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The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood |  | Author: Sy Montgomery
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Seller: airportplacebooks
Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 87336
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0345496094
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.40887
EAN: 9780345496096
ASIN: 0345496094
Publication Date: April 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“Christopher Hogwood came home on my lap in a shoebox. He was a creature who would prove in many ways to be more human than I am.”
–from The Good Good Pig
A naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish–and she soon found herself engaged with her small-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible. Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family and home.
The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy’s cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the 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. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher’s name on their ballots.
But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood’s influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig–lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, 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.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
 A good good story June 3, 2006
Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful
When author Sy Montgomery brought home the sickliest runt of the pig litter as a pet, she never imagined how much he would grow and enrich the lives of all those who came in contact with him. This amazing pig not only thrived, but he reached 750 pounds of exuberance and free spirit. Christopher Hogwood was not just sociable and amusing, but he was also a catalyst for humans around him to help and support each other. In fact, the book is as much about the people who came in contact with Christopher as it is about the pig himself.
Montgomery, who has written many publications on animal life around the world, brings her deep love and respect for all animals to this book. She includes descriptions of some of the places she has been and the amazing creatures she has studied. She treats Christopher with the same sense of wonder as she had for the legendary pink dolphins of Brazil and the man-killing tigers of India. She makes Christopher's gluttony a delight to imagine. She makes the reader chuckle at his opinionated personality and his enjoyment of being pampered at "pig spa."
This memoir is funny, enlightening, and touching. If you loved the classic children's story "Charlotte's Web," you'll adore "The Good Good Pig." As Charlotte would have said, Christopher is some pig!
Eileen Rieback
Don't miss this one May 31, 2006
happy reader (Harrison, AR USA)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
The Good Good Pig is a fun ride from the opening sentence till the last page. It will go fast because you just keep on wanting to know what Chris will do next or who will fall in love with him...ultimately the whole town. Actually while enjoying the story, I learned some things I'll probably never need to know about pig farming...even some history of pigs but who can tell what knowledge ..someday..might really come in handy. Enjoy!!
hog hedonism June 9, 2006
Jonathan Balcombe (Washington, D.C.)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I devoured this book like its porcine protagonist--a runt among runts who grew to 750 pounds and lived nearly fourteen years--devoured his beloved slops. Author Sy Montgomery has a zest for life and a large heart for animals, and her story-telling and sense of humor soon drew me in among Christopher Hogwood's circle of caring friends.
Hogwood is an intelligent, responsive, sensual individual, and vegetarian Montgomery hopes readers will make the connection between this runt grown large and the tens of millions of pigs reared anonymously inside sunless factory farms and slaughtered at six months. But she doesn't belabor the grim fate of most pigs. Foremost, this book celebrates the mostly happy existence of a creature with a solid appreciation for all the good things that come his way. Hogwood's hedonism, like Montgomery's loving care, is contagious. If you're not keen on the idea of becoming emotionally attached to a pig, avoid this book.
lazyreaders.com book selection for June 2006 June 19, 2006
Danny Brassell (Redondo Beach, CA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Every now and then I read a book that just captures my heart. Sorry if I sound like a school girl, but I was giddy reading this memoir of Montgomery's loveable pet pig. Montgomery is such a strong writer, as she manages to make me laugh throughout the book at her pig's celebrity status in her hometown. The book's real strength, however, is in the lessons this charming pig teaches a community. This is one of the best-written books I have read in years. To find this book and other cool short book club recommendations, go to www.lazyreaders.com.
The Einstein of Pigdom February 26, 2007
Carol Mello (San Jose,CA USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
First, let's clear up some of the comments made in other reviews:
1. If you get a misprint book, that does not mean the book should be rated poorly. It means you should return it wherever you purchased it and ask for a non-misprint copy (too bad books are not like stamps, where misprints are worth more the good prints). Mistakes happen at the printer and that is no reflection on what the author has written.
2. One reviewer complained that this book was not like the author's other wildlife books which are in exotic locations around the world. Duh! This is a book about the author's pet pig. The other reviewer's remark is like complaining that the orange in your lunch bag is not a grand marnier souffle.
3. Much as I like E.B.White's "Charlotte's Web" (I like everything E.B.White ever wrote), to compare Christopher to Wilbur is not fair to either Wilbur or Christopher. The really brilliant character in E.B.White's novel was not Wilbur the pig, but Charlotte the spider.
I liked this book. I liked it a lot. I have known several people who have owned pigs. They have remarked on how intelligent their pigs were (as smart or smarter than dogs) and told me some stories. None of those other intelligent pigs measure up to Christopher Hogwood. This is the Einstein of pigdom, truly worthy of the author's book length eulogy to him.
I bought this book in a book store, an impulse buy, because I liked the cover. I have a fondness for animals with black patches about their eyes (I own 2 calicos with black eye patches).
That is one cute piglet on the cover. He looks a little mischievous, doesn't he? That's because he is!
Christopher was a sickly runt. At the farm where he was born, he was so small and so weak he had trouble pushing through the crowd of other piglets to get something to eat. The author and her husband, while visiting the farm, see Christopher and know he is doomed to an early death if he stays at the farm. So they take him home. The improvise a pen for him in their barn. He may be a weak runt but not a dumb one. He escapes. The author and her husband make repeated enhancements to the security of Christopher's pen and he manages to overcome them all using his ingenuity. Eventually, the author's father-in-law, an engineer, builds an escape proof pig palace for Christopher.
In addition to being clever at escaping, Christopher is a gourmand. He savors the tidbits in his meals. But he is not above the common man or pig: he loves beer. So the author's husband has a standing order at the local grocery store for cases of beer for Chris (they change him to Schlitz because he drinks so much).
Christopher endears himself not only to the author and her husband, but to their friends, their neighbors, the local police force, and the whole town. I wish my cats were even half as clever as Christopher. I had a wonderful time reading about the antics of this good good real-life pig.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
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