My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozaki

“The truth is so much more complex” (360), states Jane Tagaki-Little, the main character and partial narrator of Ruth Ozaki’s story My Year of Meats. In this one statement, Jane sums up the essence of this complicated story about the lives of two women and a struggle with truth and reality. One woman, Jane, lives in America and directs a documentary called My American Wife, and the other, named Akiko Ueno, lives in Japan with an abusive husband. The lives of these women remarkably intertwine as both women change and discover their real selves. The words real or reality, truth, authenticity, and fiction are used numerous times throughout this story, and these words, the documentary, the lives of Jane and Akiko, and the reader’s view all comprise the underlying theme that exists throughout My Year of Meats of a postmodern centerless reality where there is no absolute truth .
Jane’s documentary is headed by Mr. Joichi Ueno, husband of Akiko. The point of the documenta...