| My Year of Meats | |
|---|---|
First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Ruth L. Ozeki |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Publication date | June 1, 1998 (first edition) |
| Pages | 432 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0670879045 (first edition) |
| OCLC Number | 38168295 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 21 |
| LC Classification | PS3565.Z45 M99 1998 |
My Year of Meats (titled My Year of Meat in the UK) by Ruth L. Ozeki was written as somewhat of a documentary. The book takes advantage of the differences between Japanese and American culture to comment on both.[1]
Contents |
Jane Takagi-Little is a Japanese American journalist who is hired to work for a Japanese production company. The company works with Beef-Ex to promote the use of American beef in Japan by creating a Japanese television show called "My American Wife". Jane works as the host and creative producer and every week an American wife is shown living "her life" and cooking meat. The novel goes on to show just how manipulative the production company and meat industry are.
Parallel to Jane's story is the life of Akiko Ueno, a former manga artist who specialized in horror scenes and is reluctantly married to a man working for Beef-Ex. Her husband cares only that Akiko has a baby and forces her to watch "My American Wife" and cook the recipes, believing that it will allow her to conceive. However, as Akiko's independence and sense of self grows from watching the show and cooking for her husband, her complacent life and relationship with her husband becomes volatile.