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Reviews tagging 'Grief'
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery
10 reviews
kk_gotit_goinon's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
5.0
I have never been so moved by a book before. It's beautifully written. You instantly fall in love with everyone, vertebrate or invertebrate. You learn so much about so many different animals, people and beliefs. I cannot recommend it enough, I'm seriously considering rereading it already because there's so much to take in.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Grief, Self harm, and Dementia
Minor: Self harm
bonsai_delores's review
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
A good book for learning descriptive narrative. Does an excellent job “humanizing” many types of ocean creatures.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Dementia
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
mlynch133's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Chronic illness, Excrement, and Cancer
sapphic_in_the_stacks's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A narrative nonfiction story that details the author's journey observing and befriending octopuses at the New England Aquarium. From her first encounter, she was hooked and began to dedicate time to learning about octopuses and visiting often. After the first octopus she meets and bonds with dies suddenly, she grieves her friend while also finding joy in meeting the new, young octopus who takes her place. She goes on to meet several octopuses as they come to the aquarium, and forge friendships with a group that shares her interests. That group includes several aquarists, as well as aquarium volunteers, and octopus enthusiasts who spend time observing the octopuses with her. The author goes on to learn how to scuba dive in order to observe wild octopuses, she discusses her journey to become certified as well as her several trips. Throughout the book, there is a running thread the author continues to return to on the nature of consciousness, and how it relates to humans, octopuses, and friendship.
I read this book after it was recommended to me by my tattoo artist. She said that it was a narrative nonfiction that read like a fiction book, and I think it lived up to that description! The narrative was well paced, and I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for the next thing to happen. The factual information was written in a way that felt like you were learning alongside the author, rather than being dictated to, which made for a much smoother read in my opinion. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this read.
*Disclaimer: There were a few instances of insensitive, outdated, or challenged language. I will include censored versions of the words I picked up below tagged as "spoilers" for anyone who would like to know or potentially avoid this word usage. Topics included language used to refer to Autistic individuals, and words derived from language used to refer to Romani people.
Word used: g*pped, Discussion of: Asp*rger S*ndrome
I read this book after it was recommended to me by my tattoo artist. She said that it was a narrative nonfiction that read like a fiction book, and I think it lived up to that description! The narrative was well paced, and I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for the next thing to happen. The factual information was written in a way that felt like you were learning alongside the author, rather than being dictated to, which made for a much smoother read in my opinion. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this read.
*Disclaimer: There were a few instances of insensitive, outdated, or challenged language. I will include censored versions of the words I picked up below tagged as "spoilers" for anyone who would like to know or potentially avoid this word usage. Topics included language used to refer to Autistic individuals, and words derived from language used to refer to Romani people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Animal death
Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit and Drug use
purplepenning's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
This feels like a book that didn't age well, but it was just published in 2015 (and made National Book Award finalist), so... I dunno.
The author is a talented memoirist and travel/nature writer and is clearly having a love affair of sorts with octopuses. However, although much of the book personalizes and attempts to empathize with these incredibly intelligent octopuses (which the author literally calls "inmates" when in aquariums — definitely a tone), there seems to be a sharp limit to the implications considered. For example, they get bored and enjoy interacting with puzzles and humans, but it's okay to leave a young octopus in a plain, dark, boring, solitary barrel for weeks (months?) — and then wonder about her behavioral issues? Similarly, is the end of life "dementia" they experience really inevitable or is a life in captivity and on display contributing to it (and what a flippantly brutal comment about how we "take humans with dementia 'off display'" and hide them away so it's probably okay to do that with octopuses too!)? Octopus lives are short, so grief is probably inevitable while studying them and becoming attached, but the tragic outcomes for the octopus inmates here don't seem inevitable. And while there is genuine grief in those moments, the overall tone is blithely upbeat.
The author struggled, due to an ear condition, to deep dive on her forays to see octopuses in the wild. She seems to have similarly struggled to deep dive in her examinations of their lives in captivity. Overall, it's an interesting, informative, touching observation of the lives of captive octopuses but it's not a satisfyingly full exploration of those lives or their potentials.
The author is a talented memoirist and travel/nature writer and is clearly having a love affair of sorts with octopuses. However, although much of the book personalizes and attempts to empathize with these incredibly intelligent octopuses (which the author literally calls "inmates" when in aquariums — definitely a tone), there seems to be a sharp limit to the implications considered. For example, they get bored and enjoy interacting with puzzles and humans, but it's okay to leave a young octopus in a plain, dark, boring, solitary barrel for weeks (months?) — and then wonder about her behavioral issues? Similarly, is the end of life "dementia" they experience really inevitable or is a life in captivity and on display contributing to it (and what a flippantly brutal comment about how we "take humans with dementia 'off display'" and hide them away so it's probably okay to do that with octopuses too!)? Octopus lives are short, so grief is probably inevitable while studying them and becoming attached, but the tragic outcomes for the octopus inmates here don't seem inevitable. And while there is genuine grief in those moments, the overall tone is blithely upbeat.
The author struggled, due to an ear condition, to deep dive on her forays to see octopuses in the wild. She seems to have similarly struggled to deep dive in her examinations of their lives in captivity. Overall, it's an interesting, informative, touching observation of the lives of captive octopuses but it's not a satisfyingly full exploration of those lives or their potentials.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content and Sexism
kathleencoughlin's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Interesting book about Montgomery's fascination with octopuses and the relationships she builds with them and their aquarists.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Animal death
Minor: Ableism, Blood, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Suicide
parkyparkpark's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent
mexigingerale's review against another edition
emotional
informative
fast-paced
3.0
Enjoyable enough, with a great start but then turns more into a memoir about her and her coworkers than an actual science books so that was disappointing. Certain parts made me feel Very uneasy about the way they were treating the octopuses, bordering on if not outright being animal cruelty, which the author just glossed over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Grief and Suicide
Minor: Suicide attempt
kayesomething's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Medical content
Minor: Grief
isabelmabel49's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
If you love octopuses, this book will engross you with all the funny, cute, sad, fascinating, surprising stories about these amazing cephalopods. If you're into neuroscience, the similarities between humans and other animals, or just ocean life in general, this book will also likely interest you as it delves into the complexity of octopus physiology/psychology, how humans interact with the natural world, and how much we still have left to learn about the world around us.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Self harm, and Medical content
Minor: Grief
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