Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by veronicafrance
Everything But the Squeal by John Barlow, John Barlow
3.0
This was OK, but it had a real chance to be better. Hidden behind the gimmick of eating every bit of the pig is a book about Galicia's history, culture, and people. Parts of it were really interesting, and I found the constant lengthy descriptions of gluttonous ingestion of bits of pig a distraction (in fact the first chapter, in which he claims to have eaten cocido long past the state of satiety made me feel sick). It would be quite hard for a vegetarian to read this book, so he's restricting his market too. Warning: it ends with a no-holds-barred description of a traditional matanza (pig-killing).
I suppose he felt he needed a USP to attract a publisher but It would have been much better if he'd just left that aspect out -- while still, of course, addressing the Galician obsession with pigs (not that other parts of Spain don't have pig obsessions too). Then he could also have written about seafood and fish, an equally important part of Galician culture (he only mentions eating octopus once in the entire book). And the chapter about Manuel Frega might have made more sense in a more general book -- it is completely out of place here, and not that interesting anyway, since he doesn't know how to interview him.
He's not a great writer, and given that he's from Yorkshire I found the Americanization of the text (presumably imposed by a US publisher) a bit irritating. Still, there were things to enjoy here. Worth a read if you are thinking of visiting Galicia. Favourite quote:
I suppose he felt he needed a USP to attract a publisher but It would have been much better if he'd just left that aspect out -- while still, of course, addressing the Galician obsession with pigs (not that other parts of Spain don't have pig obsessions too). Then he could also have written about seafood and fish, an equally important part of Galician culture (he only mentions eating octopus once in the entire book). And the chapter about Manuel Frega might have made more sense in a more general book -- it is completely out of place here, and not that interesting anyway, since he doesn't know how to interview him.
He's not a great writer, and given that he's from Yorkshire I found the Americanization of the text (presumably imposed by a US publisher) a bit irritating. Still, there were things to enjoy here. Worth a read if you are thinking of visiting Galicia. Favourite quote:
Spain doesn't demarcate the different spheres of social living much, which makes the country a bit like a giant kindergarten with a bar in it and a permanent tapas menu fixed to the wall.