Animal Husbandry

Rating:
Summary: Buy it and laugh without guilt.
Review:

After reading the first chapter of this book on Amazon, I sent a link to 25 of my women friends, telling them that this was a must read. I didn't do this because I thought the book was Great Literature. I did it because I thought the book pretty well described the emotional disembowelment of being dumped and its messy aftermath. But in a funny way.

The controversial COW THEORY (see above reviews) really isnt the point of the book. The narrator says so at the bottom of page four and continuing on to page five. The COW THEORY is merely the result of the protagonist, Jane Goodall(Laura Zigman? me? Your Name Here?) trying to make some sense of being discarded like a stained JCrew buttondown.

Everyone who has been dumped secretly suspects, that s/he is rejected because of some inherent flaw that makes them instrinsically unloveable. The obsessive, sometimes absurd things we do to prove to ourselves otherwise can be either comic or tragic. This book opts for the comic approach.

And lets face it, cows are funny. And absurd. COW THEORY is funny and absurd. My friends and I enjoyed COW THEORY. (UsedCowLot is not available as a screenname on AOL, by the way). I thought that the more man-bashing elements of COW THEORY were mitigated by using the cow instead of, oh, let's say, the pig. PIG THEORY isn't nearly as funny, since that lends itself too neatly to the idea that all men are pigs.

The book has some structural flaws, but I hesitate to comment on them at length, since I don't think I could write any better. I say, buy the book, laugh without guilt and when your best guy buddy is crying on your shoulder about how his g/f dumped him, explain about the lure of the NEW BULL.

Rating:
Summary: had a few bright spots, but disappointing overall
Review: Because I really liked the author's second book, Dating Big Bird, I decided to check out this one. I was quite disappointed. In contrast to Dating Big Bird, Animal Husbandry has less interesting, more one-dimensional characters, clunky dialogue, and a rather silly premise. I mean, I've been dumped too, and it was terrible, but the author provides us with so much information as to why it would have been a bad relationship anyway that you feel like shaking the main character and saying, "You should be GLAD you didn't end up with this loser!" I found it hard to sympathize much with the main character.

The writing was so-so; the dialogue had a few funny spots, but overall, I felt like I was reading one of those too-short essays that my students try to stretch out with lots of white space and large block quotations. It is not necessary to have a new title page for every 3-page long "chapterlet."

However, as I mentioned before, even if you were disappointed by this book, you may enjoy Dating Big Bird. I think the author's style has really improved with time.

Rating:
Summary: A Male Point of View
Review: I found this book at a beach house I rented for a week this summer. Obviously chick lit, I looked around, and since no one was looking, I read the first few pages and was hooked by Zigman's marvelous humor. I didn't take it as male bashing at all. In fact, it accurately described many men friends I've had over the years, and I'll allow for the possibility I've behaved this way once or twice... Some reviewers have bashed Jane, but I thought she was funny, sensitive, insightful, and caring. Why can't you fall for someone who says all the right things in two months?

Anyway, I enjoyed reading the book and although this will never happen, men should read it to understand the feelings of the women with whom they enter relationships.

Rating:
Summary: Quick and light...
Review: Okay, _Animal Husbandry_ is not the Great American Novel. If that's what you're looking for, I'd suggest that you run the other way. _Animal Husbandry_ is not a saga about the meaning of life but rather about one horribly bitter woman. The book is a little hard to get into at first. The first couple of chapters don't really make sense- the sentence structure is not there at all and the ideas that are thrown out don't connect. But, it's very quick reading and before you know it, Laura Zigman has found her niche and her writing style becomes very enjoyable and engrossing. Jane really is a bitter character, but that's what makes her so fun. And the New Cow Theory- hum. It will outrage some people and find a home in some people's hearts. I was in the middle- it made sense but it wouldn't apply it to real life. Laura Zigman definitely shows promise with her first book. As many people before me have noted, it seems as though Ms. Zigman has had a personal experience with someone like Ray and writing _Animal Husbandry_ has been like a sort of writing therapy for her. At the begining, she's as bitter as Jane, but the two visibly heal by the end of the book. I saw the movie before I bought the book, and I was pleasently happy with the way it turned out. The movie is a bit sweeter, but _Animal Husbandry_ has more spunk. Laura Zigman shows promise of becoming a great author and I look forward to reading _Dating Big Bird_ which sounds a little more creatvie and detached from Ms. Zigman's life.

Rating:
Summary: Straight forward
Review: We really don't get to know Jane, just kind of dive into it. This book is original and creative in how it plays out. Jane is a little crazy. I expected more from Eddie but I was bummed out by his lacking character. Jane's character seemed depressed before, during, and after Ray - so it was kind of hard to tell? But otherwise this book is witty and interesting - definitely a fast read.