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10iii_kat's review
4.0
I wasn't expecting this graphic novel to be this good! Congrats on a great job to both Michael Anthony and Chai Simone.
What can I say more than everyone should read it even if you're not a vegetarian or vegan. I'm not either but I tried to change my diet to a non-meat one but sometimes it was just too hard. I was able to enjoy this book even though sometimes it was a bit too much for me but it's part of the story, the real-life story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. E-ARC provided via BookSirens.
What can I say more than everyone should read it even if you're not a vegetarian or vegan. I'm not either but I tried to change my diet to a non-meat one but sometimes it was just too hard. I was able to enjoy this book even though sometimes it was a bit too much for me but it's part of the story, the real-life story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. E-ARC provided via BookSirens.
itselvv's review
The author tells a true story about a conflict between him &his girlfriend, narrating what happened when his girlfriend became "crazy" with the animals rights and eventually became vegan, and afterwards, boldly tried to make him a vegan too, despite his [not so honest, yet obvious] disagreement, and even went on to change any stranger on the street that does not follow her beliefs, and thus, he also decided to try to change her back to a meat-eater so that their relationship would go back to it track.
A way too clumsy and corny comic-y way of telling a true story. Every single thing could’ve been solved with just a tiny bit of communication. Felt like it was trying to make me turn into a vegan with this veganism info dumping. And in my honest no-one-asked-for opinion; I think she was more mistaken than him, and he’s too head over heels for her to admit it or confront her about it, or at least this is how it was portrayed. I disliked everyone viciously, even the side characters who didn’t do much, that gotta be somewhat a talent of the author.
Trigger Warnings: body shaming, animals cruelty.
balkeyeston's review
4.0
*Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) from Reedsy Discovery in exchange for an honest review.
Michael is a young war vet who had a rough time re-entering civilian life. After finding his purpose through a weirdly insightful dating class, he meets Coconut, the love of his life. The only problem? She doesn’t eat meat. Well, it wasn’t much of a problem at first...until she starts converting Michael to the vegetarian way of life. Coconut plunges Michael into the deep end: she takes him to animal rights lectures, gives him book recommendations on the ethics of not eating meat, and makes him watch documentaries and videos about the cruelty of animal slaughterhouses and abuse in the name of capitalism. Soon, all Michael can ever think about is meat—that is, how much he misses eating meat but doesn’t want it to destroy their relationship.
What can one do in this situation? One possibility: “if you can’t beat them, join them.” The other? Meet “Operation Tofu Horse,” Michael's plan to save their relationship by becoming a vegetarian to attack The Cause “from the inside.” Though it’s not as simple as it seems...
Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag is chock full of lightheartedness and grim reality, from the day-to-day joys of a loving relationship to the horrors of war and neglect that embed themselves within us and change our behavior. While Meat-Eating Dirtbag starts as a story about two lovers feuding over vegetarianism, the author, Michael Anthony, delivers a deeper subplot that undergirds the greens at the surface—the roots for the trees, if I may. Seeing Anthony’s narration depicted through illustration (by talented debut graphic novelist Chai Simone) opens a whole new way of witnessing how we tend to overlook care for veterans as much as we are willfully ignorant to learn how the source of our meat entrée really makes its way to our plate. Anthony explores a reckoning not just of how he can work things out with his vegetarian activist life partner, but how other kinds of systemic abuse in our world have gone unchallenged for far too long.
The visual voice of Meat-Eating Dirtbag is an advocate for those at the fork of competing intimate values that shape who we are and how we respond. For fans of the graphic memoir’s ability to transcend how we tell stories with layers of visual humor and complexity, Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag tackles the tough bits of relationships, PTSD, and social justice with a steady hand.
Michael is a young war vet who had a rough time re-entering civilian life. After finding his purpose through a weirdly insightful dating class, he meets Coconut, the love of his life. The only problem? She doesn’t eat meat. Well, it wasn’t much of a problem at first...until she starts converting Michael to the vegetarian way of life. Coconut plunges Michael into the deep end: she takes him to animal rights lectures, gives him book recommendations on the ethics of not eating meat, and makes him watch documentaries and videos about the cruelty of animal slaughterhouses and abuse in the name of capitalism. Soon, all Michael can ever think about is meat—that is, how much he misses eating meat but doesn’t want it to destroy their relationship.
What can one do in this situation? One possibility: “if you can’t beat them, join them.” The other? Meet “Operation Tofu Horse,” Michael's plan to save their relationship by becoming a vegetarian to attack The Cause “from the inside.” Though it’s not as simple as it seems...
Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag is chock full of lightheartedness and grim reality, from the day-to-day joys of a loving relationship to the horrors of war and neglect that embed themselves within us and change our behavior. While Meat-Eating Dirtbag starts as a story about two lovers feuding over vegetarianism, the author, Michael Anthony, delivers a deeper subplot that undergirds the greens at the surface—the roots for the trees, if I may. Seeing Anthony’s narration depicted through illustration (by talented debut graphic novelist Chai Simone) opens a whole new way of witnessing how we tend to overlook care for veterans as much as we are willfully ignorant to learn how the source of our meat entrée really makes its way to our plate. Anthony explores a reckoning not just of how he can work things out with his vegetarian activist life partner, but how other kinds of systemic abuse in our world have gone unchallenged for far too long.
The visual voice of Meat-Eating Dirtbag is an advocate for those at the fork of competing intimate values that shape who we are and how we respond. For fans of the graphic memoir’s ability to transcend how we tell stories with layers of visual humor and complexity, Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag tackles the tough bits of relationships, PTSD, and social justice with a steady hand.
jkenna1990's review
5.0
This was a really fascinating graphic novel memoir about a veteran who is a meat eater and his vegetarian animal rights activist girlfriend Coconut. At the beginning of the book, Michael and his girlfriend both eat meat. As the book progresses though, Coconut becomes a vegetarian and tries to convert Michael to be one as well. He, in turn, tries to get her to go back to eating meat by any means necessary. He even at one point, tries to hypnotize her while she's asleep. Things happen and I don't want to spoil anything but I would definitely recommend checking this graphic novel out. It was really great and I liked reading about how Michael and Coconut dealt with their differing opinions.
naomithomson's review
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
5.0
a graphic novel memoir was a great way to switch things up and get out of my reading funk. it breezed by and was also pretty insightful, comparing vegetarianism to his time deployed. gave insight into what it’s like tk be a veteran too. nice drawings yeah j really liked this book no complaints really