Urggghghhghifadjghgh. I hate it when books are important but just not well written. The memoir parts are cloying and simplistic, the details about when and where Watt-Cloutier became in charge of what are dull, and the real meat of the argument, when she actually talks about policy, especially Indigenous resource extraction in the Arctic, where she really shines, is pushed away to the back. She says it again and again: her goal is to put a human face on climate change in the Arctic, and so, obviously, in a book about her, she (along with some family members) is the human face, but it ends up being a “and then this happened and then this happened” until she gets to her arguments in the end. Interspersing different arguments with human faces maybe would have kept my attention more.
I know you’re not enjoying that book Geoff says to me. Because it’s the fourth night you are reading it.
On one hand, you should read it because you should learn about the Arctic and climate change and bad things happening (which always gives me anxiety and makes me feel helpless because I feel helpless with all this), but on the other hand, it’s kind of like lumpy oatmeal, so eat it ‘cuz it’s good for you but there’s probably a more palatable style that the oatmeal could have been presented in.
The Right To Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier went on sale (in the US, it’s been out awhile here in Canada) May 1, 2018.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.