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pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
“I would like to hear the words "public lands" spoken in every election debate, with candidates holding both government and corporations accountable in their oversight and use. The fact of more than three hundred million visits to our national parks last year tells me I am not alone.”
The first and last book I read by Williams was Refuge. That book was published 30 years ago, and I still think about it. I knew that Williams continued to write, but I did not go looking for another book by her. That is a shame and my loss. Thank goodness my friend Ginger had to read this for her book group and then shared her copy with me.
Williams is still a magnificent writer. In so many of these essays she made me feel what she was feeling – anger, grief, pain, and some joy. People who can write like this should be national treasures. However, William writes about the wilderness, and we have had many politicians who do not feel that the wilderness should be enjoyed and treasured but used to make money for the already wealthy.
I was moved by so many of these essays that I can’t pick one or two to praise. I will have to pick out some to recommend to my book group and maybe I will list those at that time. In the meantime, I recommend that if you haven’t read Williams, you should consider looking for Refuge or any of her essays.
The first and last book I read by Williams was Refuge. That book was published 30 years ago, and I still think about it. I knew that Williams continued to write, but I did not go looking for another book by her. That is a shame and my loss. Thank goodness my friend Ginger had to read this for her book group and then shared her copy with me.
Williams is still a magnificent writer. In so many of these essays she made me feel what she was feeling – anger, grief, pain, and some joy. People who can write like this should be national treasures. However, William writes about the wilderness, and we have had many politicians who do not feel that the wilderness should be enjoyed and treasured but used to make money for the already wealthy.
I was moved by so many of these essays that I can’t pick one or two to praise. I will have to pick out some to recommend to my book group and maybe I will list those at that time. In the meantime, I recommend that if you haven’t read Williams, you should consider looking for Refuge or any of her essays.
samantha_shain's review against another edition
2.0
This book did not live up to the reviews or my own expectations. While it was promised to have a narrative arc, I thought the essays drew on repetitive material and came off as overly sentimental. The one about the authors brother was evocative and strongly written, but the parallel to the process of climate change struck a dissonant chord. The essay about the authors visit to China seemed impressionistic and culturally unexamined. I love reading about Utah and the incredibly unique ecosystems there, but this volume fell flat for me. It’s one redeeming factor was some beautiful language on pages that I have dog eared. Some of her best writing was about people and not flora/fauna but it doesn’t seem like she wants to pursue that theme with further specificity.
callieisreading's review against another edition
4.0
A couple of these essays I really loved, most I really liked, a couple were not my favorite. Williams' writing is beautifully poetic, and I felt very connected to the issues she focused on (the 2016 election, climate change, land issues in the west).
guarinous's review against another edition
4.0
Erosion is a collection of essays by activist Terry Tempest Williams. As implied by the title, Williams focuses on the concept of erosion in politics, climate, public lands, and self. Focusing predominantly on the Trump administration's degradation of public lands in the American southwest for the use of fossil fuel special interests, Williams paints stark portraits of the plight of the Native People and the impact that ignoring climate change will have on future generations.
The majority of the essays hit on the nose, even if they become a bit repetitive in topic from time to time. The essays shine brightest when Williams is detailing her exploits in activism, such as her and her partner's brilliant purchase of land for the intent of protecting it at an auction where it was being sold for the purpose of fossil fuel drilling. Admittedly, the messaging is a bit heavy handed, but we're at a time when that's becoming the only method that is going to be effective. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes from one of her essays here, a terrifyingly imagined 2155, where a robot worker invites people to step outside, but only briefly, into a land of beauty that has become inhospitable to the majority of species.
Erosion's collection of thoughts are a good antidote to the Trumpian rhetoric and policy of the times, where national parks are being unprotected and species protection is being challenged, all in the name of the capitalist idol.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux.**
The majority of the essays hit on the nose, even if they become a bit repetitive in topic from time to time. The essays shine brightest when Williams is detailing her exploits in activism, such as her and her partner's brilliant purchase of land for the intent of protecting it at an auction where it was being sold for the purpose of fossil fuel drilling. Admittedly, the messaging is a bit heavy handed, but we're at a time when that's becoming the only method that is going to be effective. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes from one of her essays here, a terrifyingly imagined 2155, where a robot worker invites people to step outside, but only briefly, into a land of beauty that has become inhospitable to the majority of species.
Erosion's collection of thoughts are a good antidote to the Trumpian rhetoric and policy of the times, where national parks are being unprotected and species protection is being challenged, all in the name of the capitalist idol.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux.**
zeldiecakes's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Somber but hopeful poetic essays. It is such a gift of intimacy, to meet the landscape of another’s heart.
sydneymh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
esessa's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this collection of essays as individual pieces, but I don't think it actually worked very well as a collection. The general theme is "erosion", but that theme is very obvious in some of the pieces and not at all in others. Knowing her as a conservationist and nature writer, I expected the essays to be primarily fact-based and informative, and was unprepared for the degree to which the pieces vary in whether they are starkly factual or deeply personal and emotional. This is my bad; the title is "Essays of Undoing", after all, so I should have been better prepared for the personal stuff, I guess, but I found the ordering and contrast of the essays jarring. One piece was a letter to her dad in which TTW constantly calls him things like "dearest darling father", which I found quite off-putting, and another included pages of text messages between her and her brother in the weeks before he committed suicide. It was sandwiched between pieces about Bears Ears Monument and conservation, and I just couldn't square the flipping back and forth between such different topics.
There is also a huge amount of repetition between the essays, especially about Bears Ears and the facts and circumstances of its gutting by 45's administration. I certainly didn't mind hearing about the monument itself, but having exactly the same details repeated over and over got very tiring. It felt like it needed an editor to pay attention to that kind of thing. Finally, many essay collections consist of pieces that have been separately published and are later pulled together into one volume to be sold. This one was not like that, I don't think; I believe most of the pieces were written expressly for this book, yet it ended up feeling more like one of those pulled-together and mismatched collections than any other that I've read.
There is also a huge amount of repetition between the essays, especially about Bears Ears and the facts and circumstances of its gutting by 45's administration. I certainly didn't mind hearing about the monument itself, but having exactly the same details repeated over and over got very tiring. It felt like it needed an editor to pay attention to that kind of thing. Finally, many essay collections consist of pieces that have been separately published and are later pulled together into one volume to be sold. This one was not like that, I don't think; I believe most of the pieces were written expressly for this book, yet it ended up feeling more like one of those pulled-together and mismatched collections than any other that I've read.
corngod31's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
laurenexploresbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Erosion comes out on October 8th and I would highly recommend this work. Erosion is a powerful collection of essays. This book was raw, alive, and honest. A trigger warning for this work is a section focused on suicide. The essays highlight so many moral issues intertwined with protecting the Earth. Terry discusses her experience growing up Mormon and the significant changes to her spirituality focused on interconnections with the natural world. Terry discusses the loss of her brother to suicide and about grief, loss, and what the cremation process is truly like. Terry discusses Utah, her home, and discusses how the oil industry has manipulated and taken land with the encouragement and support of local law makers and our current president. She discusses Native Communities and the realities of racism and greed in the destruction of Bear Ears National Monument, and what is defined as home. This is a valuable and timely work I would recommend to all who are feeling angry, hopeless, or defeated in a country where many continue to ignore the realities of climate change and corporate greed. I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley to provide a review and have given my honest feedback.
synoptic_view's review against another edition
For me, this suffered from the old problem that some of the strongest disagreements can arise between two people who 99% agree.