All Over Creation

Table of Contents

 

 

Critical Acclaim for Ruth Ozeki and
All Over Creation

“[Ozeki] is a gifted storyteller.”

—
Los Angeles Times Book Review

 

“Ruth Ozeki is bent on taking the novel into corners of American culture no one else has thought to look—but where she finds us in all our trans-cultural and technological weirdness. With a combination of humor and pathos that is all her own,
All Over Creation
brings the American pastoral forward into the age of agribusiness and genetic engineering. The result is a smart and compelling novel about a world we don't realize we live in.”

—Michael Pollan, author of
The Botany of Desire

 

“Ozeki joins the constellation of such environmentally aware writers as Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx and Margaret Atwood, bringing her own shrewd and playful humor; luscious sexiness and kinetic pizzazz to the table, as well her keen interest in the interface between food, family, science and corporate greed, and the dynamics of spin . . . Ozeki nimbly switches points of view throughout this busy, darkly humorous and cunningly entertaining novel, weaving canny psychological insights into each twist in her purposeful yet anarchically tinged plot. Moving neatly between the intimate and the environmental, the familial and the global, Ozeki hones each vivid description, witty conversation and surprising occurrence to illuminate the complex dichotomies between love and responsibility, nature and culture, traditional and corporate agriculture, fact and fabrication.”

—
Chicago Tribune

 

“Ozeki deftly and sensitively folds the variegated topics together, whipping up a savory treat.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

 

“A triumph that earns its inclusive title.
All Over Creation
naturally and joyfully folds concerns about genetically modified organisms into a powerful family drama set in rural Idaho. . . . Ozeki's skill at weaving these together is extraordinary . . . Ozeki has created a novel at once educational and entertaining, with multidimensional characters and an engaging narrative voice. It will appeal to anyone interested in love or agriculture or politics or family drama or friendship or childhood or the earth. In short, its appeal is as wide as the creation it champions.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

 

“
All Over Creation
opens wider with every plot twist as it moves from tenderness to comedy to sobering truth and the whole world in the eye of one family's storm. This is Edward Abbey's
The Monkey Wrench Gang
updated by thirty years, with modern environmental challenges on the map and women in the front seat, driving the story. Hooray—Ruth Ozeki rides again.”

—Barbara Kingsolver, author of
The Poisonwood Bible

 

“Ruth Ozeki is the Bob Ross of literary fiction, full of quirky glee and a love for purity in her work and the world . . . [Ozeki] is an assured and talented writer, whose filmmaking background gives a cinematic sheen to
All Over Creation
that most PBS shows, not to mention most decent fiction, couldn't hope to pull off. Despite the big-book trappings and Ozeki's skill, though, the author's most notable trait is a generous comedic and natural spirit.”

—
Ruminator Review

 

“Ozeki's latest takes on the politics of food with even more ferocity and panache. It's a hyperactive farce but also a serious meditation on cross-breeding (people and plants) . . .
All Over Creation
resembles a Robert Altman film, all the characters bustling in their own orbits until they gracefully veer into each other . . . its joviality—the very thing that makes it such a fun read—leaves one feeling like nothing real's at stake, which couldn't be further from the truth.”

—
The Village Voice

 

“Rare is the book that succeeds as indoctrination or instruction, while at the same time delivering indelible characters, pitch-perfect dialogue, wholly involving plot. Rare is a call to action delivered in supple, enduring prose. Ruth Ozeki's second novel,
All Over Creation
, stands among that elite handful of books that both teach and inspire, chide and appease. . . . This novel is a tour de force—structurally sophisticated, conceptually sound, well-rooted in a concern for both people and the earth.”

—
The Baltimore Sun

 

“This winning novel from the author of
My Year of Meats
is a feast of humor and wisdom about family and friendship.”

—
Glamour

 

“A rare novel whose prose is as solid as its politics.”

—
The Philadelphia Inquirer

 

“Beautiful . . . vast and lifelike . . . a modern epic”

—
The Boston Globe

 

“A multidimensional, timely and entertaining novel.”

—
Boston Herald

 

“Ozeki handles all this with a winning mixture of wit and tenderness. It's a jungle of a plot, a riot of literary species, sown with strains of deadly satire and heartrending tragedy—winding around kitchen table discussions about family duty and through the international debate on genetically modified food. She's as good with the broad comedy of wacky political protests as she is with the terrifying ramifications of genetic manipulation . . . But even after growing all over creation, Ozeki returns to her roots: the love between parents and children.”

—
The Christian Science Monitor

 

“In this scampish, rather touching romp of a novel, Ruth Ozeki strikes a tone somewhere between Michael Pollan, Jane Smiley, Amy Tan, and Carl Hiaasen.
All Over Creation
is the best book I've ever read about potatoes, and it's also good on what Saul Bellow called ‘potato love'—the kind that thrives in close, unpretentious families.”

—
Seattle Weekly

 

“This quirky novel is bewitching . . . Ozeki's story splices a bit of Edward Abbey into an Anne Tyler plot. The fruits of this mix are definitely worth tasting.”—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“A wise and witty morality tale.”

—
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

 

“
All Over Creation
juggles politics with comedy, family struggles and romance gone awry. Through multiple points of view, Ozeki swirls around hot-button farming issues, circling in search of steady moral ground.”

—
The Oregonian
(Portland)

 

“Readers who appreciate strong female Asian American protagonists like those in works by Lois-Ann Yamanaka will find this novel engrossing. Highly recommended.”

—
Library Journal

 

“Ozeki's characters are utterly charming, and she writes with sensitivity and inventiveness about the complexities of love and nature, deftly humanizing the thorny issues raised by biotechnology with humor and panache in a tale rich in suspense and pathos.”

—
Booklist
(starred review)

 

“A feast for mind and heart.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

 

“Ruth Ozeki is a writer of great passion and purpose. She fearlessly tackles big issues, stirs up revolutions, and unveils truths with keen insight and humor that touches our hearts and opens our minds.”

—Gail Tsukiyama, author of
The Samurai's Garden

 

“
All Over Creation
is a wholly original novel of amazing richness, a tapestry of zany characters who follow their own hearts and passions. With a natural storyteller's ability to communicate both the hilarious and profound, Ozeki writes about love and sex, bioengineering and social responsibility, deftly communicating her uncanny feel for the texture of contemporary American life.”

—Paula Sharp, author of
Crows Over a Wheatfield

PENGUIN BOOKS

ALL OVER CREATION

Ruth Ozeki, author of the award-winning novel
My Year of Meats
, worked for more than a decade in television and film. Her documentary and dramatic films have been shown on PBS, at the Sundance Film Festival, and at colleges and universities across the country. She divides her time between New York City and British Columbia.

 

PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in the United States of America by Viking 2003
Published in Penguin Books 2004

 

Copyright © Ruth Ozeki Lounsbury, 2003

All rights reserved

 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product
of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

eISBN : 978-0-142-00389-3

CIP data available

 

 

 

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