If one was asked to define what 'nature writing' really means, it might be more of a challenge than one might think. I, for one, was asking myself this question while reading The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell.
I'm on a bit of a nature writing stint at the moment. I've read nearly the entire backlist of Robert Macfarlane, have dipped into Roger Deakin, have got Nan Shepherd lined up; I've read about figs and oak trees and pebbles, and have had a blast doing it. With this book though, I had to question the very nature of nature writing. Something just wasn't right.
The Wild Remedy declares itself to be a diary, and the idea is so lovely - in a nutshell, Emma Mitchell sets out to explore the healing effects of nature through her own grapple with depression, diarizing her walks with her dog, Annie, and her various adventures in search of natural wonders in the UK. Just the kind of thing that should fit into my above 'starter pack' in nature writing, in theory.
What did I like about it?
It's true that this book looks absolutely stunning. Emma is a talented illustrator and photographer (as well as hoarder of beautiful little things - a true soulmate to me), and the book is peppered with her artwork, illustrating her stories, which I think not enough books in this area do. With other books, I often find myself googling as I go along, looking up plants and animals and places I can hardly imagine; with Emma's book, I didn't have to. I absolutely loved every little piece of art in there.
She has really good knowledge of her local flora and wildlife, as well as those of the areas that she ventures to throughout the book, from Suffolk to Pembrokeshire. Her insider knowledge of bird habits or flowering seasons really helped feel just as excited as she did upon finding a rare wild orchid or seeing the first snowdrops of the year.
What was I not massively fond of?
It's with regret that I have to say that Emma's writing style just did not appeal to me. Sometimes she ventured into that - for me at least - over-sentimental language that sometimes threatened Adam Weymouth too, but unlike Adam, I didn't feel that she could then successfully navigate back to solid ground.
It's most likely unfair for me to say this, but as a reader, I felt that she held back too much detail about her personal life too. For a book that intends to open up honestly about depression and experiencing it day-to-day, it would often only state something like 'something bad had happened' or 'bad periods'. And, due to this, I had trouble identifying with the heaviness of depression itself. Of course, it's easy for me to say I would have been honest about all these things - who knows?
My final bone to pick with Emma is her fondness of technical language when it comes to her depression, which often feels forced. She hovers between a lyrical, poetic work that describes both depression and nature in flowery detail, and presenting research into depression without actually saying much about it. The blurb promises that she "explains the science behind such changes, calling on new research" - none of which really happens in my opinion. She seems very keen on the word 'neurotransmitters', and passages like this made me weary: "My overwhelming urge to stay in the house and barely move comes from my susceptibility to the lower levels of bright sunlight in late autumn and winter, causing my energy levels to falter. This is combined with the long-term effects of family anxieties and pressures, leading to raised stress levels..." It feels a bit like reading a textbook.
I don't mean to criticize the author herself, nor to demean the seriousness of the condition she has to battle every day. I think it all comes down to writing style, which in this case to me felt jarring.
Overall...
It's a shame that I didn't enjoy her style, because the topic of the book is a great one. The execution deserves the highest praise, because despite this being primarily a piece of non-fiction, it would easily pass as a coffee table book. And I'm sure others might enjoy the writing, too. Don't expect to find out much about how nature heals us, apart from the fact that it truly does - which in itself is a miracle - but if you give yourself over to purely the stories of the author's adventures, you will enjoy a pleasant enough read.
5/10
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