The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery
Book Title: The Good Good Pig
Author: Sy Montgomery
Genre: Non-Fiction, Nature, Animals
My Grade: A
# of Pages: 228
Week Read: Week #18 (4/30 - 5/7/10)
Summary: When Sy Montgomery opened her heart to a sick piglet, she had no idea that this creature, later named Christopher Hogwood, would provide her with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family, home and community. Neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth, and he was eventually featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. But Christopher Hogwood's influence extended far beyond celebrity. Montgomery reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig - lessons about self-acceptance, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.
My Thoughts: This book struck a very strong chord with me. Within the first couple of pages we learn that Montgomery's father is struggling with lung cancer. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of the year. From that moment on, this book took a completely different tone with me.
The Good Good Pig is really just as much about Sy as it is about Christopher Hogwood. Maybe even a little more. Sy's growth in her community and with her fledgling family is coincided by Christopher's growing (both literal and figurative). She defines family as what it really is, making a home with the ones you love, be they related by blood or not (or in the same species). I appreciated her use of the phrase "child-free" rather than "child-less." There are many couples out there who choose not to have children and to consider them child-less makes it seem like they are lacking something. Clearly Sy lacks nothing in terms of family. She has an adoring husband, a loyal dog, a fanclub of clucking chickens, and one smitten pig.
Montgomery has a light wit throughout her writing, never getting too serious and only highlighting a few poignant and memorable moments throughout the life of Christopher Hogwood. Christopher was the highlight of a very wonderful, tumultous and exciting time in Sy's life, and he was always there for her. Montgomery describes all of Christopher's characteristics and his surroundings in such crisp detail you feel like you know Christopher just as well as Sy. You'll also put the book down having an entirely different opinion about pigs than before. I already felt I knew that pigs were smarter than most people give them credit for, but I never knew they had such strong personalities, loud opinions and refined taste. Thanks to Sy Montgomery and Christopher Hogwood the stigmas attached to pigs for centuries are being torn down one page turn at a time.
Next Book: Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson • review
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Author: Sy Montgomery
Genre: Non-Fiction, Nature, Animals
My Grade: A
# of Pages: 228
Week Read: Week #18 (4/30 - 5/7/10)
Summary: When Sy Montgomery opened her heart to a sick piglet, she had no idea that this creature, later named Christopher Hogwood, would provide her with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family, home and community. Neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth, and he was eventually featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. But Christopher Hogwood's influence extended far beyond celebrity. Montgomery reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig - lessons about self-acceptance, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.
My Thoughts: This book struck a very strong chord with me. Within the first couple of pages we learn that Montgomery's father is struggling with lung cancer. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of the year. From that moment on, this book took a completely different tone with me.
The Good Good Pig is really just as much about Sy as it is about Christopher Hogwood. Maybe even a little more. Sy's growth in her community and with her fledgling family is coincided by Christopher's growing (both literal and figurative). She defines family as what it really is, making a home with the ones you love, be they related by blood or not (or in the same species). I appreciated her use of the phrase "child-free" rather than "child-less." There are many couples out there who choose not to have children and to consider them child-less makes it seem like they are lacking something. Clearly Sy lacks nothing in terms of family. She has an adoring husband, a loyal dog, a fanclub of clucking chickens, and one smitten pig.
Montgomery has a light wit throughout her writing, never getting too serious and only highlighting a few poignant and memorable moments throughout the life of Christopher Hogwood. Christopher was the highlight of a very wonderful, tumultous and exciting time in Sy's life, and he was always there for her. Montgomery describes all of Christopher's characteristics and his surroundings in such crisp detail you feel like you know Christopher just as well as Sy. You'll also put the book down having an entirely different opinion about pigs than before. I already felt I knew that pigs were smarter than most people give them credit for, but I never knew they had such strong personalities, loud opinions and refined taste. Thanks to Sy Montgomery and Christopher Hogwood the stigmas attached to pigs for centuries are being torn down one page turn at a time.
Next Book: Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson • review
Back to the Book List.