My Years of Meats

My Year of Meats is a wonderful, strong, disturbing, funny novel. It is at times hilarious and absurd, at times shocking and heart wrenching. Set in the early 1990's, the novel tells the story of two women, Jane and Akiko. Jane is a young Japanese-American independent filmmaker who is hired to produce a series of documentaries for Japanese television (Ozeki). Reminding these consumers that U.S. beef meets all these criteria and rebuilding demand after a two-and-a-half-year absence from the market will require careful marketing, safety assurances, rebuilding of trade relationships--and adequate supplies. In the months following the reopening of the Japanese market to U.S. beef, importers were expressing frustration that they were unable to obtain enough U.S. beef to meet demand, even at the very low volumes needed for a slowly expanding, very cautious market.

A delightful part of reading certain good books is realizing that you've fallen in love with the protagonist. The experience is heightened if you come to this affection a little reluctantly and with distinct misgivings. But best of all is closing in on the conclusion thoroughly hooked, mincing along that classic balance between comedy and tragedy. "My," you suddenly think. "She's really not taking good care of herself. Say, this could end very badly. Oh, golly, not that…”

So it is with Jane Takagi-Little, the hero of Ruth Ozeki's "My Year of Meats”. She first appears as an out-of-work documentarian who gets an offer to work on a Japanese TV series to be called "My American Wife!" The series pretends to be about America and Americans, but really, "Meat is the message”. Every week, a family of "real" Americans will share their life-and their favorite meat recipe. A council of beef producers wants to sell Japanese housewives more meat. I was doubtful, but Jane ...