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A review by bex_knighthunterbooks
Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life by George Monbiot
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I have historically really enjoyed Monbiot's articles and so I bought this years back convinced I was going to love it, and really excited to learn more about rewilding. A few years ago I then picked it up and managed about 30 pages before giving up. This time I finished it but I can totally see why I struggled that first time!
This book was such a mixed experience for me. Some parts I was bored and frustrated by a combination of the writing style and Monbiot choosing to focus on his 'adventures' (mostly involving fishing), which felt gratuitous and a little egotistical. Other parts were absolutely fascinating and I found myself reading whole pages out loud to my husband - I learned a lot and do feel this managed to get into good detail on the topic of rewilding. I found this book strongest in the parts leaning into a journalistic style, talking politics and policy, history, or science in an accessible and motivating way. I then didn't enjoy the parts leaning more into memoir or nature writing, especially as too often he tends to throw us straight into the 'action' without explaining why I should care about his kayaking trip or trip into nature. The nature writing also just didn't paint a picture for me with too many convoluted similes or words I don't recognise (usually specific nature terminology e.g. species names). Luckily, there were less memoir/nature writing sections further into the book.
I'm glad I read this because of the ideas it introduced to me, and I appreciated that this book wasn't afraid to tackle some trickier topics such as what policies are in the way of rewilding and its troubling and colonial history (e.g. involving the Nazis), but I don't think I'd recommend it to a wider audience. It might hit better for those with similar interests to Monbiot, and an interest in fishing in particular.
This book was such a mixed experience for me. Some parts I was bored and frustrated by a combination of the writing style and Monbiot choosing to focus on his 'adventures' (mostly involving fishing), which felt gratuitous and a little egotistical. Other parts were absolutely fascinating and I found myself reading whole pages out loud to my husband - I learned a lot and do feel this managed to get into good detail on the topic of rewilding. I found this book strongest in the parts leaning into a journalistic style, talking politics and policy, history, or science in an accessible and motivating way. I then didn't enjoy the parts leaning more into memoir or nature writing, especially as too often he tends to throw us straight into the 'action' without explaining why I should care about his kayaking trip or trip into nature. The nature writing also just didn't paint a picture for me with too many convoluted similes or words I don't recognise (usually specific nature terminology e.g. species names). Luckily, there were less memoir/nature writing sections further into the book.
I'm glad I read this because of the ideas it introduced to me, and I appreciated that this book wasn't afraid to tackle some trickier topics such as what policies are in the way of rewilding and its troubling and colonial history (e.g. involving the Nazis), but I don't think I'd recommend it to a wider audience. It might hit better for those with similar interests to Monbiot, and an interest in fishing in particular.