Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Prices for book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Book ISBN: 9780060853570

Author(s): Barbara Kingsolver

Document type: Compact Disc

Publisher: Unknown

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Reviews

Too much FLUFF and HOT AIR !

Rating: 40%

I found Barbara's story of living a reinvented green lifestyle to be contradicting and hypocritical. Also, she rambles often. Her point then is not conveyed in a smooth flowing manner. The reviews and raves written in this book by supposed people in the business of writing and litature could not possibly be true. I can not believe they really read this book entirely. Bogus, I say...

Bill (Amazon.com)

Conflicted

Rating: 80%

Great book so far. I think Kingsolver does a great job of showcasing various amounts of information without making it too wordy. Certainly makes great arguments with respect to eating locally grown produce and eating seasonally.

However, I completely disagree with her argument about vegetarianism which is that vegetarianism is relegated to those who have money. She makes it very clear that she is against vegetarianism (in all forms it seems; this may not have been her actual argument, but that's what I got from her writing). I'd like to make two points:

1.) Yes, in certain parts of the world people wouldn't survive without killing the animals indigenous to their harsh environments. However, in many other parts of the world, meat is TOO expensive, and therefore becomes a dividing factor between the rich and poor: the rich are allowed to be carnivores and the poor, by default, are herbivores.

2.) Where do we draw the line between "animal" and "human". At one point, she even refers to humans as animals. Hence her argument that killing animals is okay becomes extremely blurry. Nor does she begin with defining what she means by "human" and "animal" before expanding on the rest of her theory, leaving the reader both confused and fearful for their life.

I think that this book is a great read for the most part, but I also think Kingsolver was trying to promote an agenda based on multiple theoreies and arguments. However, she hadn't quite fleshed out the intricacies of said arguments.

N. Nakasone (Amazon.com)

INSPIRATIONAL

Rating: 100%

Relatively new to the organic/sustainable diet and lifestyle, I own a small farm in southern Louisiana and have been diagnosed with psoriasis and accompanying psoriatic arthritis. I have listened to this book at least three times on my ipod while I farm (a bit more than "garden"), and recommend it highly to anyone who is wondering why they are suffering from some strange auto-immune disease that dropped out of nowhere! AVM has been so inspirational to me as I dig in the dirt, planting only organic seeds and plants, no pesticides or "artificial" fertilizers, with tlc. There is absolutely nothing like eating food you know from infancy, within moments of harvesting it, while standing in the midst of the mother plants!! If this book doesn't make you want to grow your own, nothing will, and it's great to hear the author's own voice read, giving the proper emphasis where it should be. I am sure I am not alone wishing she would write a sequel to this, describing her family's continuing journey and struggles with this life choice.

history buff (Amazon.com)

Duh, yes, I agree, but is this worth a book?

Rating: 60%

I love food. I make my living growing and harvesting food, teaching and writing about food. Before that, as a cook, and I also worked at many different farms and several food processing plants. Utterly fascinated by food. I bought this book with great expectations, and found it too boring to finish. Every page or two I responded "Duh, is there anything in here I didn't think everyone already knew?" few nonfiction books have ever bored me so much.

Maybe it's not for people who already eat that way. Maybe it's for urban people who live the rural life vicariously. Or maybe it was the self-righeous, exaggerated tone about a mild adventure that bored me to death. Nothing they did even sounds hard. No harder than what every person with celiac disease does all the time.

But I giver her 3 stars because I agree with her message.

Sam Thayer (Amazon.com)

Preachy, Pretentious, and Stupid

Rating: 20%

Green and organic are new hippy thing to do, so here comes the popular but unbelievably stupid book.

Fact 1: Growing vegetables in one's own garden actually consumes more energy and releases more CO2 than big vegetable farms.

Fact 2: You really have to have A LOT OF FREE TIME to kill to do what the author does. It's a rich, having-nothing-better-to-do people's game. And alas, you still have to buy coffee 'cause you cannot grow it.

Amazonian (Amazon.com)

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