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A review by idk_indigo
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I kept wanting to DNF this about 30-60% through, but I am glad I kept going. Reasons for the almost-DNF were: confusing chronology and the narration (which I think was more about me being used to romance audiobooks with an ultra-expressive narrator, whereas this was non-fiction with the author narrating; so more a matter of I wasn't used to it than genuine dislike, and I started to appreciate her narration as the book wore on).
As other reviews mention, the author's thoughts are very scattered; I could almost never tell when an event was taking place because it seemed like everything was happening at once, COVID and a huge fire and then a bunny dying. Which, btw, definitely definitely could've done without the almost hour-longdescription of the dead bunny, its body, what she did with it, how it looked, the way it smelled, what creatures were crawling over it, amongst other not-so-fun details . I loved the sentiment of handling heavy things like death with her child, as well as the implications for her personal garden. But that was... unnecessary.
I loved the focus on history, and I'm sort of wondering if the back-and-forth/non-chronological narrative is a pointer on how it repeats itself (?). I felt I learned a lot about civil rights, including black women starting gardens during the Jim Crow -era so they could access flowers, as well as contributions to community gardens/food supply, which was really interesting. I think her revelations of history were also very cool.
I loved her mentions of motherhood, but I also adored her numerous mentions of her husband, how much he's been involved with the gardening process. I loved how they picked up each others' slack, and how they together navigated various mishaps while also raising their daughter. They made mistakes, such as dealing with Callie's anxiety, but they learned and they grew and I thought it was a beautiful exploration of adulthood and parenthood and marriage.
This isn't typically what I would pick up (not a frequent picker-upper of nonfiction), but this was on the LAPL's recommendations list for Earth Day and I thought I would try it out and I'm very, very glad I did!
As other reviews mention, the author's thoughts are very scattered; I could almost never tell when an event was taking place because it seemed like everything was happening at once, COVID and a huge fire and then a bunny dying. Which, btw, definitely definitely could've done without the almost hour-long
I loved the focus on history, and I'm sort of wondering if the back-and-forth/non-chronological narrative is a pointer on how it repeats itself (?). I felt I learned a lot about civil rights, including black women starting gardens during the Jim Crow -era so they could access flowers, as well as contributions to community gardens/food supply, which was really interesting. I think her revelations of history were also very cool.
I loved her mentions of motherhood, but I also adored her numerous mentions of her husband, how much he's been involved with the gardening process. I loved how they picked up each others' slack, and how they together navigated various mishaps while also raising their daughter. They made mistakes, such as dealing with Callie's anxiety, but they learned and they grew and I thought it was a beautiful exploration of adulthood and parenthood and marriage.
This isn't typically what I would pick up (not a frequent picker-upper of nonfiction), but this was on the LAPL's recommendations list for Earth Day and I thought I would try it out and I'm very, very glad I did!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Violence and Mass/school shootings