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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I finally finished this after owning it since it came out and starting it a few times. It's not that it's that hard to get into-- I just kept putting it down and not finding it again until too late so that I had to keep starting from page 1. I thought she did a great job making their year of local, organic food life readable and educational while not being too preachy.
I struggle a bit with the artificial rationale for writing this book (taking your family back to the land for a year) - like many others there seems to have to be a hook - maybe it's too much reality TV that requires some kind of human interest to get people to read things. Personally I'd rather have some facts and the science.
Fortunately the storytelling is good and the writing is articulate and there are numerous humorous moments
(the turkey sex comes to mind). I also felt a personal connection having grown up with a father who had a big garden, partly because he liked growing things and partly because it was cheaper than buying food. And an uncle with a small family farm. I can remember the short abundant seasons marching through (strawberries, raspberries) with the great taste of the first crop then the struggle to make use of the peak production (freezing, jam etc.). Maybe I didn't learn as much as some others since I still make a roast chicken last through several meals (roast, sandwiches, stock, soup) and, if the time trade-off is reasonable I will make things like pesto from scratch. This started as a way to avoid the mystery ingredients in some manufactured food but has carried on because it tastes better and with modern kitchen equipment doesn't take that much time. I also try to buy in season and locally, but I still buy coffee and bananas and chocolate. So there was no big WOW moment for me - it was stuff I am doing but on a larger scale. Others might find it more revealing.
Fortunately the storytelling is good and the writing is articulate and there are numerous humorous moments
(the turkey sex comes to mind). I also felt a personal connection having grown up with a father who had a big garden, partly because he liked growing things and partly because it was cheaper than buying food. And an uncle with a small family farm. I can remember the short abundant seasons marching through (strawberries, raspberries) with the great taste of the first crop then the struggle to make use of the peak production (freezing, jam etc.). Maybe I didn't learn as much as some others since I still make a roast chicken last through several meals (roast, sandwiches, stock, soup) and, if the time trade-off is reasonable I will make things like pesto from scratch. This started as a way to avoid the mystery ingredients in some manufactured food but has carried on because it tastes better and with modern kitchen equipment doesn't take that much time. I also try to buy in season and locally, but I still buy coffee and bananas and chocolate. So there was no big WOW moment for me - it was stuff I am doing but on a larger scale. Others might find it more revealing.
With so much wisdom, love of food, and stellar recipes, how could I not have loved this book? Animal, Vegetable, Miracle teaches you patience and virtue of eating with the seasons and the hard work and value that goes into the production of food.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I liked it more than I thought I would, there was none of the stuff I thought there would be, like fretting about where the family was going to get grain, or endless lists of trying to get a product and failing, it seemed like an account of basically how I live, even though I live in an apartment and on a very modest income. None of the endless, wordy asides into issues of sustainability exist here, Kingsolver comes to conclusions that take other authors paragraphs in a single sentence. Perhaps this certainty and pithiness is what turns a lot of people off, but I found it refreshing.
This isn't really part of the review, but kind of a review of all the reviews of this book.
Why would you read this book and then complain about how preachy it was? Are you really that jealous of the author? Can you make a few small changes in your life so that you don't feel like she's talking down to you? And if you're not interested in her religion, why don't you just put down the book and go about your daily life? I don't go to church and then complain about how it was so preachy, I just don't go to church.
Loved everything about this. I didn’t get a preachy vibe at all like many of the other reviewers reported. I think her journey is admirable, doable, and should be prioritized with a sense of urgency, so perhaps I am biased.
I'll be making some changes in the way I eat thanks to Kingsolver and her family.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Wonderful and inspiring. Another triumph by Kingsolver
I wish I'd read this book before starting my summer of CSA boxes (not just for the many useful recipes). Obviously, as someone with a CSA subscription and who grew up in a rural farm community, I've already come to some conclusions about the necessity of local eating and supporting local organic agriculture. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle took many of my nascent thoughts and coalesced them into a far stronger conviction about how important it is for our culture to focus on food as more than a convenience or empty calories.
In particular, I found her chapters about eating meat very enlightening. I often find it difficult to justify my decision to keep eating meat from a moral standpoint and she raises several thought-provoking and well-argued points about why eating meat, as long as animals are raised humanely, is not the end of the world.
In particular, I found her chapters about eating meat very enlightening. I often find it difficult to justify my decision to keep eating meat from a moral standpoint and she raises several thought-provoking and well-argued points about why eating meat, as long as animals are raised humanely, is not the end of the world.
Preachy but readable on the whole.
Hated the parts by the teenager...started reading each one then had to abandon as they were so poorly written.
Hated the parts by the teenager...started reading each one then had to abandon as they were so poorly written.