. Another track I'd describe as similarly unsatisfying was the Rose story. We'd already gotten the message in spades about meat (Akiko's aversion to it carried it's own message by itself) and we didn't need such a dramatic denoument.

Had this been her third novel, I don't think I'd ever go back to one of her books. However, since this is Ozeki's first book, there were a lot of things about it that I liked enough to make me want to read her second.

Rating:
Summary: Please write some more, Ruth
Review: More Japanese women should go to Smith College. If so, perhaps Japan would be full of self-confident young women writers who can be different, entertaining and thought-provoking. Ruth Ozeki manages to capture Japanese ideas about work, home, and the role of women (which has been done before) and western themes about self-expression of women (which has been done before) and manages to combine them in one book well, which has not often been accomplished. She has chosen a lively motif of meat, which is a totem in both the Japanese and American cultures she combines.

The prose is spare and the pace quick. Ms. Ozeki draws us into the life of her heroine and lets us laugh and ache with her on her year of producing meat stories for a Japanese cooking program. The book moves to an unpredictable, yet fulfilling resolution. We are left with hope for Ms. Ozeki's heroine and for Ms. Ozeki herself - that she will bring us another book as funny, moving and original as this one.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious.
Review: To put it simply, Ruth Ozeki's debut novel was astounding. Rather than focusing on the typical Asian American angst, Ozeki emphasizes the role of economics, fertility, and education in assessing the nature of multicultural politics within American society. Furthermore, Ozeki's rhetoric reveals a duality that simultaneously allows the reader to enjoy the novel and become cognizant of issues in race, and the meat industry. However, it does not matter what I ultimately think, so pick up this book and read it!