Jerry's Vegan Women

I very much enjoyed and appreciated the construct of Jerry's maturation as told through his choice and chance encounters with women and animals of all ages and stripes. It is a story about women explored through the plight of animals, and the story about animals explored through the women who love them.The author's humorous, warm and engaging style was endearing -- he brings the reader along for his conversion into an activist lifestyle without proselytizing. He maintains a clear, no-BS narrative that manages to be respectful about everyone and everything he experiences.Would make for a great book club pick!

I love books that both entertain and educate me. Jerry's Vegan Women is a series of coming of age and veganism stories. It is well written and provides much vegan food for thought.I recommend it to both vegans and non-vegans alike.

Very little plot, character development or flow. Disjointed, random and written in too many tenses. Several typos. Would not recommend.

A brief and entertaining collection of short stories.

With "Jerry’s Vegan Women," Ben Shaberman establishes a thought-provoking new genre, the semi-autobiographical vegetarian anthology. Jerry Zuckerman, Shaberman’s evident alter ego, begins his story like many a junior high student in the 1970s Midwest would, listening to a jukebox and chowing down on a hamburger at the local sandwich shop. This is when one of Jerry’s classmates introduces him to an entirely foreign concept for Vietnam-era Cleveland Heights, the decision to eliminate meat from her diet.From there, Jerry takes his readers through nine chapters chronicling his interactions with females whose lives are affected somehow by vegetarianism or animal rights. The scenarios range from the educational to the professional to the erotic, with times when the females influence his views on vegetarianism and others when he shapes theirs. There are the humorous, and there are the heartbreaking. Each provides insight into the vegetarian movement, the complexities of male-female relationships, Shaberman’s personal idiosyncrasies, or all of the above.Any vegetarian adult would appreciate this quick and amiable read, but so would many non-vegetarians. Shaberman employs a casual, accessible writing style that works well for semi-autobiographical storytelling, and most readers will relate to at least one, if not more, of his anecdotes. After all, even the most fervent carnivore has partied too hard in college, weathered office politics, or engaged in an awkward discussion with a 10-year-old. In that way, "Jerry’s Vegan Women" is a fitting literary choice for readers adhering to any dietary philosophy, whether they are flying to a vegetarian conference in Portland or just lounging on Rehoboth Beach.

I really enjoyed this book. When I first got it, I started with chapter 1 and then skipped around to different chapters and really didn't enjoy it very much. Then, one day months later I saw it sitting there with my books and thought "I need to give this another chance." I'm really glad I did. I highly recommend you start with Chapter 1 and follow it all the way through to the last chapter because they all build on each other. What you're reading is not as much a bunch of short little stories (although they do seem that way) but more like the story of fictional Jerry's life. The last chapter was a really nice surprise. In the end, I loved it! I think most other vegans would as well. :)

I have to start out with this disclosure: I don't love reading short stories. There. I've said it! And now I can tell you that i really enjoyed reading the new Ben Shaberman. Short stories, but linked with a common theme while time traveling with the same smart, funny, thoughtful guy from start to finish. Vegan, vegetarian, omnivore? This is a good read with some food for thought no matter what you had for lunch!

Stories tied together by the vegan women who enter, exit, and sometimes reenter a man's life, from childhood to middle adulthood. Clever concept and enjoyable collection.