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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I think this book should be required reading for kids in high school. Fuck it, maybe even middle school. Taught me a lot.
Something about this book hit a lot of emotional notes for me-- I found myself nearly in tears more than once listening to it as I drove to and from work. Something about the deeply ingrained need for the comforts of home underpins this exploration of food and food culture in the United States (a broken, horrifying system), and elsewhere, and one family's experiment in local food as a way to take control of their place in that cycle-- ultimately, out of it.
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of things that I hadn't been aware of, and inspired me to change some of my eating choices. It addresses a specific lifestyle choice without seeming preachy, which is hard to do. Plus, the book is very well written and interesting.
The concept of this book is simple: a family eats food produced within around 120 miles of their home, with the majority of their food being grown in their own garden. However, Barbara Kingsolver is a highly talented writer and she takes that simplicity and crafts it into a well developed argument through the story of her family's year of eating. While enthralled by the reading induced haze of the book, I found myself fantasizing about following a similar path and while she created a case for reducing fuel consumption by being a "locavore" (someone who eats locally), I didn't feel the same sense of guilt often foisted off on the reader of say, books on veganism, instead, I felt as though I was being informed about a new possibility. I'd already begun my own journey toward a desire to produce my own food, but this added a new dimension to that desire.
I love that this book is a family collaboration, from stories Kingsolver writes about her youngest daughter, Lily's, experiences as a Chicken/Egg selling mogul; to the incorporation of short essays from her college-aged daughter; and informative, research based pieces from her husband. This blend of family writing is wonderfully done, and mirrors the emphasis that Kingsolver places on coming together at the dinner table. This is not merely a book on gardening, or a piece meant to raise awareness about the environment and impact of fossil fuels, or a treatise on why we should return to heirloom breeds of animals and plants. While it is all those things, I would say that, more importantly, it is a portrait of how we can use food to cultivate family. Beautifully written and artfully executed.
I love that this book is a family collaboration, from stories Kingsolver writes about her youngest daughter, Lily's, experiences as a Chicken/Egg selling mogul; to the incorporation of short essays from her college-aged daughter; and informative, research based pieces from her husband. This blend of family writing is wonderfully done, and mirrors the emphasis that Kingsolver places on coming together at the dinner table. This is not merely a book on gardening, or a piece meant to raise awareness about the environment and impact of fossil fuels, or a treatise on why we should return to heirloom breeds of animals and plants. While it is all those things, I would say that, more importantly, it is a portrait of how we can use food to cultivate family. Beautifully written and artfully executed.
a little preachy at times, but generally an interesting and even useful book about connecting with your food and your world.
The book comes off a bit preachy in the early chapters, but while I've always tried to make food choices that are right for me, without imposing my views on anyone else, I can see how eating local sort of lends itself to preaching... Kingsolver isn't just talking about a food experiment, but pointing out the things that have gone wrong with our food culture -- and they can only be set right if enough people get in on the movement.
I'm not quite ready to move to a farm, but between this book and Michael Pollan's work and some other items on my to-read list, I am finding more reasons to incorporate local, in-season, and organic food into my diet - without sacrificing the vegetarian lifestyle I've been living for the past twenty years.
I'm not quite ready to move to a farm, but between this book and Michael Pollan's work and some other items on my to-read list, I am finding more reasons to incorporate local, in-season, and organic food into my diet - without sacrificing the vegetarian lifestyle I've been living for the past twenty years.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is not what I expected. Having never read any of Kingsolver's other offerings, I really had no expectations about her writing style or voice. What I did expect was a warmly written tale of one family's attempt to farm and eat locally for a year. I was expecting anecdotes told with a laugh and a sense of light heartedness.
What Animal, Vegetable, Miracle actually is, is a matter-of-fact retelling of the months of farm living mixed with an education on why we should all care about the future of small farming in America.
Initially the writing style felt heavy handed and "preachy" (as many others have written). It was slow going for me for the first quarter of the book. But once I let go of my expectations and understood that this was not exactly a traditional memoir, I found myself enthralled. The facts presented about the big business of agriculture were not entirely new to me, but seeing them through the eyes of a person living off of their farm shed new light for me.
I respect what this family did during their year and will take much of what I learned through reading into consideration when making my own food choices.
What Animal, Vegetable, Miracle actually is, is a matter-of-fact retelling of the months of farm living mixed with an education on why we should all care about the future of small farming in America.
Initially the writing style felt heavy handed and "preachy" (as many others have written). It was slow going for me for the first quarter of the book. But once I let go of my expectations and understood that this was not exactly a traditional memoir, I found myself enthralled. The facts presented about the big business of agriculture were not entirely new to me, but seeing them through the eyes of a person living off of their farm shed new light for me.
I respect what this family did during their year and will take much of what I learned through reading into consideration when making my own food choices.
I'll never think about my food nor my garden the same way again. This book will stay with me forever. Wow.
