Review by Booklist Review
Science journalist Imbler pairs vibrant descriptions of the lives of wondrous creatures of the deep with candid accounts of her experiences as a mixed-race and queer individual seeking their place in an often inhospitable world. Imbler portrays wild goldfish, a self-sacrificing mother octopus, nearly extinct Chinese sturgeon, and besieged whales, detailing the marvels of each species' anatomy, ways of being, and threats to their survival due to human environmental destruction and the resulting climate change. In each essay, the author also chronicles their own struggles with body image, sexuality, sexual assault, difficult relationships, and intrusive and offensive reactions to their being the child of a Chinese mother and a white father. As Imbler illuminates the camouflage of cuttlefish, the hunting strategies of the large marine worm known as the sand striker and the defensive tactics of it prey, hybrid butterfly fish, and the swarming of the zooplankton called salps, they find parallels to racism, the quest to be one's true self, and the power of community. Imbler's insightful blend of marine biology and memoir is utterly captivating and complexly elucidating.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this captivating debut, science writer Imbler shines a light on the mysterious sea creatures that live in Earth's most inhospitable reaches, drawing parallels to their own experience of adaptation and survival. In "My Mother and the Starving Octopus," Imbler describes octopus brooding--a process during which a female starves and withers to death while protecting her eggs--and uses it as a poignant launching point to delve into the ramifications of their mother's disordered relationship with food. In "Pure Life," Imbler considers the yeti crab, marveling at how it survives atop hydrothermal vents, little islands of heat on the ocean floor, and recounts their own experience craving closeness: "I wanted communities that warmed me until I tingled." Science, race, and the act of writing are at the core of the deeply personal "Hybrids," in which Imbler describes their fixation on a butterflyfish that was the offspring of two different species and dissects their changing experience writing about race. Imbler's ability to balance illuminating science journalism with candid personal revelation is impressive, and the mesmerizing glints of lyricism are a treat. This intimate deep dive will leave readers eager to see where Imbler goes next. (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Revealing the glories of marine life through 10 distinctive creatures, like the mother octopus who starves herself while tending her eggs, science writer Imbler then reveals their own experiences as a queer, biracial author to connect these often endangered sea creatures to marginalized human communities.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Part memoir and part study of the intricacies of the ocean, this exploration invites readers to imagine alternative ways of living. In a book that is much more than an account of deep-sea creatures, journalist Imbler compellingly examines the parallels between the lives and priorities of people and aquatic animals. The author's ability to locate connections across seemingly disparate topics--e.g., their experience with sexual assault and the life of a 10-foot-long worm called a sand striker--is both unique and engaging. Occasionally, Imbler's juxtaposition of marine and human life feels forced, but the overall effect is heartening and encourages a reexamination of inherited ideas about family, community, and identity. Offering sometimes-graphic descriptions of the ways in which humankind has chemically altered or thoughtlessly killed individual creatures and entire species, Imbler does not shy away from highlighting the impact of the devastating effects of climate change on the mysterious inhabitants of the sea. Among the fascinating creatures the author profiles are octopus; cuttlefish; the Chinese sturgeon, "which resembles something from a past world, when scaled giants roamed the earth and the continents still clung together"; and yeti crabs, whose "inhospitable" environment, 7,000 feet below the surface, "is nothing to be pitied. The pressure does not crush the crab, and the darkness does not oppress it." Woven throughout the author's colorful depictions of underwater animals are equally vivid chronicles of the difficulties they have faced in their life, including disordered eating, sexual assault, racism, homophobia, and more. "Like a dutiful little trash compactor," they write, "I had digested my messy heap of an identity into a manageable lesson for people who were not like me." Imbler's thoughtful presentation of their identity manages to be educational without being didactic, and their entertaining anecdotes about some bizarre animals and their behavior recalls Ed Yong's An Immense World. Elegant, thought-provoking comparisons between aspects of identity and the trials of deep-sea creatures. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
