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mstewa02's Reviews (140)
Oh my god I loved this book.
My childhood contained a lot of death in a short amount of time and it greatly impacted how I view death as an adult. I picked up this book to force myself to stare some of that in the face, but instead I found myself feeling compassion towards the nuances of death, and learning way more about what happens to bodies once they die than I ever imagined. This book so carefully examines the lives of the people whose job is in death and all of the lengths they go to in order to care for people even after they’re gone.
For me, this excerpt perfectly summarized what I took from this book:
“Now I see all of it: death shows us what is buried in the living. By shielding ourselves from what happens past the moment of death we deny ourselves a deeper understanding of who we truly are. ‘Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender mercy of its people, their respect for the low of the land and their loyalty to high ideals,’ goes the William Gladstone quote…We are cheating ourselves out of knowing this, with our system of payments and disappearances. These unseen acts of care, the tender mercies of these death workers, show not a cold detachment from their work, but the opposite—some kind of love.” -page 234
*This book certainly isn’t for everyone and it should probably be read at a strategic point in your life. I would also add a TW for miscarriages and stillbirths.
My childhood contained a lot of death in a short amount of time and it greatly impacted how I view death as an adult. I picked up this book to force myself to stare some of that in the face, but instead I found myself feeling compassion towards the nuances of death, and learning way more about what happens to bodies once they die than I ever imagined. This book so carefully examines the lives of the people whose job is in death and all of the lengths they go to in order to care for people even after they’re gone.
For me, this excerpt perfectly summarized what I took from this book:
“Now I see all of it: death shows us what is buried in the living. By shielding ourselves from what happens past the moment of death we deny ourselves a deeper understanding of who we truly are. ‘Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender mercy of its people, their respect for the low of the land and their loyalty to high ideals,’ goes the William Gladstone quote…We are cheating ourselves out of knowing this, with our system of payments and disappearances. These unseen acts of care, the tender mercies of these death workers, show not a cold detachment from their work, but the opposite—some kind of love.” -page 234
*This book certainly isn’t for everyone and it should probably be read at a strategic point in your life. I would also add a TW for miscarriages and stillbirths.
Just as seeds take decades to become fully matured trees, humans also take decades of life experience and perspective to understand their purpose and impact—that is the picture Simard paints throughout this book. She blends scientific research and memoir together to drive home the main findings of her life’s work—that the world around us is less a puzzle of data and more of a network of life, eerily similar to what exists inside of us. And as we grow and understand ourselves, we will find that same growth and understanding mimicked back to us amongst the trees. We start with her experimenting with seedlings in her early twenties, unsure of what her path forward will look like. And we end with her as a highly regarded scientist, who changed the world’s understanding of tree networks; and as a mother who has battled all that life has thrown her. Her storytelling, especially in the second half of the book, had such a deep impact on me and made me feel even more connected to the Earth. This was a beautiful and inspiring read.
Most short story books are easy to focus in and out on—this one held my attention for every single page. This was incredibly fun and insightful and I highly recommend.
