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bibliomich's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Okay, I generally don't add star reviews for memoirs, but since this book is only part-memoir (and deserves all the hype), I'm giving it five stars.
How Far the Light Reaches is not only a favorite of this year, but possibly one of my favorites *ever*. At the end of each chapter, I'd think to myself, "Oh, okay, that was the best one. That was my favorite chapter so far." And then I'd listen to the next and be blown away once again.
In each chapter, Sabrina Imbler (they/them) juxtaposes autobiographical anecdotes with scientific facts about different marine species. For example, in "Beware the Sand Striker," Imbler alternates between discussing their experiences with sexual autonomy and assault, and then draws parallels with the sand striker's predatory behaviors. They discuss a range of topics (some quite heavy), including race and racism, body image and disordered eating, mother-child relationships, identity, sexuality, and bigotry (to name a few), and they write with so much honesty and vulnerability. I also learned A LOT about marine life, and even though I often shy away from nonfiction, these were some of my favorite sections of the book.
Imbler also narrates the audiobook, and their narration is exceptional. While I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, I would also love to own a physical copy (and will likely purchase one) just to return to it over and over again.
How Far the Light Reaches is not only a favorite of this year, but possibly one of my favorites *ever*. At the end of each chapter, I'd think to myself, "Oh, okay, that was the best one. That was my favorite chapter so far." And then I'd listen to the next and be blown away once again.
In each chapter, Sabrina Imbler (they/them) juxtaposes autobiographical anecdotes with scientific facts about different marine species. For example, in "Beware the Sand Striker," Imbler alternates between discussing their experiences with sexual autonomy and assault, and then draws parallels with the sand striker's predatory behaviors. They discuss a range of topics (some quite heavy), including race and racism, body image and disordered eating, mother-child relationships, identity, sexuality, and bigotry (to name a few), and they write with so much honesty and vulnerability. I also learned A LOT about marine life, and even though I often shy away from nonfiction, these were some of my favorite sections of the book.
Imbler also narrates the audiobook, and their narration is exceptional. While I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, I would also love to own a physical copy (and will likely purchase one) just to return to it over and over again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Transphobia, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
emilyjulietta's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
brieizziye's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Beautiful compare and contrast to what it is to grow into your full potential and love your life in contrast to so many sea creatures life cycles. ❤️ Read it.
yajairat's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Came in expecting to learn about sea creatures, but I left this reading experience in awe of just how vast this world is and how similar their lives are to ours.
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs
jasminepatel003's review against another edition
4.25
has nothing on dyke geology but beautiful and so interesting and so vivid in the way it describes marine life. at times i thought chapters were a little too on the nose and lacked subtlety but overall amazingly executed
riverlasol's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Explorations of queer and mixed-race identity weaved in tandem with fascinating tales of sea creatures I’d never heard of. This is why nonfiction rocks.
year23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I wasn't prepared for the depth of topics discussed and reflected upon here, but am so glad I picked this up. Highly recommend.