formlessbeing 's review for:

Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World by Linda Hogan

5.0

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Would honestly say this is one of the best books i've read in a while. True to its content, the book shapeshifts between poetry and prose in a beautiful, soothing way. Hogan's storytelling felt intimate and healing as it wove her (and her family's) personal experiences with ancestral beliefs (not only human but of the earth herself). As I read an essay every day, I felt the distinction between "humans" and other earth beings blur further and further, allowing me to experience an intimacy I haven't felt before. Whether Hogan was writing about wolves, porcupines, bats, or creation itself, her poetic storytelling related astute observations of earth and earth beings to the impact of humans on ecologies. In their wide range of topics, these essays were tied together in their contemplations of life, death, and how there is always a possibility for repairing our relation to earth. Forever grateful to have experienced this book and am now inspired to be more intentional about my own relations to earth and her relatives.

"Walking, I am listening in a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."