My Year of Meats

Rating:
Summary: East "Meats" West
Review: "My Year of Meats" is an ambitious novel that defies being confined to one type of genre or style. What starts as a smart and funny satire of American and Japanese cultures ultimately morphs into an examination into some serious and tragic subject matter (and not just limited to the meat industry). The novel uses multiple narrative perspectives (primarily Jane Takagi-Little, an American documentary filmmaker of Japanese descent, and Akiko Ueno, a repressed Japanese housewife) and intersperses a traditional narrative style with faxes and letters to move the plot along. While the shifting tone and many points of view may frustrate some readers, one thinks Ozeki is purposely placing the reader on a roller-coaster ride. One can never really anticipate what will be around the next corner.

The paperback version also includes an interview with the author and discussion questions. One can see why this book has become a favorite of reading groups. The novel is filled with plenty of topics worthy of debate -- from the meaning of the American dream or "ideal" to each of the characters' issues with abuse and denial in their lives. Nevertheless, "Meats" is entertaining while never being heavy-handed (though an unflinching look at a slaughterhouse is perhaps the biggest blow to the meat industry since Oprah's beef trial and Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle").

In the spirit of Jane's wickedly sarcastic faxes to her meat-obsessed Japanese boss, I would have to say that this is a "well done" novel and definitely a "rare" treat.

Rating:
Summary: "meat" is the message
Review: A novel that exposes the unethical practices of the American meat industry may not necessarily be at the top of your reading list, but Ruth Ozeki's debut novel, My Year of Meats, weaves its message with a mix of romance and delicious sarcasm, resulting in an enjoyably comic novel that never takes itself too seriously. With a point-of-view that shifts between characters intermingled with poetry, faxes, journal entries, and a fantastic mix of fact and fiction, this may mark the beginning of a new literary genre, a "multi-media" novel that engages in multiple levels of communication between writer, reader, and narrator.

My Year of Meats is the story of half-Japanese documentary filmmaker Jane Takagi-Little. After landing a job directing My American Wife!, a television show advertising American beef products in Japan for Beef-Ex, she makes some unsavory discoveries about life, love, and the American meat industry. Disagreeing with the image of white suburbia that Beef-Ex requires her to tout, Jane crisscrosses small town America, determined to show her Japanese audience the ethnic diversity of American families. This puts her in a constant battle with Joichi "John" Ueno, the company's sleezy advertising executive, about what it truly means to be American. Jane's call to subvert the message of Beef-Ex leads her to film a show centered on an inter-racial, vegetarian lesbian couple. With their assistance, Jane begins to make some unsavory connections between the meat industry and DES, a dangerous synthetic estrogen given to cattle to speed their weight gain. She ultimately ops to expose the use of DES to the public, risking her health, the film crew, and her paycheck. Meanwhile, in Japan, Akiko, the battered housewife of "John" Ueno, is inspired by the underlying message of American individualism shown on the Saturday morning episodes of My American Wife! and begins cooking up a revolution of her own.

Ozeki, a lapsed documentarian, not only tackles the American meat industry, she cleverly unmasks American mass-consumerism and economic colonization while addressing problems of race, gender and identity in Japan and the United States. The novel's political agenda, however, never supercedes the true "meat" of the story: Ozeki's witty voice, flawlessly inter-connected characters, and perfect blend of warmth and wackiness. This is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: «My Year of Meats» is the satirical story of Jane Takagi-Little, a Japanese-American documentarian and starvingartist living in New York when she gets the call from Tokyo to work on a new TV show, «My American Wife!» which each week chronicles the life of a typical American wife. The show, sponsored by BEEFEX is show in Japan to promote the consumption of meat by Japanese families. Akiko Ueno, who's husband "John" works for BEEFEX, is a typical Japanese housewife trying to get pregnant and please John.

I really liked this book and found it very funny, but also very informative in it's look at the meat industry. However, there were a lot of boring parts and the story tended to move along and then stop for awhile. Also, rarely were both Akiko and Jane in the middle of something interesting at the same time; I fould myself struggling to get through one woman's part of the story just to get to the more interesting part that followed.

Still, a very good book! I hope to see more from Ruth L. Ozeki.

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; Sizuko's Daughter (Kyoko Mori), Snow Falling on Cedars (David Guterson), Audrey Hepburn's Neck (Alan Brown), etc.

And now, Ruth L. Ozeki's My years of Meats! 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.

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

From Tokyo.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, but Entriguing
Review: I loved this book. I thought Ozeki did a marvelous job displaying an industry so crucial to American culture in a way that would neither offend, nor be easily forgotten. The depth the main character, Jane Takagi-Little, a documentarian, goes to in order to present an effective view of the meat industry is fascinating. Jane spends an entire year, from the time she begins work on a Japanese tv cooking show, until her documentary is viewed by the public, researching the meat industry and the drugs which are used in beef production, resulting in the eventual discovery of ailments caused specifically by these drugs. The cooking show is sponsored by an American-based beef company, which is how Jane is exposed to the "nasty side" of meat in the first place.

This book, however, is not all about the meat industry, and by no means does it suggest boycotting meat or anything equally as drastic. Ozeki's book follows the lives of two women; Jane, and a Japanese woman, the wife of the beef company's Japanese manager, Akiko Ueno. These women lead very different lives, but experience many of the same emotions; for instance, Jane suffers a miscarriage just as Akiko realizes she is pregnant. Jane interacts with Akiko's husband while making the show, and so the womens' lives are intertwined without them being aware. The story follows these two women through an entire year of their lives, leaving them in completely opposite situations than they began in.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read, or anyone who wishes to get rid of their taste for meat for a while.

Rating:
Summary: Funny! But ultimately too self-indulgent.
Review: I stayed up late to finish this book, and have heartily recommended it to friends. But I do have to give a mixed review.

First and foremost, it was one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. At one point, I started laughing out loud (to my horror -- I was reading on the subway and no doubt looked like an idiot). I also thought the literary device of uniting the Japanese and U.S. portions of the story through those great faxed memos was clever. The whole thing just felt fresh and creative. Simply put, I really enjoyed reading this.

On the other hand, however, by the end of the book the development of the story and the characters had pretty much given way to heavy-handed moralizing about the meat industry, or at least the author's perception of the industry, which I suspect may be a bit exaggerated. Perhaps exaggeration is the primary flaw here. The characters were exaggerated to an extent that caused me to distrust the author and discount her perspective. And did we really have to be bludgeoned quite so hard with the Wal-Mart as Evil Empire theme? Finally, I thought that the way all the diverse characters and episodes tied together into a big happy ending was unduly contrived.

Despite these points, my final impression is that it was a gripping, worthwhile, and memorable read, and I will be watching for Ms. Ozeki's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda with stereotype characters
Review: Let me start off by saying that I agree with every word in this book about American beef. However her presentation is very clumsy, sterotyped and PC. The pro-beef characters are all evil while the anti-beef are all good. The white men are mostly evil, while the third world women (especially lesbians) are all perfect.
It's too bad because she obviously knows how to write.