Reviews tagging 'Grief'

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki

4 reviews

sarah_kula's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

emordnilap's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Please check content warnings for this book!!
As a college student, one of my classes this semester focused on US Multiethnic Literature. This book is the last of the 6 books we have read this semester. For many of the other books I chose to annotate in great detail, but for this book I decided I wasn't going to do that. And I think that allowed me to enjoy it more.
My professor (she is often strange), described this book as funny and I have to strongly disagree. It is anything but funny. This book is not to be taken lightly in any format. 
As a vegetarian who does it for the lack of enjoyment from eating and cooking meat and finds it easier to be vegetarian, this book was eye-opening into the meat industry. Granted I like to believe things have changed from when this book was published in the 1990s, but I think that I also know better than to believe that. 
The connections made throughout this book were interesting and compelling and I think that the lighthearted connections made with the characters helped to balance out the trauma and pain of the darker areas of the book. 
I also enjoyed the representation of Northampton lesbians as a college student lesbian in the area. Gotta love Lesbianville, USA. 
In conclusion, I think that this is a good book, but only if you are mentally prepared for its themes and believe that the content warnings will not be triggering at all because all the descriptions are quite graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Pregnancy

The sexual assault and rape scenes and the aftermath of them are especially graphic. Please take caution with reading this book!!

bookworme's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The line between what is informative fact and fiction is well balanced, and is a treat in this book as it is displays the super power and charm of Ozeki’s writing voice. The meld of documentation/research based structure via book format felt very natural and at times fantastical. Gripping. Would you expect a book on meat consumption to be so emotionally charged? Please do

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Grief

allyofshalott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief