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turrean 's review for:
Is a River Alive?
by Robert Macfarlane
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A remarkable book. The language is powerful and evocative. Macfarlane’s undoubted literary skill allows readers to see, hear, and experience the living world through which he traveled.
Some of the literary comparisons and analogies he makes, such as to Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, and other classic works, were difficult for me to grasp since I don’t have the easy familiarity with them the author clearly has. In the last chapter, I sat looking up unfamiliar words (apophasis, deixis, eidolon…I looked them all up and understood them for several seconds each…)
The answer to the question posed by the title is unequivocally answered by the book: yes. Yes, rivers are alive, as are lakes and habitats and endangered species and oceans.
Some of the literary comparisons and analogies he makes, such as to Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, and other classic works, were difficult for me to grasp since I don’t have the easy familiarity with them the author clearly has. In the last chapter, I sat looking up unfamiliar words (apophasis, deixis, eidolon…I looked them all up and understood them for several seconds each…)
The answer to the question posed by the title is unequivocally answered by the book: yes. Yes, rivers are alive, as are lakes and habitats and endangered species and oceans.