Reviews tagging 'Racism'

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki

16 reviews

ye_li's review

dark informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Rape, Eating disorder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Racial slurs

alexchig's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The premise of this book is so unusual yet the message is really far-reaching. Just as in The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki infused the story with so much social commentary that I was left with a lot to think about afterwards. The characters were diverse and complex, with all of them having different outlooks on life largely due to their social and cultural backgrounds. Some moments were extremely traumatic and had me on the verge of tears which I didn't expect due to the rather lighthearted beginning. I listened to the audiobook and found that Ruth narrated in a very engaging way, taking on different voices and accents depending on the character. I'm thoroughly impressed by what I've read from her so far, looking forward to more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Racism

giselareads's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Rape, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Sexism

emordnilap's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Please check content warnings for this book!!
As a college student, one of my classes this semester focused on US Multiethnic Literature. This book is the last of the 6 books we have read this semester. For many of the other books I chose to annotate in great detail, but for this book I decided I wasn't going to do that. And I think that allowed me to enjoy it more.
My professor (she is often strange), described this book as funny and I have to strongly disagree. It is anything but funny. This book is not to be taken lightly in any format. 
As a vegetarian who does it for the lack of enjoyment from eating and cooking meat and finds it easier to be vegetarian, this book was eye-opening into the meat industry. Granted I like to believe things have changed from when this book was published in the 1990s, but I think that I also know better than to believe that. 
The connections made throughout this book were interesting and compelling and I think that the lighthearted connections made with the characters helped to balance out the trauma and pain of the darker areas of the book. 
I also enjoyed the representation of Northampton lesbians as a college student lesbian in the area. Gotta love Lesbianville, USA. 
In conclusion, I think that this is a good book, but only if you are mentally prepared for its themes and believe that the content warnings will not be triggering at all because all the descriptions are quite graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, Vomit, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Infertility, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

The sexual assault and rape scenes and the aftermath of them are especially graphic. Please take caution with reading this book!!

minxtte's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, and Miscarriage

Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Racism

auroragraph's review

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, and Misogyny