All Over Creation: A Novel
When Yumi Fuller returns to her Idaho hometown, she is pulled into a family story shaped by potato farming, GMO controversy, and unresolved history.
Work Information
A prodigal daughter returns to confront family, farming, and GMO politics.
Yumi returns home to find her parents, her past, and an anti-GMO movement waiting for her. The novel braids family history and political conflict through the literal ground of potato farming.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Penguin Books
- Published
- 2004-03-30
- Pages
- 432 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.2 x 2.4 x 20.1 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780142003893
- ISBN-10
- 9780142003893
- Price
- 3287 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Family Saga
A warm and witty saga about agribusiness, environmental activism, and community—from the celebrated author of The Book of Form and Emptiness and A Tale for the Time Being Yumi Fuller hasn’t set foot in her hometown of Liberty Falls, Idaho—heart of the potato-farming industry—since she ran away at age fifteen. Twenty-five years later, the prodigal daughter returns to confront her dying parents, her best friend, and her conflicted past, and finds herself caught up in an altogether new drama. The post-millennial farming community has been invaded by Agribusiness forces at war with a posse of activists, the Seeds of Resistance, who travel the country in a camping car, “The Spudnick,” biofueled by pilfered McDonald’s french-fry oil. Following her widely hailed, award-winning debut novel, My Year of Meats , Ruth Ozeki returns here to deliver a quirky cast of characters and a wickedly humorous appreciation of the foibles of corporate life, globalization, political resistance, youth culture, and aging baby boomers. All Over Creation tells a celebratory tale of the beauty of seeds, roots, and growth—and the capacity for renewal that resides within us all.
Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the award-winning author of three novels, My Year of Meats , All Over Creation , and A Tale for the Time Being , which was a finalist for the 2013 Booker Prize. Her nonfiction work includes a memoir, The Face: A Time Code, and the documentary film, Halving the Bones. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and teaches creative writing at Smith College, where she is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities.
Reviews
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Beautifully crafted and thought provoking
As a reader who is absorbed by the style of writing over and above the story line, I will not give you a plot synopsis. I will however tell you that this is a delight - it is a flawless depiction of emotion, hope and the power of believing. I read this tale on my kindle, then bought a 'real' book, because I wanted to be able to see it on my book shelves. If you need to read novels which have a message, which give you pause to let the world go by whilst you are somewhere better, this one is for you, it is just wonderful.
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Thought Provoking Novel
All books of Ruth Ozeki are great. This one is outstanding as it lingers in your thoughts. I read it a year ago and I have been recalling aspects of this book on a regular basis ever since. It does something to you! Read it! Great for holidays, you don't want to put it aside...
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she trudges on like so many of do in life
Ruth Ozwki did it yet again, capturing my mind and my heart with her characters and story. As in her "A Tale for the TIme Being" she artfully spins a story from then to now and everything in between while keeping her readers engaged and focused. All Over Creation had a little something for everyone. The main character, Yumi Yummy, (you'll figure it out) was totally wrong yet oh so right. She is flawed in very human ways, hurt and focused, she trudges on like so many of do in life. Her family and friends love and hate her all at the same time, both passionately. While at times I grew weary of some of the "hippie" characters, they had a time, a place, a reason. The story turns like clockwork. Predictable, or, is it ? As I neared the end it was with a certain sadness that I would no longer be a voyeur in the life of Yummy and her little family. A great summer read, not frustrating, yet concerning and engaging. I look forward to more work from this author. She researches, does background and then takes you on a life journey. Thanks, again. Ruth Ozeki !
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not as good as A Tale for the Time Being
I just had to of Ruth Ozeki so I read an older book called All Over Creation. If I tell you that it is a book about seeds that won't convey the whole of it but it would be entirely accurate. Not only does the plot revolve around the idea of genetically engineered seeds and their ruinous effect on the planet's diversity but the book also rather deftly ties in philosophies of generation, birth and death and renewal. It isn't at all as dry as it sounds. In fact it's a charming story of the hippie movement in the 80s and 90s to save Gaia. Similar to ATFTTB, Ozeki uses her own mixed heritage as the basis for the plot but with aging parents who run a seed farm in the US, and a runaway daughter who returns home after living in Hawaii with her three children, each one sired by a different father. Gummi or Gumi, more correctly, is not at all likeable as a protagonist and is counterpointed with some unforgettable characters who are part of the seed revolution. A very good read but Ozeki has definitely matured as a writer since then.
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A good read
I came to this having loved "A tale for the Time Being". The plot is centered among the potato farmers of Idaho, where Lloyd is expected to die soon and his wife Momoko is loosing chunks of her memory. His daughter, Yummi, is traced by her childhood best friend, and returns to the home farm which she ran away from at the age of 14. She brings with her 3 children from different fathers. Add to this a group of eco-activists, single parenting, childlessness,GM food crops, small town suspicions and Ozeki's fine writing, and you have a good read. There is tragedy and comedy between the pages. It makes you think about what you are eating and about how much you are told about your food., Although not as good as "A tale for the Time Being", I really enjoyed this book and carried the characters with me for some time after finishing.