A review by relf
Thin Places: A Natural History of Healing and Home by Kerri ní Dochartaigh

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

The title led me to expect a spiritual, nature-oriented meditation, and this book was that . . . but it was also the memoir of a person born in Derry, Northern Ireland, into the midst of The Troubles, and an account of the ways, both destructive and constructive, that she dealt with the trauma and grief she experienced. ni Dochartaigh's writing is beautifully poetic, focused on the natural world and wild, "thin" places--the places where borders between worlds melt away--that consistently sustained her, but it's also ruthlessly honest about her own feelings and problematic behavior. The same words, phrases, and images show up repeatedly through the book, in the way that they might in a meditative chant; there's something thought-provoking, restoring, and unifying in their appearance in those different contexts. This book will certainly stay with me. The author's recountings of her own traumas and grief are vivid enough that I might not recommend this book to someone whose own trauma or loss is very fresh, but for those still healing from past losses, I recommend it.
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