Animal Husbandry
by Laura Zigman
On This Page
Description
New cow... Ray makes the move. Jane feels the rush. Ray says the L-word. Jane breaks her lease. Then suddenly, inexplicably, he dumps her. Just. Like. That. ...old cow. Now black is the only color in Jane's closet and Kleenex is clinging to her nose. Why did it happen? How could it have happened? Moo. Jane is going to get an answer. Not from Ray. Not from her best friends, David and Joan. But from an astounding new discovery of her own: The Old-Cow-New-Cow theory. Forced to move into the show more apartment of a womanizing alpha male named Eddie, Jane is seeing the world of men and women in a brilliant new light. And when she takes her Old-Cow-New-Cow theory public, it will change her career and her whole life. Unless, of course, she's got it all wrong.... show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
After being dumped for no good reason at the dreaded three-month mark, the novel’s heroine sets out on a pseudo-scientific research study to figure out why men act like they do. She comes up with a theory – the “Old Cow-New Cow” hypothesis – and her observations of her guerilla-dating roommate, her ex and the married man her friend is seeing seem to bear it out. But the story is really about finding the strength to get off the “what will become of me” couch and get on with our lives, even with a damaged heart.
I read this book when I was single and it made a lot of sense to me. I'm not sure if it would be as good now that I'm married, but the theory really hit home for me then. Men are cows. Pick up the book to find out why.
Very witty and very intelligent. Better than the movie (as always). If you try to make logic out of relationships, you will love it. During my last breakup I sat down and read it over the weekend and it calmed me down some. A great read if you're looking for something that will keep you amused.
I thought the premise was original and funny. Based on this book, I picked up her other ones. Those were not NEARLY as strong as this.
Not bad, although I admit I sometimes got distracted by the differences between it and the movie, which I had seen first and like a bit better.
My second Zigman, after Dating Big Bird. I've shared it with many a friends. I even went to see the movie (Someone Like You) in the theater when it came out--because of the book, of course.
very cute novel re: bull meets cow and new cow vs old cow theory
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Read the book and saw the movie
1,170 works; 195 members
Books Read in 2001
194 works; 4 members
Author Information
13 Works 2,397 Members
Laura Zigman grew up in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before writing ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, she was a publicist at Turtle Bay Books and Knopf. She currently lives in Washington, DC. (Publisher Provided) Author Laura Zigman grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of show more Massachusetts at Amherst and the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Course. She worked in the New York publishing industry for ten years as a publicist for Times Books, Vintage Books, Turtle Bay Books, Atlantic Monthly Press, and Alfred A. Knopf. She moved to Washington, D. C. where she worked as a project manager for The Smithsonian Associates and a consultant for Share Our Strength, an anti-poverty non-profit group. Her first novel, Animal Husbandry, was published in 1998 and in 2001 the book was turned into a film entitled Someone Like You starring Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman. She has also written Dating Big Bird (2000), Her (2002), and Piece of Work (2006). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Has the adaptation
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Animal Husbandry
- Alternate titles
- Someone Like You
- Original publication date
- 1998
- Related movies
- Someone Like You... (2001 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- Darwinian Man, though well-behaved,
At best is only a monkey shaved.
-- W.S. Gilbert
Princess Ida, Act II - Dedication
- For my parents,
Bernie and Bernice
For my late grandmother,
Ruth Black
For Linda,
the best sister ever,
and for Wendy,
who made me finish. - Quotations
- In the metamorphosis from Cow to New Cow, the Current-Cow sob story is an important phase: "I know we just met, but did I happen to mention how sad, miserable, misunderstood, and lonely I've been my whole life?"
This is cr... (show all)ucial to introducing the myth of male shyness and the poor-guy persona--common disguises for a wolf in sheep's clothing. "You're so easy to talk to, not like my Current Cow." - Disambiguation notice
- Initially published as Animal Husbandry.
Someone Like You is the movie tie-in edition.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 509
- Popularity
- 58,869
- Reviews
- 9
- Rating
- (3.25)
- Languages
- 11 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 32
- ASINs
- 4
