My Year of Meats

When I first started reading My Year of Meats, I was quite disappointed because I was getting confused on what character was speaking and with the plot switching so often it was hard for me to get into the book and become deeply engrossed in the plot. However, after I understood the concept of "My American Wife!" I started to finally understand the plot of the book and care for the characters. For example, Jane, who was once someone who I just saw as the producer of the show, became a round character with a variety of enduring characteristic traits. She was someone by the end of the book that I felt sympathy and respect for. I loved that she cared about the families that she went to visit and actually connected with them rather than just filming their lives and then leaving without caring about their personalities or actual hardships. I saw her as a strong woman because while she could not have a baby herself she took this hardship and turned it into something that would inform and help the entire world by telling them about the chemical DES. In addition, I really started to care about Akiko and became attached to her as a character when I started to passionately dislike the character John. He made me so angry in the book because of his lack to understand what Akiko was going through and help her through her struggles. I was extremely happy that Akiko decided to move to America away from her husband at the end because it showed that she could finally stand up for herself; however, my perfect ending would not have been what actually occurred in the end. I did not like how Akiko was able to get her own apartment and live the regular American lifestyle. I would have liked to see Akiko go to America for a visit and see Jane and the families on the television show; however, I think she should have returned to Japan. I thought it was good that she escaped but I would have liked to see her travel back to Japan to raise her child and show that she could live a successful and fulfilling life in Japan and not just America.

Alternate Ending

My alternative ending to Happiness would definitely have to be one of romance and more love. I tend to always hope at the end of books that when there are two characters that like each other throughout the book get together in the end. However, in Happiness this did not occur. For that reason, I decided that for my own ending May and Edwin would have realized that they were madly in love with each other. May would have come back into the real world and out of the fake world she was living in because of the self-help book. Then Edwin would have realized that May was exactly what he liked in a girl and saw past her red lipstick and actually liked her for her personality and characteristic traits. So May and Edwin would have actually gotten together at the end of the novel. Also at the end of the novel, I thought that Ferguson was a little too sarcastic and tried to put too much humor into the end. In my ending, Edwin would have walked up the hill or mountain as Jack called it, and they would have had a heart to heart conversation where you realized that Jack was actually a nice old man and they would have had a bonding moment.

Happiness

So as I first started reading this book I was surprised when they brought up the series of Chicken Soup for the Soul because when I was younger I used to always read those. I usually read them just for the stories rather than to actually use them in my daily life and as a self-help book. Now, I would rather not read a self-help book because I do not find them to be all that interesting and I feel like in today’s world there are so many people and especially the media trying to tell you how you should live your life and I would rather just learn through my own life and experiences rather than reading a book. So I would have to agree with Ferguson presenting a self-help book as nothing more than a packaged production to fill a publishing catalog because today I feel like that is exactly what they are. They are books that are merely trying to tell you the best way to live your life when really every single person is different. Also I do not find self-help books very helpful at all because they usually are just telling the person what they think they want to hear rather than the truth.
So now I am farther into the book and I am so surprised that everyone is actually taking the book by Tupak so seriously and even May who once wore heavy lipstick is not even wearing her lipstick anymore. Also, I cannot believe that Edwin had to make himself smoke and was disgusted by it because of the book and what it was telling him. Therefore, I really hope that he stays strong throughout the novel and does not fall into the trap of the book.