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A review by pangnaolin
Fox & I by Catherine Raven
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
If there's one thing I have to say about this book, it's that it definitely isn't for everyone.
I genuinely adored Raven's prose-- such beautiful imagery that honestly changed my life, if in small ways, during the time I read it. It made me more thoughtful of and in tune with the world around me. The story was a bit frustrating at the start, honestly just because of Raven's quite Western point of view of animals as strictly without personality, but obviously, that was a big axis of change throughout the book in her self, and something I enjoyed watching grow. I honestly wish she had been more explicit about it, though-- I wanted to see more about how things changed. It felt as if, at the end, she was still sort of shy and almost ashamed of viewing animals as their own beings with rich inner worlds. [Side note, but It was sort of a funny read in tandem with Braiding Sweetgrass.]
To be honest, though, as much as I loved her prose, there really didn't need to be so much of it. I feel like Raven needed someone to tell her that a lot of these chapters just... weren't super necessary. I wanted to read as much of her writing as I got to, but it didn't all need to be in Fox & I! I wish it had been half its size, and I had been able to look for another book of hers excitedly, instead of just having to push through out of a determination to finish the book. If you can't handle a slow pace and sort of aimless wandering in writing, this definitely isn't for you.
At times, her target audience was sort of unclear, too. She off-handedly referenced obscure species and biological concepts, but also took a moment to describe the structure of DNA, for those who didn't know, and it all made reading sort of jarring at times.
In general, I'm really glad I read this book-- it was such a beautiful read and reminded me to be more conscious of everything around me, and I enjoyed Raven's writing thoroughly-- but it was also just a hard read. If you're an impatient reader, maybe pick up something else.
I genuinely adored Raven's prose-- such beautiful imagery that honestly changed my life, if in small ways, during the time I read it. It made me more thoughtful of and in tune with the world around me. The story was a bit frustrating at the start, honestly just because of Raven's quite Western point of view of animals as strictly without personality, but obviously, that was a big axis of change throughout the book in her self, and something I enjoyed watching grow. I honestly wish she had been more explicit about it, though-- I wanted to see more about how things changed. It felt as if, at the end, she was still sort of shy and almost ashamed of viewing animals as their own beings with rich inner worlds. [Side note, but It was sort of a funny read in tandem with Braiding Sweetgrass.]
To be honest, though, as much as I loved her prose, there really didn't need to be so much of it. I feel like Raven needed someone to tell her that a lot of these chapters just... weren't super necessary. I wanted to read as much of her writing as I got to, but it didn't all need to be in Fox & I! I wish it had been half its size, and I had been able to look for another book of hers excitedly, instead of just having to push through out of a determination to finish the book. If you can't handle a slow pace and sort of aimless wandering in writing, this definitely isn't for you.
At times, her target audience was sort of unclear, too. She off-handedly referenced obscure species and biological concepts, but also took a moment to describe the structure of DNA, for those who didn't know, and it all made reading sort of jarring at times.
In general, I'm really glad I read this book-- it was such a beautiful read and reminded me to be more conscious of everything around me, and I enjoyed Raven's writing thoroughly-- but it was also just a hard read. If you're an impatient reader, maybe pick up something else.