Reviews

The World As We Knew It by Tajja Isen, Amy Brady

arayo's review against another edition

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informative sad

4.0

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

oisin175's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Emotional essays looking at the personal impacts of climate change from an experiential perspective. Rather than the normal approach of showing the desperate and physically harmful impacts to society or individuals, these essays really impress with how even the normal aspects of everyday life that we take for granted are unstable. We will all face loss. Some of that loss will be dramatic and immediate, but much of the loss will be discovered in minor changes that eventually lead us to the understanding that we have left a worse world behind us. Knowing that I can't share the joys of my own childhood with my children because the world has already changed so much is a new kind of depressing.

glossy's review against another edition

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informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

annalise's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

hakawatiyya's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

linda48's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

kceuler's review against another edition

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4.0

Overall, a powerful, well-curated collection.

I read one or two essays each sitting and suggest that because some of these are so heavy that to really appreciate them you almost do have to take the time to sit with one.

My personal favorites were "Unearthing" by Lidia Yuknavitch, "Until This Snow Reaches the Ocean" by Nickolas Butler (really powerful pieces about parenting in the face of climate disaster), and "Season of Sickness" by Porochista Khakpour (which really drives home the added burden of pre-existing conditions in the face of a changing climate).

kaitlynhermansen's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s not frequently someone like me (a hater) sits down and enjoys every piece of work in an anthology. This may be the first. Not one of these did I skip or dislike. Each essay was beautifully written, poignant, and important. This was so well curated and I have written each of these essay writers down to find more of their work. 

shonatiger's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 generally, but Delia Falconer's Signs and Wonders —final essay—made the collection for me. Wonderful.