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Mary Louise 's review

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25460.Animal_Vegetable_Miracle_A_Year_of_Food_Life?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1167733922m/25460.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25460.Animal_Vegetable_Miracle_A_Year_of_Food_Life?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3541.Barbara_Kingsolver">Barbara Kingsolver</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16890960?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars I can forgive the obvious shortcommings of this book for three significant reasons: First, I believe wholeheartedly that by purchasing as much locally grown/made food as possible we can solve our fossil fuel dependency. Secondly, by the luck of the draw I can afford to purchase food from the weekly farmer’s market. And finally, our household is committed to making around 95% of our meals from scratch, which started as a response to our collective allergies (nondairy, meat-eaters) but like the Kingsolver tribe, once our taste buds were reawakened by the flavor of our delicious made-by-scratch food, there was no turning back. I agree with most of what she says and respect her reminder that I need to buy as much food as possible from local farmers, and I am going to try a few of her recipes. I do, on occasion, enjoy a frozen Snickers bar.
 
 In general I endured this book and it certainly motivated me. But the book has many problems.
 
 Several critics have said it was not her intention to convince “everyone” but I don’t buy that. When a well-known author writes a book like this it becomes persuasive argument. (Hey, every book you write is an argument!) Besides, The Farmer’s Market Choir is already convinced. Rather quickly Kingsolver's tone is preachy, and well, whom is she yelling at but the uninitiated? It reminds me of the old saying, there is nothing worse than listening to the recently reformed. After all, she did spend a huge amount of time in Arizona and that other life eating and drinking. (Poor Arizona! The only answer this evolved American author can come up with is to abandon you.) 
 
 I was both an inspired and a reluctant reader; I wish I had edited this book to help cut out some of the unnecessary fat. One moment she has me right in the palm of her hand, the next she veers off, shoe-horning that well-warn and skewed stereotype about how the French, given their high calorie intake manage to stay thin, and how Europe has nude beaches where Americans could never show-up with rolls of fat hanging out, and suddenly I feel cornered by the marginalized relative at my family reunion. At first I am nodding with agreement when she argues that eating freshly prepared food is a matter of attitude, but then she says “take a look at Mexico,” and I stop nodding. Having stayed on many a ranch in Mexico, I wonder why she fails to recognize the rigid gender roles? The economic problems? Then much later, on page 127, she admits that “Full-time homemaking may not be an option for those of us delivered without trust funds…Required participation from a spouse and kids an element of the equation…” and well, it all comes much too late. 
 
 This book had the potential but missed the chance to change the minds of the other people--the unconvinced--the people she most needs! 
 
 I wanted her to stop meandering, stop arguing every counter-argument and stick to her narrative nonfiction story and its strongest argument: how a renewed connection to food transformed her family and their relationship with the community. By purchasing your neighbors food, you can help with the fossil fuel problem AND keep their farm in business. Small yet significant gestures such as buying butter from the same family in your area keeps them in business and it is a huge step in the right direction. 
 
 And since many Americans feel helpless, this book could show them how to help, and that's a big, wondeful adjustment in a culture where more and more people feel left out and powerless. This plan will only work if more people get on board, (and if we find a way to help Arizona!) And YES, by eating this kind of food, many have lost weight and become heart-healthy and all of that is good. But instead of shrilling, "tell" by "showing", girlfriend. 
 
 Like many narrative nonfiction books on the market today, the ones people in the publishing business call “idea books”--Kingsolver's narrator tries too hard, steps into her self-made traps. There’s so much I should love about this book, and I hope some other author takes up this subject again, and gives it a good try. I'd certainly buy it! 
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/540140?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Mary Louise 's review
rating:
bookshelves: food, grassroots-poliltical-action

I can forgive the obvious shortcommings of this book for three significant reasons: First, I believe wholeheartedly that by purchasing as much locally grown/made food as possible we can solve our fossil fuel dependency. Secondly, by the luck of the draw I can afford to purchase food from the weekly farmer’s market. And finally, our household is committed to making around 95% of our meals from scratch, which started as a response to our collective allergies (nondairy, meat-eaters) but like the Kingsolver tribe, once our taste buds were reawakened by the flavor of our delicious made-by-scratch food, there was no turning back. I agree with most of what she says and respect her reminder that I need to buy as much food as possible from local farmers, and I am going to try a few of her recipes. I do, on occasion, enjoy a frozen Snickers bar.

In general I endured this book and it certainly motivated me. But the book has many problems.

Several critics have said it was not her intenti...more I can forgive the obvious shortcommings of this book for three significant reasons: First, I believe wholeheartedly that by purchasing as much locally grown/made food as possible we can solve our fossil fuel dependency. Secondly, by the luck of the draw I can afford to purchase food from the weekly farmer’s market. And finally, our household is committed to making around 95% of our meals from scratch, which started as a response to our collective allergies (nondairy, meat-eaters) but like the Kingsolver tribe, once our taste buds were reawakened by the flavor of our delicious made-by-scratch food, there was no turning back. I agree with most of what she says and respect her reminder that I need to buy as much food as possible from local farmers, and I am going to try a few of her recipes. I do, on occasion, enjoy a frozen Snickers bar.

In general I endured this book and it certainly motivated me. But the book has many problems.

Several critics have said it was not her intention to convince “everyone” but I don’t buy that. When a well-known author writes a book like this it becomes persuasive argument. (Hey, every book you write is an argument!) Besides, The Farmer’s Market Choir is already convinced. Rather quickly Kingsolver's tone is preachy, and well, whom is she yelling at but the uninitiated? It reminds me of the old saying, there is nothing worse than listening to the recently reformed. After all, she did spend a huge amount of time in Arizona and that other life eating and drinking. (Poor Arizona! The only answer this evolved American author can come up with is to abandon you.)

I was both an inspired and a reluctant reader; I wish I had edited this book to help cut out some of the unnecessary fat. One moment she has me right in the palm of her hand, the next she veers off, shoe-horning that well-warn and skewed stereotype about how the French, given their high calorie intake manage to stay thin, and how Europe has nude beaches where Americans could never show-up with rolls of fat hanging out, and suddenly I feel cornered by the marginalized relative at my family reunion. At first I am nodding with agreement when she argues that eating freshly prepared food is a matter of attitude, but then she says “take a look at Mexico,” and I stop nodding. Having stayed on many a ranch in Mexico, I wonder why she fails to recognize the rigid gender roles? The economic problems? Then much later, on page 127, she admits that “Full-time homemaking may not be an option for those of us delivered without trust funds…Required participation from a spouse and kids an element of the equation…” and well, it all comes much too late.

This book had the potential but missed the chance to change the minds of the other people--the unconvinced--the people she most needs!

I wanted her to stop meandering, stop arguing every counter-argument and stick to her narrative nonfiction story and its strongest argument: how a renewed connection to food transformed her family and their relationship with the community. By purchasing your neighbors food, you can help with the fossil fuel problem AND keep their farm in business. Small yet significant gestures such as buying butter from the same family in your area keeps them in business and it is a huge step in the right direction.

And since many Americans feel helpless, this book could show them how to help, and that's a big, wondeful adjustment in a culture where more and more people feel left out and powerless. This plan will only work if more people get on board, (and if we find a way to help Arizona!) And YES, by eating this kind of food, many have lost weight and become heart-healthy and all of that is good. But instead of shrilling, "tell" by "showing", girlfriend.

Like many narrative nonfiction books on the market today, the ones people in the publishing business call “idea books”--Kingsolver's narrator tries too hard, steps into her self-made traps. There’s so much I should love about this book, and I hope some other author takes up this subject again, and gives it a good try. I'd certainly buy it!

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message 1: by Ann

05/01/2008 09:20AM

Thanks for your review. I read it thinking "exactly!"