Customer Reviews

The Pig and I

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author focuses entirely on herself, and she's not a pleasant person to spend an evening with--even at arm's length when reading the book. Her personality is a strange combination of whiny and self-important. If she had focused on the animals in her life, I might have considered this a less disappointing purchase. I'm in my forties, I like chick lit, I love animals, and I probably fit most of the other categories that should make me the ideal reader for the book, but it's just horrible. I felt very misled by the great reviews. If you love it, that's wonderful. This review is provided merely to alert other potential readers that it might not be what you think it is. My copy is destined for charity giveaway, where I hope someone will like it better for the price of a dollar or two.

Rachel Toor's "The Pig and I" chroniced her journey from a college student at Yale to a forty-something writer. Toor talked about her relationship with various pets; mouse, rat, dog, cat, donkey, and horse. Through each of those pets, she learned something about the animals, especially their characters. Besides her pets, Toor also wrote about the relationship that she had with various men, and the lessons that she learned from each of them. Some of the relationships that she formed with them actually lasted beyond even after they broke up. In fact, two of her ex-boyfriends actually formed a "R.E.B." which stands for Rachel's Ex-Boyfriends.

This is quite a well-written book as the author is witty, funny as well as knowledgeable. I like that she was able to explain vividly her relationships with all her pets and was able to learn a lot about them; their characters, their likes and dislike. From the way she wrote about her pets, there is no doubt that this author has great passion and love for animals. This is certainly a fast-paced and entertaining read!

When I first received a copy of this book I couldn't wait to get to reading it. With a title like that, who could resist? This novel is sort of like a Chick Lit memoir type of book that I instantly loved.

Author Rachel Toor takes the reader into her life starting from college in New England. She chronicles her different relationships with men, struggles along the way, and her different pets and how she related to them. There was Barkus, the dog she'd left behind at her parent's house for college; there was Prudence, the sweet little mouse during her senior year of college; There was Hester, the unfriendly rat who later turned into a bright and interesting pet; Hannah the intelligent and precious dog, Emma the pig adorable and endearing pig, and many more. Usually with each animal, Rachel also had a man of the moment.

Rachel describes in loving and touching detail each of her relationships with her pets, and how each of her relationships with men fell apart. I found myself moved when her pets would pass away. The Pig and I was a delightfully warm, real, and interesting read. Animal lovers will smile with knowing and sigh with sadness at many parts. Rachel's writing style is offbeat and engaging. I found myself amazed at the way she could relate to and get along with so many different kinds of animals, and impressed with the fact that she came away from each relationship, whether it be with her pet or with a man, with knowledge about herself.

This was an excellent read and I know many will love it.

I picked this book up at Border's and couldn't put it down. Alas, I paid $7 more for it, but I do not regret my indescretion. If you are in your forties, this book is a nostalgic and acurate representation of life as you've know it thus far. It follows one woman's adventures with her beloved pets and the assorted men that she encounters along the way. If you are looking for a mental vacation, a book you can read on you lunch break or a book to relax with in the bath tub, this book fits the bill. I laughed. I cried. I gave it to my best friend and asked her to pass it on. This one definately deserves to be in circulation, not sitting on a shelf.

Don't let the subtitle's insinuated man-bashing alienate you from reading this wonderful book. I decided to order this book because of the good reviews, and I am so glad I did! The subtitle threw me off at first, because though humorous, it made me suspect that the gist of the book would be about men being intolerable. Quite the contrary, the author's recounting of love stories, both with people and with animals, are indeed loving, and also thoughtful, humorous, and engaging. The book spans several decades of her life, and all the way through, her voice is fresh, her writing clever, her tales intriguing. I read a LOT of books, and this is one of my all time favorites. Her interests vary from reading and writing, to pets and wild animals, from sports and running, to bad TV shows and junk food... and the way she weaves it all into beautiful prose and a continuous story line is mighty impressive. Indeed there is something here for every reader to relate to! After reading this book, I desperately want to read MORE from this author... heck, I want to be FRIENDS with this woman! For the first time ever, after reading this book, I ordered several more to give away to friends... that's how much I enjoyed it, how worth it the book is, and how confident I am that anyone else should love it at least half as much as I did - and that would be plenty! ENJOY!

As a male reader, I was surprisingly affected by The Pig and I. It is a well-written and evocative story of one woman's odyssey from college student to forty-something woman. Following the author from her days at Yale to the present, the reader discovers a woman on a mission to try to understand and define herself, her relationships with men, and what place she wants to occupy in the world. Rachel Toor is an inspiring woman, brilliant, strong and determined. As she writes about her evolution, which takes her from New Haven to New York to Chapel Hill, and during which she discovers herself through running, we meet a variety of men who come into her life and with whom she falls in and out of love. We also meet the diverse and sometimes unusual pets she adopts concurrently, which act to both bind and define the relationships with which she wrestles. Through her eyes, we realize that loving another human being, and being loved back, can be hard work, involving a struggle between different personalities and an internal conflict with one's own dreams and desires. Loving a pet is easy and unconditional and much less emotional work than loving another human being. Perhaps because of that, each pet both nurtures us and teaches us. The Pig and I challenges all of us to examine the nature of relationships and the personal qualities we bring to them. It made me laugh and it made me think. I recommend it highly.

The Pig and I is a funny, fabulous, and at turns heartwarming and heartbreaking story of one woman's relationships with men and animals. Every woman who has negotiatied the dating world will be able to relate to Rachel Toor's ups and downs with the men in her life, as well as the oftentimes hilarious coincidences of pets she owns when dating each man (ie: she learns to love Hester the rat while she's dating -- and then dumps -- a rat of a man).

I truly did both laugh and cry while reading this intelligent and entertaining book, told by a vivacious, self-aware narrator who shares her tales and insights with great openness as she finds love or copes with the loss of her men and her pets.

I LOVED this book, and I'm an avid reader, never without a book, and know when I've had a good read. If you love animals and you've attempted to love a man before, you'll find this book extremely funny, heartfelt, insightful, and a joy to read. You'll fall in love with most of her pets and a few of her men, and savor every phrase,character, and animal along the way. If you've ever wondered why you get along with your dogs, cats, horses, etc., better than any man you've ever loved, you'll find youself in this book. And if in the end, you find yourself happily living alone with the exception of an assortment of pets, you will find you are not alone girl!

I enjoy books that make me laugh out loud to myself; there were some priceless moments in this book that elevated my mood considerably. Laughing out loud raises your heart rate and is a very good thing physically; Rachel's tour of encounters with the selfish pig, bitch rat, and others left me smiling.

I, too, have passed this book on to friends and family. I find even the title makes people smile, particularly animal-lovers and women in the dating world.

Toor is also thoughtful about the deep and profound love that can occur between species and that this cross-species love should be honored and revered as much as human love. Her capacity to engage with people and pets is enormous, and she puts her heart out there (and her pen) again and again.

This endearing, revealing memoir will strike a chord with anyone who has ever loved an animal or tried (and failed) to love another human. The author takes us on a tour of her rich, varied and often comic relationships with two and four legged loves. Her descriptions of successful and not-so-successful love affairs with boys and men ring true, but it is her nuanced and touching stories of the pets in her life that stayed with me long after I had turned the last page.

Dog, pig, mouse, rat, ass -- each animal has a lesson or two to impart. As for the men in her life, Toor is refreshingly honest about her own part in the success, and more often failures, of her relationships.

The Pig and I would be a great book club choice. The conversations it would generate would definitely be worth the price of admission.