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A review by asolis
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
2.5
A mix of memoir, biography, popular science, and a bit of self-help. From childhood, the author is unmoored by her father's nihilistic yet unshakably optimistic approach to life. Here she looks to the life story of David Starr Jordan for perspective.
The content is primarily dedicated to Jordan's story, whom we come to find is a notably repellent human. The author does a good job of giving us a look under the hood at the story of someone who could be considered a scientific hero, and showing the ugliness of bigotry and white supremacist ideology underneath. But the framing presents this in the context of a memoir, even though Miller is stingy with her own story. That, despite its other strengths, makes the book feel unsatisfying.
CW: self harm, substance abuse, sexual assault, state violence
The content is primarily dedicated to Jordan's story, whom we come to find is a notably repellent human. The author does a good job of giving us a look under the hood at the story of someone who could be considered a scientific hero, and showing the ugliness of bigotry and white supremacist ideology underneath. But the framing presents this in the context of a memoir, even though Miller is stingy with her own story. That, despite its other strengths, makes the book feel unsatisfying.
CW: self harm, substance abuse, sexual assault, state violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Racism, Self harm, and Murder