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A review by happea
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
funny
informative
slow-paced
2.75
From someone who's been accustomed to coyotes settling in nearby community groves or the yearly breaking news story of a moose wandering the city (it should be a tradition at this point), I was intrigued to read Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach to understand what goes on during human-wildlife encounters.
First off, the book was very informative (duh)! Roach's writing creates the sensation that you're watching a documentary, witnessing her adventures as she travels to various places interviewing people with first-hand accounts of killer leopards, drunk elephants, and trespassing bears (although who's really the ones trespassing here *insert raised eyebrow*). Bouts of humour were sprinkled throughout the book, mainly satirical.
I wasn't as engaged with the book as it progressed, Roach's extensive research was clearly evident, but the majority of the book relied on secondary sources and secondhand accounts, lacking in zest. Similar to if a friend told me their other friend's cousin's aunt was Meryl Streep, it's too many layers to feel like you have an actual connection to the Academy Award winning actress. Perhaps it was due to my habituated nature to much of the animals mentioned in Roach's book, but it just didn't feel astonishing to me to read about the problems that human-wildlife interactions face. Additionally, I enjoyed the structure of the book in the early chapters, transitioning smoothly as each highlighted a different large mammal and even included trees in the discussion (yes, trees do have the potential to kill). However, the contents on the book became progressively more bird-heavy through multiple sections, which felt a bit redundant for me.
First off, the book was very informative (duh)! Roach's writing creates the sensation that you're watching a documentary, witnessing her adventures as she travels to various places interviewing people with first-hand accounts of killer leopards, drunk elephants, and trespassing bears (although who's really the ones trespassing here *insert raised eyebrow*). Bouts of humour were sprinkled throughout the book, mainly satirical.
I wasn't as engaged with the book as it progressed, Roach's extensive research was clearly evident, but the majority of the book relied on secondary sources and secondhand accounts, lacking in zest. Similar to if a friend told me their other friend's cousin's aunt was Meryl Streep, it's too many layers to feel like you have an actual connection to the Academy Award winning actress. Perhaps it was due to my habituated nature to much of the animals mentioned in Roach's book, but it just didn't feel astonishing to me to read about the problems that human-wildlife interactions face. Additionally, I enjoyed the structure of the book in the early chapters, transitioning smoothly as each highlighted a different large mammal and even included trees in the discussion (yes, trees do have the potential to kill). However, the contents on the book became progressively more bird-heavy through multiple sections, which felt a bit redundant for me.