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Review
PRAISE FOR EATING ANIMALS:
"For a hot young writer to train his sights on a subject as unpalatable as meat production and consumption takes raw nerve. What makes Eating Animals so unusual is vegetarian Foer's empathy for human meat eaters, his willingness to let both factory farmers and food reform activists speak for themselves, and his talent for using humor to sweeten a sour argument." (O, The Oprah Magazine )
"The everyday horrors of factory farming are evoked so vividly, and the case against the people who run the system presented so convincingly, that anyone who, after reading Foer's book, continues to consume the industry's products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both."
(J.M. Coetzee )
"Stirring....compelling, earnest...Foer brings an invigorating moral clarity to the topic." (Entertainment Weekly )
"Eating Animals carefully, deliberately, takes you through every relevant dimension of factory farming...One sees it from the inside, the outside, the moral high ground, the dithering consumer level, through Foer's family stories, from slaughterhouse workers, animal behaviorists, even from defenders of the system... Foer's aim is not to make your choice, but to inform it. He has done us all a great service, and we, and the animals, owe him our thanks." (The Huffington Post Dr. Andrew Weil )
"[Eating Animals] is a postmodern version of Peter Singer's 1975 manifesto Animal Liberation...Foer is the latest in a long line of distinguished literary vegetarians." (New York Times Book Review Jennifer Schuessler )
"Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin)-not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others)-have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food. Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks...It is the kind of wisdom that, in all its humanity and clarity, deserves a place at the table with our greatest philosophers." (Los Angeles Times Susan Salter Reynolds )
"A work of moral philosophy...After reading this book, it's hard to disagree [with Foer]." (San Francisco Chronicle Geoff Nicholson )
"The latest from novelist Foer is a surprising but characteristically brilliant memoir-investigation, boasting an exhaustively-argued account of one man-child's decade-long struggle with vegetarianism...Without pulling any punches-factory farming is given the full expose treatment-Foer combines an array of facts, astutely-written anecdotes, and his furious, inward-spinning energy to make a personal, highly entertaining take on an increasingly visible...moral question; call it, perhaps, An Omnivore's Dilemma." (Publishers Weekly )
"[Eating Animals] is extraordinarily thoughtful and intelligent, and reads more like philosophy than journalism." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch Holly Silva )
"Foer's case for ethical vegetarianism is wholly compelling...A blend of solid-and discomforting-reportage with fierce advocacy that will make committed carnivores squeal." (Kirkus Reviews )
"For a hot young writer to train his sights on a subject as unpalatable as meat production and consumption takes raw nerve. What makes Eating Animals so unusual is vegetarian Foer's empathy for human meat eaters, his willingness to let both factory farmers and food reform activists speak for themselves, and his talent for using humor to sweeten a sour argument." (O, The Oprah Magazine )
"The everyday horrors of factory farming are evoked so vividly, and the case against the people who run the system presented so convincingly, that anyone who, after reading Foer's book, continues to consume the industry's products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both."
(J.M. Coetzee )
"Stirring....compelling, earnest...Foer brings an invigorating moral clarity to the topic." (Entertainment Weekly )
"Eating Animals carefully, deliberately, takes you through every relevant dimension of factory farming...One sees it from the inside, the outside, the moral high ground, the dithering consumer level, through Foer's family stories, from slaughterhouse workers, animal behaviorists, even from defenders of the system... Foer's aim is not to make your choice, but to inform it. He has done us all a great service, and we, and the animals, owe him our thanks." (The Huffington Post Dr. Andrew Weil )
"[Eating Animals] is a postmodern version of Peter Singer's 1975 manifesto Animal Liberation...Foer is the latest in a long line of distinguished literary vegetarians." (New York Times Book Review Jennifer Schuessler )
"Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin)-not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others)-have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food. Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks...It is the kind of wisdom that, in all its humanity and clarity, deserves a place at the table with our greatest philosophers." (Los Angeles Times Susan Salter Reynolds )
"A work of moral philosophy...After reading this book, it's hard to disagree [with Foer]." (San Francisco Chronicle Geoff Nicholson )
"The latest from novelist Foer is a surprising but characteristically brilliant memoir-investigation, boasting an exhaustively-argued account of one man-child's decade-long struggle with vegetarianism...Without pulling any punches-factory farming is given the full expose treatment-Foer combines an array of facts, astutely-written anecdotes, and his furious, inward-spinning energy to make a personal, highly entertaining take on an increasingly visible...moral question; call it, perhaps, An Omnivore's Dilemma." (Publishers Weekly )
"[Eating Animals] is extraordinarily thoughtful and intelligent, and reads more like philosophy than journalism." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch Holly Silva )
"Foer's case for ethical vegetarianism is wholly compelling...A blend of solid-and discomforting-reportage with fierce advocacy that will make committed carnivores squeal." (Kirkus Reviews )
Book Description
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood-facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf-his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong. Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting. Marked by Foer's profound moral ferocity and unvarying generosity, as well as the vibrant style and creativity that made his previous books, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, widely loved, Eating Animals is a celebration and a reckoning, a story about the stories we've told-and the stories we now need to tell.
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Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written and fairly objective,
By
This review is from: Eating Animals (Hardcover)
The author brings a novelist's talent for observation and description to the subject of farmed animals and the people who eat them. It is very engaging and horrifying in just the right measure and I found myself confronted with information I hadn't heard before, despite lots of reading on this topic. I was fascinated with his ethical dilemma and how he took us through it all, both from his point of view and those of others.His conclusions are not mine, nor is this book the perfect statement of my own philosophy, but I think it is a step in the right direction and it is getting a lot of attention. Martha Stewart had him on her show and she said to her audience, "I think you'll agree with most of what [the author] has to say." Really? I think most of them don't want to hear it. Great quote from J.M Coetzee on the book jacket for those who do dare read it: "The everyday horrors of factory farming are evoked so vividly, and the case against the people who run the system is presented so convincingly, that anyone who, after reading Foer's book, continues to consume the industry's products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both." We'll see. Human beings have an amazing capacity for rationalizing their own actions.
56 of 60 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book meant for all who consume food, vegetarian or otherwise,
By
This review is from: Eating Animals (Hardcover)
Foer's first book of nonfiction is not a rant against meat eaters, but more of a philosophical and meditative investigation on what it means to eat meat in today's society. Through the device of "storytelling" Foer examines the cultural, environmental, ethical, social, and political issues with consuming meat from factory farms, which account for 99% of meat consumption in the U.S. (I'm sure the figure is similar for Canada). His discussion of eating as storytelling was really interesting, in that what we eat tells stories about us as people, but also that storytelling centres around food consumption (think of big family dinners).To be fair, I'm already a vegetarian, so perhaps some of this book was preaching to the converted. However, I think that anyone with a stomach will get something out of this book. Foer allows farmers, PETA activists, and industry workers to tell their own stories about factory farming and conditions on today's farms and what happens to the animals. In this way, the book is more powerful than other accounts of factory farms and the food industry because (I can't resist saying this) you get it straight from the horse's mouth. Foer also offers some interesting philosophical and moral discussions of his own, surrounding why we find it inhumane to eat the family dog, but not slaughter other animals. What constitutes "suffering", and which is more important to us: the knowing or the eating. The knowing being knowing about the conditions of the farms where our food comes from, and the eating being the love of consuming of that food. For me, the knowing is more important than the eating, but for many others the eating is more important than the knowing. This is not a book where you will feel attacked as a meat eater, but it is a strong book and Foer doesn't back down with giving the gruesome details of the factory farm industry. He does advocate for, and include information on, family farms and humane practices and "ethical" meat, so it's not a total downer of a book. In fact, even though much of the book is disturbing, Foer manages to come off as hopeful, and often funny. A quote I really enjoyed that I think sums up much of the intent of the book is found on page 102: "It's always possible to wake someone from sleep, but no amount of noise will wake someone who is pretending to be asleep." Or, in other words, for those that pretend to be asleep, the eating is more important than the knowing, so they choose forget the knowing and continue to eat. Hopefully this book will help change that, as it's impossible to forget the scenes described by Foer and industry workers in this book.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Respect for the Animals We Eat,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Eating Animals (Hardcover)
This book is a collection of personal stories and philosophical reflections - some humorous, others troubling - the author uses it to make a very significant point about our somewhat questionable relationship with the animal world around us. As top of the food chain, we have come to rely on certain domestic animals like cattle, chickens and pigs for our main food sources. This heavy reliance on red meat or animal protein has become a traditional part of our North American culture as reflected in the millions of animals slaughtered each year in readiness for our dinner tables. This dependence on meat as a mainstay of our diet, while not altogether healthy, is not the issue that Foer focuses on here. While a Vegan in his dietary preferences, Foer does show some understanding why most of us come honestly by our need for meat: a desire for flavour, an instinct for herding, and the need to provide for one's family are some of the key compulsions. Having made that point clear, Foer launches into a discussion of how present society has come to mistreat animals it raises to eat. From the floors of the modern food factories and slaughter houses of America comes an updated version of the horrors of the meat industry described in Upton Sinclair's 19th century "Jungle". Based on Foer's sources, the meat we normally consume on a daily basis has been raised under some of the most appallingly cruel conditions known to humankind. Turkeys clubbed and electrocuted, thousands of pigs squeezed into small, poorly-ventilated pens, and calves forced to live in their own execrement are all conditions that speak to an industry that puts profit ahead of humanity. Foer's challenge to each of us meat-lovers is to start adopting an ethos that credits animals with having feelings and emotions that need to be respected even if they are a lower part of the food chain. If we don't, we will invite all kinds of soci-economic problems from destroying the environment to causing the outbreak of some serious pandemics. When I read his colorful description of growing up in a well-to-do Jewish-American home, I got the distinct impression he did not feel comfortable describing the convenient lifestyle that has bred this wretched problem of animal abuse. To show his readers an alternative way to raising animals for food on a large scale, Foer offers examples of husbandry with a conscience: small farms and cooperatives that raise and produce their meat under the strictest standards of public hygiene and respect for the animals. While I still love my BBQ steaks and pork ribs, Foer's very thoughtful study on the nature of the food industry has given me cause to educate myself as to how ranches, hatcheries, and slaughterhouses raise their produce for market. Have we come to assume, in our abundant lifestyle, that we are no longer morally responsible for how we handle our food resources, especially the living ones? If so, think again and read this book.
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