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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'
The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson
22 reviews
foxo_cube's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
A very pensive book that's half memoir and half... collection, I suppose, of historical and scientific anecdote.
The book starts with an overview of eels, and progresses more or less chronologically, both throughout the author's childhood up to his father's death, and through the development of scientific knowledge of the eel and its prospects in the world today. It's not an in-depth icthyological text, but contains a lot of interesting information alongside its more human, emotional facets.
It reads a little flowery at times, but I tend to like that sort of thing, honestly. The chapters about eels tend to have some sort of message or life philosophy at their conclusion, and the author will often relate said message to the memoir chapters. I think that works well as a way of making the book flow as a whole.
The book caught my attention initially because I thought the cover art was pretty, and the strangeness of the poetical musings about eels that I saw when I flicked through seemed both intriguing and kind of funny to me in concept, but it does mostly manage to avoid being too silly. It certainly does its job at conveying Svensson's fascination with eels, and makes it pretty infectious, too.
The book starts with an overview of eels, and progresses more or less chronologically, both throughout the author's childhood up to his father's death, and through the development of scientific knowledge of the eel and its prospects in the world today. It's not an in-depth icthyological text, but contains a lot of interesting information alongside its more human, emotional facets.
It reads a little flowery at times, but I tend to like that sort of thing, honestly. The chapters about eels tend to have some sort of message or life philosophy at their conclusion, and the author will often relate said message to the memoir chapters. I think that works well as a way of making the book flow as a whole.
The book caught my attention initially because I thought the cover art was pretty, and the strangeness of the poetical musings about eels that I saw when I flicked through seemed both intriguing and kind of funny to me in concept, but it does mostly manage to avoid being too silly. It certainly does its job at conveying Svensson's fascination with eels, and makes it pretty infectious, too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
tinyfrogwizard's review against another edition
4.0
I did not expect to get emotional when I picked up this book but the last few chapters really hit me. I learned about eels and nearly cried at work while listening to the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
mateoj's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
yes I am crying about eels! you would cry about eels too if you read this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death of parent
and_opossum's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cancer
Minor: Death of parent
mscalls's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Death of parent
julianship's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This is not a book about eels. Well, it is, but it's also a book about the scientific process and our relationship with nature and the author's relationship with his father. It made me cry several times (this is an endorsement.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
saphirabloom's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
hanarama's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
Cw: animal death, discussion of extinction and climate change
The Good:
• Interesting overview
The Bad:
• Too much memoir
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Single topic scientific nonfiction
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
This book is filled with interesting information about eels. It feels almost like the more you learn, the less you really know about these weird creatures. By taking us from the beginnings of humans studying eels to the present day, Svensson illustrates how mysterious these slimy fish really are.
Sprinkled throughout the scientific information are memoir-esque stories that reveal the author's personal relationship to eels and how eels played an important role in his and his father's relationship. I found these moments interesting to start, as it underlined the continuing importance of eels to humans. However, as the book went on, I felt these stories didn't add much. As a memoir, they're fine, but I picked up this book to learn about eels, not read fishing stories
The Good:
• Interesting overview
The Bad:
• Too much memoir
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Single topic scientific nonfiction
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
This book is filled with interesting information about eels. It feels almost like the more you learn, the less you really know about these weird creatures. By taking us from the beginnings of humans studying eels to the present day, Svensson illustrates how mysterious these slimy fish really are.
Sprinkled throughout the scientific information are memoir-esque stories that reveal the author's personal relationship to eels and how eels played an important role in his and his father's relationship. I found these moments interesting to start, as it underlined the continuing importance of eels to humans. However, as the book went on, I felt these stories didn't add much. As a memoir, they're fine, but I picked up this book to learn about eels, not read fishing stories
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
megj23's review against another edition
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
blackrabbitrun's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
It's a fine enough read, but I have no idea why it became such a spectacle (two years after publication and the library queue was six months!). The book is roughly half about eels and the history of Europeans trying to figure out eels, mostly fruitlessly, and half about this guy's relationship with his father. The eel parts are fascinating and the family relationship parts sympathetic, but where the two intersect (increasingly towards the end when he's trying to pull it into a grand thesis) it slightly turns into white man navelgazing.
Also Sigmund Freud was an incel but that isn't news.
Also Sigmund Freud was an incel but that isn't news.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent