5/22/2023 0 Comments In praise of firefliesAm I, as a human, supposed to feel more connected to the natural world because the mouths of ribbon eels hang open like human babies' mouths (or at least, the author's human baby's mouth)? Or am I supposed to be moved to wonder by the unfathomable alienness of other species, because in learning less than I wanted to know about ribbon eels and more than I wanted to know about the author's early months with her infant, all the differences between those phenomena are called to mind? Am I supposed to be charmed into such ecstasies by the sheer whimsy of it all that my rational brain shuts down? I think what it comes down to is that neither her personal experiences nor the natural phenomena were explored with anywhere near enough detail to immerse me. Moving to a new school made the author want to be like a vampire squid because she too wanted to hide? Flamingos have long legs, like the author's, and she spent nights out dancing in college on those long legs, and currently worries for the safety of young girls? I don't understand the point of juxtaposing such disparate subjects. The associations are bizarre and contrived. Each essay is named after a natural phenomenon (plant, animal, typhoon) and makes a facile connection from that to a time in the author's life. An ambitious and lovely project, to interweave personal essay and nature writing, but too clumsily done for me to enjoy.
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