There is something about getting back out to nature — especially when we are at home right now — that is so appealing and calming. While it might be harder to escape physically right now, this collection of short essays will at least allow you to imagine you’re breathing in fresh air, listening to bird call, and getting away from the rest of the world for a little while.
Vesper Flights has essays about nature — trees, volcanoes, many kinds of birds. And those essays are really good. Learning about research on the environment and how quickly the physical world is changing, the birds that fly above the Empire State Building and how lights can have a negative effect on migrating birds, and the vesper flights of the swifts who sleep 10,000 feet in the air while flying was interesting, and I really enjoyed learning new things about the natural world around us.
But I found the human elements of the story even more magical. From “Inspector Calls” about an 8-year-old boy with autism who forms a deep connection with the author’s parrot during a house tour to “Goats,” a sweet and funny memory about the author’s late father and a goat, when the author shared specific stories about her own personal (human) experiences, I just felt more connected with what she was sharing and found it endearing.
I also appreciated the social commentary she shared in her essays. The most poignant was probably in the essay titled “Vesper Flights,” where she talks about the swifts that take these vesper flights as a flock to and who rely on each other for their immediate and long-term safety. She says:
“Swifts are my fable of community, teaching us about how to make right decisions in the face of oncoming bad weather, in the face of clouds that sit like dark rubble on our own horizon.”
Working together for the betterment of the community as a whole is an important message, especially for where we are in society today. Perhaps if we took our influence from nature, we’d have a better chance of breaking through some of this chaos and changing things for the better.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Grove Press in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.