I adored James Harriot's All Creatures Great and Small as a child and adored Richard Adams Watership Down and The Plague Dogs as a teen. It's true I'm no environmentalist or vegetarian, and compared to many of my friends I don't rate as an animal lover. But yes, I do believe I'd love the right animal book--it's just not this one.
It probably didn't help that Sy Montgomery tells us from the beginning that she takes the PETA line that rat = boy. That she sees absolutely no reason to value people over animals. That, in fact, she likes animals much, much more. It's always been an attitude that I've felt antipathy for. The author is a naturalist who has written books about the Great Apes and rare bears and tigers and dolphins after studying them in their native habitats--and she's a more than decent wordsmith. She should have been able to make me see pigs through new eyes. There are tidbits here and there in this book about pigs, domestic and wild--although I felt not enough. But despite the fact I feel as if the subtitle could be, "drop that ham sandwich!" I have to admit this book didn't do anything to really make me see what was "extraordinary" about this particular pet pig that should make me want to give up bacon. Other than that he really, really, really enjoyed eating. Really. Really. Montgomery called food "his Higher Power." Okay...
