Small Bodies of Water
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
'Remarkable' Robert Macfarlane
'Gorgeous' Amy Liptrot
'Urgent and nourishing' Jessica J. Lee
Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.
In lyrical, powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together memories, dreams and nature writing. Exploring everything from migration, food, family, earthquakes and the ancient lunisolar calendar, Nina reflects on a girlhood spent growing up between two cultures, and what it means to belong.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this insightful if scattered essay collection, poet Powles (Magnolia: Poems) reflects on her identity as a white and Malaysian Chinese New Zealander. Powles spent her childhood in Wellington, New Zealand; New York; and Shanghai, and often visited Malaysia, and her fragmented life serves as inspiration for these 16 essays that bounce between topics and often invoke the natural world. Viewing the waterfalls of Mount Kinabalu near her grandparents' home in Malaysia brings up memories of how the "inner geography" of their house was marked by "the blue coastline." In her parents' garden by the sea, she looks at the kowhai tree, the unofficial national flower of New Zealand, and recalls trying to spot similar trees in London. Cloud forests and pebbled shorelines are evoked in gorgeous imagery, but some entries tend to ramble, as with "The Safe Zone" which begins with a discussion of earthquakes before veering into Powles's obsession with orcas, and then turning into a brief recollection of the author receiving counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder after two men broke into her apartment. Not every piece is a winner, but nature-minded fans of the personal essay will find plenty to like.
