Margaret Renkl

Just like The Comfort of Crows, Late Migrations dives right into deaths of animals
followed by the "pond is dying" - the starling hanging itself, dead dog...

WE GET IT! Without Death, there is no Life, yet do readers need to know this on every other page?!?

How about trying: Let's Love and Enjoy Life Without the constant reminders of Death...?

She shows compassion only for certain creatures.
She does not lower herself to the soil to try to comprehend the beauty and insights of the rest.
She offers nothing for the mealworms who tuck themselves around her fingers,
hoping she will save them from her determined fate.

I gave up with their dead cockatiel pet and skimmed the balance of the rest: "monstrous in death...."… (more)

Love the front of chapter quotes and Billy Renkl's 5 STAR brilliant art (exception = the dying on Page 256).
It is for his photographs, paintings, drawings, and composition that the book will be kept, not for the words.

From the beginning - "Lord what fool this mortal be..." where I have no clue which metaphor she means -
then onto the constant, unremitting phases of death: Is there really no Love for Life without Death?

Deadwood, dead December, all the dead and dying animals, including her personal experiences
with killing them

(WHY the author needed to share ALL this? Does it heighten anyone's Joy? - or even help to avoid repeating her mistakes?
our Monarchs raised on the kitchen table survive well and depart our backyard with strong flying wings to head south),

endless reminders of stupidity of human exploitation, poisoning, and destruction -
yet with NO clues at to what Actions she will take!

More second guessing when she actually braves the forces of nature and helps an animal -
aren't we part of nature and so contribute our help?

Onto horrible images of dead rat snake, dying mealworms, dead car driver,
little mole hands in coyote scat, dead "baby chick" "story" -
feeding live crickets and "roll-poly" to toads with zero compassion for death of live creatures -
Gerbil "story" should make your day...along with the dead cottontails and the three birds...

Endless handwringing with no Links to organizations that will help animals and the environment,
not even an invitation to join her in writing to Joe to ask him to stop Daylight Savings after we earn the good Hour...… (more)