MixedOpen LettersWhether he recounts handpicking a field full of weeds or herding pooping cows back home down a country road, a sense of place is engagingly captured in stark, readable prose ... As the narrative progresses, more and more space is given to banal calls to action, which, if backed up with deep insights or genuinely new ideas, would be tolerable. But Rebanks has nothing new to offer, and what inarguable points he does make—biodiversity is good, eating locally grown food is beneficial to the environment—he does with vague sentiments ... He discards concrete details for abstract ideas ... The main problem with the book is the unevenness between its dual parts: the memoir aspects are fascinating; the essayistic parts are bad.
Catherine Raven
PositiveOpen Letters ReviewAll these scenes work in the narrative to build a sense camaraderie between Raven and Fox; collectively, they stand as a testament for the meaning and beauty in the small and seemingly insignificant moments in life ... Raven’s prose is at its best in moments like this, where she pauses to reflect and extrapolates her experience into a general sentiment. They always feel earned and are always written in a lush, elegant style ... These sections are skillfully done—they are given in frequent, short bursts throughout, never stretching on longer than necessary and persistently written in methodical and often insightful prose ... Occasionally, they can become a bit plodding, but overall, they succeed. Whether you think that these sections are earned or not will vary depending on how far you are willing to extend your imagination with Raven, who goes so far as to include brief exclamations from Fox’s point of view ... These instances are few and don’t take away from Fox’s sections—indeed, you may even find them charming— but feel out of place in a book that is taking seriously the idea that wild animals have emotions and desires similar to humans and therefore shouldn’t be treated as either hostile enemies to be killed or stupid creatures to be pitied. Raven is trying to be cute—a tone that never once encroaches on the rest of the narrative, which showcases real communication and friendship between different species ... Right up to tragic yet hopeful ending, this book is irresistible reading. Lovers of nature will appreciate Raven’s thoughtful writing about the place of humans in the natural world; Lovers of stories will be entranced by the rendering of friendship, and its strange power to change lives. Poignant and thought-provoking, Fox and I will have you re-evaluating your relationship to your local environment and the non-human animals that share it with you.
