Beg

March 15, 2013
The well-turned ground of humans behaving inhumanely toward animals is turned again, without any significant updates. Co-author of the best-selling Skinny Bitch series, Freedman draws readers' attention to the many iniquities animals suffer at the hands of humans. They are legion, and many people have altered their lives to distance themselves--or actively fight against--the many abuses: factory farms, poorly run circuses and zoos, rodeos, dog racing, bull fighting, slaughterhouses, stock pens and the behind-the-scenes cruelty visited upon animals used for print advertising, TV commercials and shows, and movies. The author makes many solid, if shopworn, arguments, but in the less blatantly cruel areas, her thought can be muddied or mixed: "I think there is something arrogant about spaying and neutering animals...until we have a better solution to the horrific problem we created, I will spay and neuter my companion animals and encourage others to do the same." We are also informed that, "P.S. Unfixed animals spray stinky piss all over the place." Freedman provides some interesting and depressing statistics (more than 100 million animals worldwide "are subjected to nightmarish experiments every year" and 27 animals died during the filming and production of The Hobbit), as well as a helpful list of nonprofit organizations that help animals (not just PETA, but the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary and the Stray Cat Alliance), but she paints with a broad brush--e.g., condemning all zoos when there are plenty of humane versions around the world. A big-hearted and well-meaning rehash of vital but hoary arguments urging decency toward animals.

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April 15, 2013
She charmed us, challenged us, and made us double over laughing in her best-selling diet manifesto Skinny Bitch (2008). Now Freedman turns to a tenderer topic: our relationships with animals. What begins as an endearing celebration of the animals we know bestour petsbecomes an impassioned entreaty on behalf of all creatures, especially those we may never see but that are involved in the production of our films, food, clothing, and pharmaceuticals. Freedman manages to craft a read that is both spry and absorbing even when she recounts the most troubling details of animal mistreatment. Though it employs a healthy dose of the same snarkiness that defined Freedman's previous book, Beg goes further, situating animal advocacy within a spiritual and ethical worldview. Readers are even offered a peek into Freedman's own personal transformation from a top New York City modeling agent to an animal-rights activist. Beg is both sweet and unsettling; any animal lover interested in deepening his or her commitment to animal welfare will find it a highly motivating call to action.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)