Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Birdgirl: A Young Environmentalist Looks to the Skies in Search of a Better Future

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Birdgirl: A Young Environmentalist Looks to the Skies in Search of a Better Future by Mya-Rose Craig

7 reviews

kirstym25's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced

3.5

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siobhanward's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

I have a healthy respect for birds (because one day if they take over the world, I want them to spare my life), and an appreciation for birders and birding. While I certainly don't have the patience for birding, I respect the obsessive nature of most birders, making lists and spreadsheets, planning months in advance for a possible glimpse of a bird.

Craig's account of her life as a birder, her birding trips with her family, navigating her mother's mental illness and her experience as a person of colour in a white hobby was fascinating, heartbreaking and human. Craig didn't shy away from hard moments, nor did she minimize the great moments of her time as a birder. She had a lot to cover in this book: not only has she seen 5000+ birds across 40 countries and 7 continents, she is also a very accomplished activist. It didn't feel like any part of her story was missed or given too little attention. She seems like an incredibly interesting person and a force of a woman and I'm excited to see what she does in the future.

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kristenreads's review against another edition

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

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tracey1981's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

3.5

I didn’t know much at all about the author before picking up this memoir, just that the story revolved around birds, environmental work and mental health. That was all accurate. I found the main character’s passion for birds and work for conservation which both began at a very young age inspiring. I would have liked a more compelling hook, or something to drive the story forward but I was still glad to learn about this young woman and her family. I agree with what others have said about the birds being so vital to this story that this book really should have had full colour photos of the birds. I appreciated her candour about her mother’s mental health but sometimes found the different aspects of the story didn’t really come together to form as strong a narrative as they could have. I read some of this on paper and listened to some on audio and both versions worked. The author does a good job narrating the audiobook.

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jlye's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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kirstym25's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.5

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serendipitysbooks's review

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Birdgirl is the autobiography of a British young birder, environmentalist and diversity activist, who has traveled to all seven continents, viewed half of the world’s bird species and advocates for environmental and conservation groups to put more effort into encouraging involvement from visible ethnic minorities. I thought she beautifully captured the joys and delights of birding - that magical moment when you finally see a sought after species - as well as the frustrations when, despite your best efforts, the bird proves elusive. However, I do have some concerns about the extreme twitching that she and her family enjoy, and wasn’t fully convinced by her efforts to justify it environmentally. I think it is also important to note the very privileged position she grew up in birding wise - the child of keen birders who were willing and financially able to travel the country and the world in pursuit of birds. Her ornithological achievements must be viewed in this context. This is not to downplay her achievements or deny the disadvantages she has faced, particularly the indefensible racism and Islamophobia she’s had to contend with online, but also the mere fact of being a young brown woman in a field dominated by older white men, no matter how welcoming or encouraging. The other part of this book that caught my attention was her mother’s bipolar disorder and the impact it had on the family as well as on their birding. I thought Craig wrote about this honestly, perceptively and with compassion.

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