Customer Reviews

Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in a while. Competitive eating is crazy and surreal and big and seemingly unredeeming, all of which makes for hilarious reading, and Jason Fagone is a memorable stylist who does justice to his material. But what is most remarkable about this book is that Fagone manages to find, not impose, profundity in the food-shoveling obsessives who are his subjects. Reading this book actually made me see America's place in the world more clearly.

I picked this book up because I enjoyed Fagone's profiles and articles for Philadelphia magazine and, let's be frank, that cover is just too enticing to put down.

This book is essentially a collection of profiles of the sport's top eaters. I say sport because these competitors tend to take eating seriously.

Fagone spends a year on the competetive eating circuit, getting to know eating's biggest stomachs and more importantly, finding the back story that explains why (why oh why?) someone would shovel food down their throats as fast as they can. There's definitely some money in this for a few of the best eaters, but most of the odd characters in the book are in it for something else. That's the big mystery.

In anyone else's hands, competetive eating would come across as a crass carnival where gluttons get fatter and even a person's death can seem humorous, like some news of the weird clip. But Fagone puts a very human face on the sport through his extensive travels with Dave "Coondog" O'Karma, and through interviews with the likes of Sonya "the black widow" Thomas.

But he also gets at something much bigger -- what the exponential rise of this sport says about our country and its nickname as the land of plenty. He fishes out the hypocroses among the officials that run the contests and never loses sight of the bigger truth that these contests are usually marketing events for food producers.

Overall, brace yourself for some brilliant reporting, a fast-paced, interesting narrative, and some colorful people who may just be your neighbors. An in a completely unexpected turn, this book is the first I've ever read while riding a stationary bike at the gym. Best motivation ever.

Just as it takes a particular kind of ambition to stare down a plate of cow's brains and eat them at furious speed, so does it take a particular ambition to write about competitive eating as something more than junk culture. Jason Fagone, a writer of considerable heart and talent, does just that. This book is more about the "American dream" of the subtitle than anything else. Transcendent? Yeah, kinda. Fagone manages to bulldog past the cartoon facade of his subjects and see deep into their hearts, and to answer the real question about speed eating: Why would anyone do it? The answer is more likely to break your heart than bust your gut.

Ok, up front, let me say that I think that competitive eating is fairly weird and gross. This book only marginally shifted my idea that the whole thing is a bit of a freak show. I didn't think I'd like this book. My sister gave me this book because she has an unnatural fixation with hot dogs and spends way too much time in bookstores cruising the new release aisle. I am unfamiliar with this writer, as I guess it's his first book. But he has a strong voice, and an engaging way of explaining the most incredulous situations as very matter of fact. I sort of thought it as a more entertaining variation on "Fast Food Nation."

Frankly, some of the details are just weird or hysterical (dunking hot dogs in liquid so that they go down easier - yuck) and yet it's all nicely detailed and believable. One thing that is not evident from the cover is that the story is not just of the business of competitive eating, which I knew nothing about and which he covers well, but of America's huge appetites for everything. I found this aspect of the book surprisingly thought provoking. I say surprisingly, because I really just thought it would be about obese guys eating hot dogs. But it actually made me really think about these people, and why they do this to themselves, and more importantly, why we as a country do it - we just consume, consume, consume.

It's one of the few books that I've read in a few years where I think the title doesn't explain the book well, and a different one might have lent itself better to the actual material inside.

Sure, this book is about eating, but it's also a satisfying quest, like a good road movie. Jason Fagone takes us around the world to see best and the worst of this offbeat activity -- the worst is truly, deeply upsetting -- and to search for meaning in all those HDBs (hot dogs and buns). Often funny, sometimes profane, never boring, this book is a thoughtful work of serious journalism and great storytelling.

This book is really an interesting look at how we now live in the subculture of no subculture. Because of the lightning quickness of computers through satellites and cable, any new thought or movement is just waiting its turn to become a temporary reality show.
Fagone is a great writer.... I think once people get past the niche-iness of the subject matter, and give it a read, they'll find it a thoughtful look at today's "reality tv" society.

I purchased this used book as a gift for my son (we are avid followers of the July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest from Coney Island). It is a great book and arrived quickly and in good condition.

I loved this book. Fagone writes in a style that's as engaging and erudite as Malcolm Gladwell and David Foster Wallace, and he brings an excitement and awe to a subject that many might consider too gross to be examined. Now that I know all the players, it's more exciting to watch the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog competition.

HORSEMEN OF THE ESOPHAGUS: COMPETITIVE EATING AND THE BIG FAT AMERICAN DREAM follows the author's journey to twenty-seven eating contests on two continents, from the U.S. to Japan, as he interviews some of the world's top eating champions and surveys contests, subcultures, and oddities of the food world. Any food fan will relish these fun vignettes of promoters, events, and eaters alike, wrapped n chapters of mouth-watering - and sometimes horrifying - descriptions of food and gluttons alike.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I am shocked at all of the 5 star reviews! This book is poorly written-jumps around from different subjects and venues. The author, at most times, seems to look down on his subject matter in an almost snooty way, which to me was very off-putting. It almost seems like he was forced to write a book that he didn't want to write. Don't waste your time. "Eat This Book" is MUCH better!