I greatly enjoyed My Year of Meats. Though the "meat" side of the novel was impossible to miss -- it is, obviously, crucial to the plot -- I found that it had very little to do with what made the book so enjoyable. I'd seen the book around in bookstores for years, but never bought it because I thought that I had the meat industry covered, having read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Don't make the same mistake I made! My Year of Meats is so much more. Jane Takagi-Little is a documentarian who accepts an offer to make a series of half-hour shows for Japanese television entitled "My American Wife!" and sponsored by the American beef industry. She takes the opportunity to do more than simply showcase beef, repeatedly breaking orders from Japan and filming the most unusual and intriguing "American Wives" she can find -- a couple in Louisiana who have adopted Asian children, and vegetarian lesbian couple. In the process, Jane learns a lot about the beef industry, and begins to plan to subversively expose the shocking details meat-eaters would rather not know. Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't find this part of the novel to be excessively preachy; it fit in with the plot nicely. Along the way, the reader also learns about Jane's private life and what makes her tick, fleshing out her character nicely. 
 On the other side of the globe we have Akiko Ueno, the wife of one of Jane's bosses. Through her eyes the reader is able to learn much about the Japanese culture. Akiko is abused by her husband, who she was set up with by her boss and married out of obedience. Eventually the lives of Jane and Akiko intertwine with fascinating end to the novel. Set to exquisite sections of The Pillow Book, My Year of Meats is a captivating read.