All Over Creation [Paperback]

Ruth L. Ozeki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki’s delicious debut novel, won a devoted following and was hailed by critics as inventing a new genre: the “eco-saga.” Now, Ozeki takes us to the heart of the potato farming industry. When Yumi Fuller returns to her hometown after a twenty-five-year absence, she comes face to face with an old friend, her aging parents, and her conflicted past—as well as the “Seeds of Resistance,” a rollicking environmentalist group that finds trouble wherever they plant themselves. With a quirky cast of characters and a keen eye for the vicissitudes of corporate life, political resistance, youth culture, aging baby boomers, and globalization, as well as the beauty of seeds, roots, and all growing things, All Over Creation offers something for just about everyone.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The three clans at once enabling and torturing each other in Ruth Ozeki's All Over Creation--the central Fuller family, the neighboring Quinns, and the rag-tag activist found-family known as the "Seeds"--lift a basic morality play about forgiveness to a higher level. But what really gives All Over Creation its steam and sends it off in unexpected directions is the supporting story of modern mankind's crucial but tenuous connection to nature, set in this case on a potato farm in sleepy Idaho.

Lloyd Fuller and his war-bride wife Momoko struggle to make their massive farm thrive. Teenage daughter Yumi, on the other hand, has no trouble blooming. She's a wild child, but a series of bad decisions lead to a protracted estrangement from her puritanical father. When, years later, the adult Yumi reluctantly returns to the farm with her three children to care for her ailing parents, she must confront the wreckage she left behind (and the wreckage she's made of her own life), while forging an uneasy peace with childhood friend Cass Quinn. Before long, the Fullers and the Quinns must also confront the radical environmentalist Seeds, who are convinced that dying Lloyd and delusional Momoko hold the key to propagating plant life on earth--and sidetracking the schemes of evil corporations--through smart farming. And they may be right. The abundant children on hand reinforce this theme of proper husbandry; they are, like nature, both a tremendous gift and a daunting responsibility. And while not every character--Yumi in particular--is likable, Ozeki, whose first novel was the funny and polemical My Year of Meats, provokes empathy through plain old humanity. Indeed, her ability to make us care deeply about the fate of these strangers is the book's most abiding grace. The story's conclusion takes some convenient outs, but the ride to the end is touching and terrific, thanks to the author's spare but elegant prose and, especially, her kaleidoscopic cast. --Kim Hughes, Amazon.ca --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

"Every seed has a story," says Geek, an environmental activist in Ruth Ozeki's new novel (after My Year of Meats), which is all about seeds-real and metaphorical ones. The Seeds of Resistance is a small anti-biotech group targeting Nu-Life potato, a laboratory-designed tuber produced by agribusiness company Cyanco. Heading for the heart of potato country, the ragged activists end up in Liberty Falls, Idaho, encamped at the home of Lloyd and Momoko Fuller, elderly purveyors of natural seeds. Though they're hardly radicals, the Fullers are also opposed to genetic modification of plants. Against the odds, the hippie Seeds and the conservative Fullers become friends. It is the other adult in the Fuller household, their only daughter, Yumi, who is suspicious of the Seeds. Yumi is an ex-hippie living in Hawaii, but she's returned home to care for her parents (her father is recovering from his last heart attack; her mother has Alzheimer's). Emotionally, Yumi is rather a mess. She has a bit of a problem with alcohol, and is unable to resist inappropriate guys, having three kids with as many men (Phoenix, 14; Ocean, 6; and baby Poo). A classic "bad seed," Yumi ran away from home at 14, after having an affair with her history teacher, Elliot Rhodes; back in Liberty Falls, she runs into Elliot and is again attracted. He is working for Cyanco's PR firm, spying on the Seeds. When the Seeds hold a Fourth of July potato protest on the Fullers' property, Elliot arranges for them to be arrested, with dire consequences for Lloyd. Apart from some awkward dialogue (the Seeds invariably intersperse their sentences with "dude"), this quirky novel is bewitching. Yumi's bumpy relationship with Lloyd and Lloyd's unexpected fondness for the Seeds are especially well rendered. Ozeki's story splices a bit of Edward Abbey into an Anne Tyler plot. The fruits of this mix are definitely worth tasting.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142003891
• ISBN-13: 978-0142003893
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story about potatoes, among other things..., March 10, 2003

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: All Over Creation (Hardcover)

Genetically Engineered potatoes and a prodigal daughter are at the heart of the book ALL OVER CREATION, Ruth Ozeki's second novel. Yumi, or Yummy as she is called, is the daughter of Lloyd Fuller and his Japanese War-Bride Momoko, who settled in Idaho after the war growing potatoes and other crops to earn their living. Although the Fuller's are rather conservative people, their daughter Yummy grows up a little too wild for Lloyd's tastes. After a falling-out when Yummy is 14 years old, she runs away from home and does not set foot again on her parent's property until 25 years later, after she receives a call from her childhood bestfriend Cass, who asks Yummy to return home to her parents. Cass herself had been caring for the Fuller's at this point, since neither of them could take care of themselves.

As Yummy deals with her feelings about her parents and her life as a whole, a group of protesters that call themselves THE SEEDS are slowly making their feelings known across the Midwest. They protest their sentiments against genetically engineered crops, in particular potatoes, and soon end up in Idaho and on the Fuller's farm. Their intention is to meet Lloyd, who they feel is their guru in the war against this unnatural vegetation that will eventually hurt the environment. The Seeds bond with Lloyd, and actually do him a bit of good, giving him a new lease on life.

I highly enjoyed ALL OVER CREATION. Although the main themes about the environment are not typically what draws me to good fiction, I found that Ruth Ozeki did a great job with creating characters and situations that felt realistic to me. She successfully created a series of subplots that all fit together and fell into place quite logically. I also found her writing very easy to read, and I also learned something about the war on genetically engineered crops. I am looking forward to reading her other novel, MY YEAR OF MEATS.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant accomplishment and a joy to read, April 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: All Over Creation (Hardcover)

When I finished reading Ozeki's first book, My Year of Meats, I knew that I would be anxious to read her next one. Sure enough, this was definitely worth the wait. This author has an enviable ability to take important issues, whether the use of chemicals by the meat industry, or the genetic engineering of potatoes, and develop her position regarding these issues within the context of exquisitely written literature.

In All Over Creation, she succeeds in drawing her readers into the lives of characters who are complex, fascinating and very real. She stimulates thought by artfully imparting information without preaching, weaving it seamlessly into the fabric of plot and character. Above all, again and again she moves the reader deeply with her ability to convey the depths of human relationships, as well as the joys and tribulations of youth, maturity and old age. Her exposition of the many forms that the family dynamic can take is done with great feeling and delicacy. Parent and child, man and woman, husband and wife, young and old, she explores them all with great wisdom and compassion, all the while maintaining the edge that is required to treat some very large issues of good and evil.

I do not like to read reviews that give away too much plot, but I cannot praise this story enough. It is thought provoking, gut wrenching, warm, frightening, heartening, joyous and sad, all at once. This is a book that draws you deeply into the lives of the characters, and when you come to the end of the story, you are left with a profound feeling of having partaken in their journey. Once again, I can't wait for Ms. Ozeki's next one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, Intelligent, Moving, November 5, 2006

By 

Clare Sano "Seeing thru the B.S." (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Over Creation (Paperback)

I read My Year of Meats several years ago and loved it. I wasn't sure if I would feel the same about All Over Creation. However, Ruth Ozeki has managed to write another brilliant, sensitive and well informed novel. The characters are deeply human - idealistic and flawed yet somehow lovable. Ozeki manages to enlighten and educate on the subject of factory farming and genetically modified organisms without sounding preachy or self righteous. I did not want this book to end!