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nicktomjoe's review against another edition
5.0
My review -of sorts: really some reflections- of this magical book, so full of amazingly vivid turns of phrase, is to be found here: https://nicktomjoestory.news.blog/2020/02/26/inner-tube-at-mikes-house/ Personal and yet looking somehow beyond Jamie as narrator, this is moving, well crafted and enlightening.
aussiecanuck's review
slow-paced
3.0
I found this one hard going - I did finish it but did get bored. Might have not been in the right mood for it?
snoakes7001's review against another edition
5.0
Surfacing is a collection of Kathleen Jamie's essays. Connected by a common theme, they are all about things that rise to the surface in one way or another, whether they are physical artifacts, memories or dreams.
Two longer pieces are about archaeological digs - one in Alaska and another on Orkney. They are fascinating in terms of both the historical discoveries and the sense of place she imbues in her writing. Equally interesting are the relationships with and between the people she encounters, locals, the archaeologists and tourists.
My favourite of the shorter pieces is The Inevitable Pagoda - about the random fragments of china found while field-walking.
All the prose is beautiful, transporting the reader from Alaska to Tibet and back to Scotland. Kathleen Jamie is a joy to read.
Two longer pieces are about archaeological digs - one in Alaska and another on Orkney. They are fascinating in terms of both the historical discoveries and the sense of place she imbues in her writing. Equally interesting are the relationships with and between the people she encounters, locals, the archaeologists and tourists.
My favourite of the shorter pieces is The Inevitable Pagoda - about the random fragments of china found while field-walking.
All the prose is beautiful, transporting the reader from Alaska to Tibet and back to Scotland. Kathleen Jamie is a joy to read.
juliaem's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book in a donut shop in Arlington, VA, where I spent most of early 2020 before my dad died in March. It caught my eye in their lending library because Jamie has won a John Burroughs Medal, and I was partway through "The Song of Trees," for which Haskell won a JB Medal, as well, and I've really been enjoying environmental non-fiction. My star rating doesn't totally reflect my emotional experience with this book: there was something oddly soothing reading a poet's prose about Neolithic ruins while bearing witness to someone's death, and this book was one I could come back to throughout this year without losing the connection to the story despite significant lapses in time. There are times that I think Jamie came close to exoticizing her subjects (the book includes passages about Alaska, a Tibetan town in China, and Scotland), but I think she recognized and addressed that tendency relatively successfully by the book's end, and she has a great deal of compassion for the world, both human and everything else.
cstefko's review
4.0
3.75 stars
I found this book of mostly nature & anthropology essays to be quite pleasant, but not particularly satisfying. I wanted more, especially from the third essay on Tibet. I did appreciate the way Jamie ties all of her essays together with the overarching theme of what can surface when we dredge up the past, as well as connecting her topics to climate change. I realized that I already have one of her poetry collections on my Goodreads TBR shelf, and I really would like to get to that sooner rather than later because I think her writing is best when she's digging into poetic language.
Recommended if you're interested in archeology, indigenous peoples reclaiming their culture, and/or nature writing.
I found this book of mostly nature & anthropology essays to be quite pleasant, but not particularly satisfying. I wanted more, especially from the third essay on Tibet. I did appreciate the way Jamie ties all of her essays together with the overarching theme of what can surface when we dredge up the past, as well as connecting her topics to climate change. I realized that I already have one of her poetry collections on my Goodreads TBR shelf, and I really would like to get to that sooner rather than later because I think her writing is best when she's digging into poetic language.
Recommended if you're interested in archeology, indigenous peoples reclaiming their culture, and/or nature writing.