In Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats (1998), the main character Jane is an up-and-coming documentarian. She is offered a job on the set of a new television show called My American Wife! and happily takes it. The show is sponsored by a special interest...

Amanda Ngoho Reavey’s Marilyn chronicles her survival and transformation following transnational adoption and the shifting of her identity. She asserts that “survival is not about hunger. Not nourishment. Not hope. Nor anger. Nor love. It is about...

Life has many unanswerable questions: What happens after death? Is love at first sight a myth? And what happened to American Idol season 5 winner, Taylor Hicks? Rumor has it, Hicks now spends his time as a co-owner of a barbecue restaurant,...

Each person, wherever and whenever he or she lives, experiences his or her own here and now. Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being explores this idea by following three main characters who are all separated by time and space. Despite the fact...

Japanese culture differs significantly from culture in the Western world. In Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being, these differences are prevalent as Nao visits bathhouses, discovers manga, and witnesses the significance of suicide in her...