My Year of Meats

My Year of Meats

First edition cover
Author Ruth L. Ozeki
Country USA
Language English
Genre Novel
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date
June 1, 1998
(first edition)
Pages 432 pp
(first edition)
ISBN ISBN 978-0-670-87904-5
(first edition)
OCLC 38168295
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3565.Z45 M99 1998

My Year of Meats (titled My Year of Meat in the UK) is a novel by Ruth L. Ozeki. The book takes advantage of the differences between Japanese and American culture to comment on both.[1]

Overview

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 for the show, on which every week an American wife is shown living "her life" and cooking meat.

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.

Awards

Reviews

References

  1. Cardwell, Diane (1998-06-21). "NY Times". NY Times. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
  2. "1998 Winner". Kiriyama Prize. Retrieved 2013-05-25.

See also