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sarabeatriz 's review for:
The Gospel of the Eels
by Patrik Svensson
informative
reflective
slow-paced
A book about eels shouldn’t hit this hard. And yet, here we are.
The Gospel of the Eels isn’t just a book about a slippery, mysterious fish—it’s about obsession, loss, and the strange ways we try to make sense of the world. Part natural history, part memoir, it follows the author’s fascination with eels alongside his relationship with his father, and somehow, these two threads weave together perfectly.
And let’s talk about the eels for a second—because they are wild. No one really knows how they reproduce. They just vanish into the Sargasso Sea, and then, poof, baby eels appear thousands of miles away. Even Freud was obsessed with them (and failed spectacularly at figuring them out). They’re slippery in every possible way, and that mystery becomes a metaphor for life, death, and everything we can’t quite grasp.
It’s slow, thoughtful, and deeply human. If you’re here for a fast-paced deep-sea adventure, this isn’t it. But if you want a beautifully written, unexpectedly moving meditation on nature and grief, this book is something special.