Book Review

The Vegan Monologues

By Ben Shaberman
Review by Tammie Ortlieb

Need a read you can pick up and put down again at a moment's notice? With one eye on the page and the other on tonight's dinner? And if you're a parent of a toddler, you know where I'm going with this. Looking for something with a political, environmental, moral, and intensely personal bent? Something on life from the perspective of a fellow vegan? Only not so much in your face and preachy, just plain and and real and as it is. Pick up Ben Shaberman's first book, The Vegan Monologues.

Shaberman's essays have appeared in VegNews, Vegetarian Times, the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post. In addition, his commentaries have been heard on NPR in Baltimore and Des Moines and NPR's Morning Edition.

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Matter of fact and more than a bit revealing, Shaberman's book is straightforward and entertaining at the same time. Learn that not all vegans like pets, that Chinese take-out is sometimes preferable to the other crap Americans call food, and that there is a definite benefit to being a vegetarian guy. While not all essays center around Shaberman's vegan lifestyle, I did enjoy his stories on his Jewish upbringing as well as tales of Pink Floyd concerts, eczema adventures, and peace-making efforts with an overgrown albeit organic lawn.

I especially like the fact that Shaberman embodies the plant-based lifestyle stereotype at the same time he openly refutes that image. Having never owned a pet, for example, he admits having no desire due to allergies since childhood. Likewise, you will not find him home soaking beans and baking bread. In fact, you learn of his trials in eating out in his piece, The Garden Salad Zone. I appreciate the candor and enjoy the humor in Shaberman's essays.

This is one of those books I would read real quick without bending the pages and then pass on to a non-vegetarian friend. I think you should try it, too.

Buy The Vegan Monologues Now!

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer and adjunct instructor with a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, four veg kids, and small menagerie of pets. Tammie writes for various vegetarian sources, mostly on being okay with your vegetarian self. She's a book nerd, a research nerd, a health nerd, and a huge glass of soymilk half full kind of creature. Visit her blog at www.middle-agedveganchick.blogspot.com.

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