Eating Animals is immediately recognizable as the new Jonathan Safran Foer book - the lettering on the jacket design, the prominence of the author's name on that cover, sharp divisions within the text that shuttle the reader from one perspective to another with great speed, illustration/accent pieces that are both appealing and gimmicky at the same time. But unlike Foer's other two well-received works (Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Eating Animals is a work of nonfiction in which the author decries factory farming in stark terms and advocates for vegetarianism. This unique branding hints at the personal content in the text.
Part of the charm, some would say genius of Foer's fiction, is the expansiveness of it all. The range. The flights of imagination. And then at the end, the sum of all parts yielding a satisfying whole. This approach, when applied to a work of nonfiction, is somewhat less successful. In taking on the large issues of factory farming and animal cruelty, and then encouraging a bold abandonment of traditional eating choices in favor of vegetarianism, Foer's purpose would have been better served by taking up an unwavering viewpoint instead of launching an emotionally charged raft ride.
His effort here has been inspired by the birth of his first child. His philosophy toward food has been more than a little influenced by his grandmother's Holocaust survival story. He inserts a good deal of fact, research detailed in (wait for it) approximately 60 pages of endnotes after only 267 pages of text. There are large italicized sections of the book that feature the voices of farmers and activists. And he (was thinking what?) appears to have a love/hate relationship with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Are you feeling what I am feeling? Is this a lot to coherently represent in so short a book?
The way this is headed, you probably think by now that I hated the book. But I did not. I loved the energy. I loved the emotionally charged aspects of the book even when they robbed the book of a richer line of reason. Even though much of the research represented things I had read before, the intended revelations provided renewed food for thought especially during the holiday season when food consumption tends to excess. I appreciated the call to mindfulness in our consumer habits. I just did not think that there was much new here, and being a fan of Pollan's elegant, clean journalistic style as well as the omnivore's viewpoint, I felt the argument was delivered without adequate persuasion.
If you are fan of Foer, and have thought about reading the book, you should definitely do so. If you have spent years oscillating between vegetarian and omnivore as the author did, I suggest that you might also draw something from this. Even if you have not given much thought to the origins of the food you eat every day, this can be a quick and engaging read. Just don't forget to check out Pollan and those who came before him too. It is time to reconsider our food sources, our social responsibility, our personal health but the solutions most practical may not be found in this highly individualized take on the situation.
Hachette is kindly providing five contest copies for those who would like to give this book a read. Comment here by end of day on Saturday, January 2 for a chance. Winners will be determined by my nine year old in a completely random fashion, and posted here on Sunday the 3rd. Good luck!