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Reviews tagging 'War'
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
19 reviews
lazlio's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: War and Rape
jazhandz's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
throwback682's review
5.0
Perhaps it’s a string of long strange similes that forces you to re-examine your assumptions about both marine life and humans.
How does a book flow seamlessly from Lorena Bobbitt to Brock Turner to dead whales to immortal jellyfish? From strap-ons to gender dysphoria to biracial identities to crabs huddled together on the edge of a volcanic vent at the bottom of the ocean? From mother octopuses starving to death for their babies to alcoholism to rape? From the NYC dyke march and the queer history of a tuberculosis hospital to cuttlefish camouflage? It shouldn’t all be able to fit in one book but it does and it’s spectacular. Example: at one point they perform a necropsy on an early queer relationship after a breakup.
I had to take breaks during some of the heavier subject matter and you should definitely check the trigger warnings but for me it was well worth the pain. What a brilliant piece of art. The synergy of all the myriad pieces of this book is extremely powerful.
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, War, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
TW: victim blaming, sexual assaultkaydee_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Fatphobia, War, Lesbophobia, and Toxic relationship
skbat's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, War, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Racism, Rape, Violence, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Body horror
tiffanyjeannine's review
4.0
Graphic: War, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Classism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Homophobia
marstone's review
5.0
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: War and Colonisation
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
4.5
I really loved this collection - it's a blend of nature writing and memoir. The author relates the lives and science behind 10 different creatures to a particular aspect of their life and experiences. For example, their gender explorations, their grandparents' stories in WW2 China, and the eating disorder they experienced as a teen. I appreciated how Imbler made those connections and used metaphor to expand on both sides of the concept - it's not always easy to balance the nature with the personal in an engaging and accurate way.
The writing itself was straightforward and lacking that lyrical, more poetic writing a lot of nature and memoir writing can have and that I tend to prefer (less Braiding Sweetgrass style, if that's a helpful reference). However, the authorial voice and the occasional joke or sarcastic aside worked for me. It's also very much a collection of essay chapters, so there's less of a connecting thread (aside from the high-level concept) across chapters.
In terms of the animals themselves, I either learned a lot about them or got a refresher on ones I’m more familiar with. The sand striker, octopus, cuttlefish, and whales were some of my favourites but honestly all 10 creatures were fascinating in their own way. And the chapter art was so good - it’s hand drawn line art (the artist is listed in the acknowledgments) and compensated for the lack of full colour photo inserts that I wish the book had had a budget for.
Overall, if you like blends of nature and memoir - and especially if you're looking for more queer and/or BIPOC (specifically mixed race Chinese-white) representation in your science/memoir writing - I recommend checking this book out. (Which the author so aptly points out is a hyperfocus of people in the chapter about hybrid animals).
CW: discussions of eating disorders and attempts to lose weight unhealthily as a teen, sexual assault and substance-induced blackout periods of sexual activity where consent cannot be given, brief discussions of war and the Japanese invasion of China in WW2
Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, War, Body shaming, and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs
bishopbox's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Racism, War, Stalking, and Animal death
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
vangaldk's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: Eating disorder, War, Dementia, and Genocide