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emilyfrizz's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, its mixture of thoughts on nature, memoir, and travel writing, as well as essays with really thought-provoking topics. The prose was beautiful, and all the different aspects of this book blended into one seamlessly, giving it the feeling of a long afternoon chat with a close friend.
dayofrebecca's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
2.25
Strong finish but some of those essays seemed very random and mostly related to walking not trees…
jesselopod's review
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.25
Less a book about trees and more of a memoir, I feel this book would have benefited from pictures, a map or two, and being renamed to something about walking. Some essays hit home with me more than others, but I did like the meandering style like taking a meditative walk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, and Death
Minor: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Cannibalism, Slavery, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Grief
textpublishing's review
‘[Cunningham’s] naif, free-form style, is a perfect foil for the stories-within-stories-within stories that lie at the heart of this important, entertaining and moving book.’
Age
‘[The] ability to hold and make space for opposing concepts is where the strength and beauty of [Cunningham’s] writing lies...City of Trees is a breath of fresh air accompanied by the knowledge of how much is lost, or is being lost...Through these essays one can find the hope and understanding to live and thrive in these dark times.'
Readings Monthly
‘In this poignant and timely collection of essays, Sophie Cunningham touches on matters private and political, historical and current, beautiful and terrifying.’
Books + Publishing
‘City of Trees is a sorrowful meditation on the effects of climate change and time, but it is also full of wonder, of hope.’
Kill Your Darlings
Age
‘[The] ability to hold and make space for opposing concepts is where the strength and beauty of [Cunningham’s] writing lies...City of Trees is a breath of fresh air accompanied by the knowledge of how much is lost, or is being lost...Through these essays one can find the hope and understanding to live and thrive in these dark times.'
Readings Monthly
‘In this poignant and timely collection of essays, Sophie Cunningham touches on matters private and political, historical and current, beautiful and terrifying.’
Books + Publishing
‘City of Trees is a sorrowful meditation on the effects of climate change and time, but it is also full of wonder, of hope.’
Kill Your Darlings
logarithms's review
4.0
an interesting collection of essays! the few toward the end about historic expeditions were kinda boring, but otherwise a good read! it was cool to read about melbourne and learn more about where i live (though it did reinvigorate my hatred for our politicians <3)
tabs and quotes: (spoilered for length)
"The centre is failing, and we're left to maintain traction in the chaos. Or perhaps the situation is this: we're falling off a cliff in slow motion. Me, I grab at the trees I see on the way down in an attempt to break the fall. I look at what I see around me as I tumble, for I want to remember it all - the landscapes, the animals that may not survive the impact."
ok rip my heart out on p13 thats fine
"In their plight I recognise our own. It is not just the crabs that are being left to float aimlessly in ruined seas. It is not just the dogs we live with, poison, walk with, experiment upon, that are to whine; to take the jolt."
the way she ends essays is just...v compelling
"Did it matter if those trees, more than a century old, died? They were not, after all, from that place. It's a hard question to consider when almost all of us now - flora, fauna and humans - are from somewhere else."
"- we had loved him, he had loved us. We forgot, for a while at least, all the rest."
oh. yea. uh huh. i felt that...
"It is hard to convey the intensity this particular tree emanates as it stands, like a sentinel or ancient god, looking across the land, without sounding slightly crazy." the thread of this theme of trees as spiritual/gods was so good...the way the collection ends with: "She holds a Leadbeater's possum in her hollow like an orb, she brandishes her branches as a sceptre, as a sword. I honour you, I say. I pledge my allegiance to you, to this city - to our planet - of trees."
"My nerve began to fail me. Having undertaken to bear witness to what humans are doing to this planet, to all that lives upon it, I found I was beginning to look away."
"I was struck by the similarity between trees and whales. Both have a capacity to feed an ecosystem for years and decades after they have died."
i tabbed this one cause it makes me wanna paint a diptych....or something...
tabs and quotes: (spoilered for length)
Spoiler
"The centre is failing, and we're left to maintain traction in the chaos. Or perhaps the situation is this: we're falling off a cliff in slow motion. Me, I grab at the trees I see on the way down in an attempt to break the fall. I look at what I see around me as I tumble, for I want to remember it all - the landscapes, the animals that may not survive the impact."
ok rip my heart out on p13 thats fine
"In their plight I recognise our own. It is not just the crabs that are being left to float aimlessly in ruined seas. It is not just the dogs we live with, poison, walk with, experiment upon, that are to whine; to take the jolt."
the way she ends essays is just...v compelling
"Did it matter if those trees, more than a century old, died? They were not, after all, from that place. It's a hard question to consider when almost all of us now - flora, fauna and humans - are from somewhere else."
"- we had loved him, he had loved us. We forgot, for a while at least, all the rest."
oh. yea. uh huh. i felt that...
"It is hard to convey the intensity this particular tree emanates as it stands, like a sentinel or ancient god, looking across the land, without sounding slightly crazy." the thread of this theme of trees as spiritual/gods was so good...the way the collection ends with: "She holds a Leadbeater's possum in her hollow like an orb, she brandishes her branches as a sceptre, as a sword. I honour you, I say. I pledge my allegiance to you, to this city - to our planet - of trees."
"My nerve began to fail me. Having undertaken to bear witness to what humans are doing to this planet, to all that lives upon it, I found I was beginning to look away."
"I was struck by the similarity between trees and whales. Both have a capacity to feed an ecosystem for years and decades after they have died."
i tabbed this one cause it makes me wanna paint a diptych....or something...
lilmorningdew's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
frankie_s's review
4.0
I loved this book, I thought it was beautiful, but it did leave me with a bonedeep sadness (for very legit reasons). Like Sophie Cunningham, our treatment of old growth forests is the thing that makes me lose hope the most, and I found the spotlight on this and our relationship with animals and trees difficult. I found myself squinting to read it at times because it hurt to look at. The stories she is telling here about grief (in the traditional sense, since she was dealing with the death of both her fathers) and the kind of shadowloss (concept from Cole Imperi) brought about by extinction and destruction of habitat, are incredibly important. I appreciate this work so much. Having written this review I'm going to change my review from 4 stars to 5 stars, since the only thing that is stopping me from doing so is that it made me sad, which is not the author's fault of course.
kaydee's review
5.0
It’s books like this that remind me of why I read. These essays are ostensibly about the natural world but they’re also about loss and love and life. They’re moving and informative and while reading this I spend entire evenings off on tangents, googling mountain lions or olive groves or just sitting with my wonder and awe. A real pleasure.