Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A Year of Food Life

By: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

“A profound, graceful, and literary work of philosophy and economics, well tempered for our times, and yet timeless. . . . It will change the way you look at the food you put into your body. Which is to say, it can change who you are.” — Boston Globe

Barbara Kingsolver's New York Times bestselling book describing her family's adventure as they move to a farm in southern Appalachia and realign their lives with the local food chain

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that’s better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet. It's a modern classic that will endure for years to come.

Good, but too long

There's an old church joke that's been told for years that goes something like this: A man dies and goes to heaven and is receiving a welcoming tour on his first day. He's shown a variety of rooms, each of which belongs to a particular denomination and in which those particular people are doing whatever is common to their little sect of Christianity. The denomination at the butt of the joke changes with who's telling it, but the last room is always occupied by that denomination and the angel says "Shhh, that's the So-and-so's. They think they're the only ones here." And the angel and the man tip-toe by.

Kingsolver writes a good book of course, but she's like the denomination that thinks they're the only ones present on the issue. Left wing types have bought into their own hype that they're the only ones trying to save the planet and the right wing types are all at Walmart buying Roundup.

A little less smugness and a more generous spirit would help her influence a greater number of people. Joel Salatin is on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum and he's arguably one of the most influential people on the scene today for making a real difference. Kingsolver is a great writer but maybe she should hire Salatin to edit her next book if she decides to produce a sequel.

Best of the Year

I've read, or listened to, quite a few books this past year. I would rank this one at the top of the list. I enjoyed listening to Barbara's voice and laughed out loud at many places throughout the book. Camille's recipes made me hungry and wishing I knew how to make my own mozzarella. The book does come with a more serious side than simply teaching us how to "grow our own food". There is a downside to this particular Audible selection. I don't have access now to the many facts given to me by her husband Steven. I think this is an oversight on Audible's part and hope to find the supporting footnotes on her website.

Thoughtful, but lapses into a bit of sanctimony

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes and no. It was my first experience with the "back to the earth" genre, and I loved the discussions about our disconnect with the real world. However, it kind of wore me down with breathless descriptions of bucolic living.I also felt the different voices in this narrative were superfluous, like they were just "tacked on".

Would you be willing to try another book from Barbara Kingsolver? Why or why not?

Yes. I've not ready anything else of hers yet but I'd like to see how she does fiction.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Yes. I'm not sure this should've been performed by the author and her family members. They seem like sincere people who really believe in what they are doing but their performance removed me from the narrative.

Wonderful!

I've been a Barbara Kingsolver fan for decades so I was thrilled when I found this treasure. It's so inspiring to someone wanting to unplug from the global food system and be more self sustainable. Fantastic!

great story!

I love this story.
I found myself looking forward to discovering with this family. well told,
funny and informative😆