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Reviews tagging 'Excrement'
How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery
4 reviews
themichellegray's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
"Knowing someone who belongs to another species can enlarge your soul in surprising ways."
This was a unique autobiography with beautiful supporting illustrations of a woman who has gone on many adventures, studied a variety of species, and contributed a great deal to science. The book promised to describe how each animal taught the author how to be a "good creature" through their interactions; a compelling storytelling method that was unfortunately not supported through the actual writing.
Even though the concept was not really delivered, I still think the author has an impactful story to tell full of rare experiences. The subject matter was often sad but the narrative managed to remain hopeful. The stories shared brought back nostalgic feelings and memories of my own whilst encouraging me to reflect on my own time alongside animals.
Altogether, this was an average reading experience that I expected a little more out of.
This was a unique autobiography with beautiful supporting illustrations of a woman who has gone on many adventures, studied a variety of species, and contributed a great deal to science. The book promised to describe how each animal taught the author how to be a "good creature" through their interactions; a compelling storytelling method that was unfortunately not supported through the actual writing.
Even though the concept was not really delivered, I still think the author has an impactful story to tell full of rare experiences. The subject matter was often sad but the narrative managed to remain hopeful. The stories shared brought back nostalgic feelings and memories of my own whilst encouraging me to reflect on my own time alongside animals.
Altogether, this was an average reading experience that I expected a little more out of.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cancer and Child abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty and Excrement
amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Terminal illness
Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
aardwyrm's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.0
I love a book of rambling natural history essays. I appreciate a book of quirky pet stories (hey, I was raised on James Herriot.) This seemed to be a bit of both. I faintly recognized the author's name as "person who wrote that octopus book I keep meaning to read" and jumped in. Reader, Sy Montgomery is bananapants bonkers in the best way. She saves the exercise from being poisonously sweet by just being a very strange person. A few of the essays are a bit too cutesy. The ones that are just about her pets are cotton candy, albeit nice if you like people talking a lot about how good dogs are, but the first essay is about her childhood dog and discusses her attempts to... transform herself into a dog. It gets exponentially stranger from there. The bits where she strikes out beyond the west, you get some regrettable hints of colonial mindsets. Oh, for a natural history book without it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Excrement, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
ina_loves_books's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, and Suicidal thoughts
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