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Summary: I can't stop telling people about this book
Review: I loved this book. I have gotten my sister's book club to read it, and a couple of my friends. It is so delightful. For some reason the two storylines really work well together and you feel deeply connected to each main character. The author made me laugh many times out loud, and I love that in a book. I can't wait to read something else by her.
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Summary: This book was a (medium) rare treat.
Review: As fleshy and tender as the name implies, with diverse characters and several complex intertwining messages. To say they are "PC" is to be a true victim of the term. Does being a lesbian make you PC? A vegetarian? These are real choices that real people make for good reasons, and this book touches on just a few. This book also has balls (literally. read it, you'll see...) for touching on a myriad of subjects such as adoption, slaughter, abuse, infidelity, love and many more in a single plotline and doing it well. Ozeki's use of Shonagon within the narrative is fabulous. As a fan of the timeless Shonagon myself, it was a nice surprise to see her in a modern, American story and how she continues to touch the lives of the women who read her thousand year old text. In her debut novel Ozeki has produced an emotional, exceptional work not to be missed.
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Summary: You may finally become a vegetarian.
Review: Although meat is far from the only topic in this well-written and compelling novel, it becomes a multi-layered metaphor for American excess, a woman's identification with her body, and humans vs. nature. It is funny, poignant, grisly, thought-provoking. I would have liked to have a little more understanding of the characters in the secondary story (which primarily occurs in Japan). It was difficult to know if they were supposed to represent their culture or were primarily a counter-point to the main story. Nevertheless, I found all the characters believable. Enjoy with a tasty veggie-burger!
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Summary: Great Statement about Gender, Race, and Globalization
Review: "My Year of Meats" is an entertaining novel, written in the style of a video documentary, adeptly translating video techniques to written form. The style and writing are new, different, and interesting and are not at all unclear. Jane, the main narrator, has a great sense of humor. She had me laughing out loud throughout the book. Beyond bringing me the enjoyment of reading the work of such a talented, funny, artistic author, "My Year of Meats" provided me with a new and different perspective on the discourse on race, gender and globalization in America. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: One of My All Time Favorite Books
Review: This book was amazing - I've never read anything like it! (I've been recommending it to EVERYONE) Ozeki packs a lot of plots and subplots into this book but manages to keep things cohesive and compelling throughout. Ozeki's got a great sense of humor and taught me a few things about the meat-industry (I'm glad I'm a vegetarian!) Anyway I had an opportunity to meet Ozeki briefly and she's a wonderfully down to earth and friendly person - can't wait to read her next book!
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Summary: It there were 0 stars, that is what this book would get
Review: This was the worst book I have ever read, starting from her annoying voice in writing to the candy-coated blunt ending. It seemed as if she lacked interest in many parts of this novel and decided to not even try. The author seemed to use to much swear words when not nessisary. I don't care what this woman has to say. All I wanted by the end of the book was a nice BBQ steak.
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Summary: Funny, touching, beautiful, and delicious.
Review: A wonderful novel. The characters are compelling and the two intertwined plot lines are fascinating. Ozeki offers the stories of two women, one American, one Japanese, and how they are inadvertantly brought together through a Japanese tv show about meat. I couldn't put this book down. Also--I found very little to be truly gruesome or gross in this book; Ozeki is honest in her description of what goes on in a slaughterhouse, and I don't think what she writes is at all shocking. Anyone who buys meat at a supermarket should be aware of how it gets there.
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Summary: Great!
Review: This is a great book. Entertaining and informative from beginning to end.
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Summary: Captivating
Review: Ms Ozeki has such a wonderful writing style - such a varied vocabulary. I loved her unique interchange between East vs West, with the ultimate merging of the 2 cultures. As for description, well all I can say is that even now I can visualize the slaughter of a cow to make food. This is one of my favorite books of all times and one I will keep in my bookshelf.
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Summary: A documentarian approach to narrative.
Review: A promising debut from writer/filmmaker Ruth L. Ozeki. The novel is broadly themed in that the author attempts to deal with the meat industry, bi-racial identity, the evolving definition of 'family', and a plethora of contemporary issues; nonetheless, her narrative structure is sound enough to keep the reader engrossed in the story.Of particular note is Ozeki's approach to storytelling. Documentary film (especially as presented in 'My Year of Meats') is praxis-centric. Through presentation of compelling ideas, the viewer might be moved toward (hopefully) positive action. This is a strong-point of the novel, but also exposes one glaring weakness. Ozeki's characters occasionally become mere 'talking heads' in order to provide empirical proof of the injurious nature of large scale meat production. The usage of empirically presented evidence (source material listed in bibliography) is an admirable attempt at transforming narrative fiction into action; however, it may prove jarring to certain readers expecting a 'mere' story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'My Year of Meats' and look forward to whatever project Ruth Ozeki next turns to.
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