| My Year of Meat |
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| Reviewed by Harmonious Living | |
| Wednesday, 07 March 2007 | |
 Author: Ruth L. Ozeki   This extraordinary novel follows the lives of two women from either side of the globe, their cultural divide crossed by the distinctly American product of exported beef.Jane Takagi-Little is a starving documentary filmmaker who finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show promoting BEEFEX (US beef export agency). She takes her crew on the road in search of all-American wives, cooking all-American meat, and to her surprise finds that this cross-country cross-cultural assignment raises questions not just about her own life, but also about sex, love and fertility in our time. Aikiko Ueno is a Tokyo housewife who each week has to cook the Meat of the Week from the latest episode of Little's programme "My American Wife!" for her husband, an advertising executive working with BEEFEX. But Akiko is learning something more than just recipes from Jane's programmes, and slowly, before she realises it, her life begins to change. For the Vegetarian, don't be put off by the title of this book, you'll love it (the back cover does say 'Suitable for Vegetarians'), and for the meat eater its well worth finding out what really goes into making your rump steak and burgers. Don't worry though, this isn't a self-righteous novel that hammers a heavy handed moral fist extolling the virtues of a meat free diet, far from it. What is does try to expose though is just how harmful modern commercial farming methods can be to the human body. The frightening thing is that until recently many of the practises revealed in this book, such as injecting extremely dangerous growth hormones into cattle, were completely legal. Even more frightening is that this practice is still all too often taking place, even if it is a little more 'under cover' and not so out in the open. Despite being full of fascinating facts and information it's the moving stories of the two main characters that make this book such a good read. Both are engaging and as the reader you soon become engrossed in their lives, willing the characters on in their various personal and emotional battles as they struggle for identity and to break free from their damaging pasts. A book has never surprised me and engaged me as much as this one. At times I laughed out loud, at others I grew angry and frustrated, and at one point in particular I was jaw-droppingly horrified. Now I've just got to tell everyone about it…    |
This is the powerful story of the author's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and how a healer's unusual prescription of mindful altruism - to 'give away 29 gifts in 29 days' - ignited her energy, her happiness, and invited more abundance into her life.
