Synopses & Reviews
Veteran filmmaker Ruth Ozeki's novel has been hailed as "one of the heartiest and yes, meatiest debuts in years" (Glamour). It tells the story of a year in the lives of two ordinary women on opposite ends of the earth, brought together by a convergence of extraordinary circumstances. Jane, a struggling filmmaker in New York, is given her big break a chance to travel through the U.S. to produce a Japanese television program sponsored by an American meat exporting business. But along the way, she discovers some unsavory truths about love, honor, and a particularly damaging hormone called DES that wreaks havoc with her uterus. Meanwhile, Akiko, a painfully thin Japanese woman struggling with bulimia, is being pressured by her child-craving husband to put some meat on her bones literally. How Jane's and Akiko's lives intersect taps into some of the deepest concerns of our time how the past informs the present and how we live and love in an ever-shrinking world.
Review
"There is an ardent passion to the center of this novel...rare and provocative." USA Today
Review
"It's juicy, it's tender, it's bloody, it's sizzling." St. Louis Post Dispatch
Review
"A sexy and funny cross-cultural tale of two seemingly disparate women that is a feast that leaves you hungry for whatever Ozeki cooks up next." Newsweek
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"...a novel as juicy as a good burger." Entertainment Weekly
About the Author
Ruth L. Ozeki has worked in television and film for the last twelve years. Her documentary and dramatic films have been shown on PBS, at the Sundance Film Festival, and at colleges and universities across the country, and she has received numerous grants and awards for her work. She divides her time between New York City and British Columbia.