World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Synopsis

"As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance." What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts." -Goodreads

Review

I usually don’t gravitate toward nonfiction, but since World of Wonders is Barnes and Nobel's Book of the Year for 2020, I decided to give it a go. It's a quick and easy read, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. Aimee takes moments of her life and juxtaposes them with passages that recall the beauty of animals and plants. Beautiful illustrations done by Fumi Mini Nakamura accompany the essays, creating an organic visual tie. Aimee's intent seems to implore readers to take more moments to acknowledge the outside world’s beauty. By doing so, we can form more significant connections to our environments and other creatures. There are sections of the memoir where Aimee also touches on the importance of protecting species in their natural habitats and how this is becoming more difficult with habitat destruction.

Although the memoir acknowledges species protection, it was still difficult for me to fully connect, given my stance on animal rights. Aimee does discuss love and appreciation for animals but fails to address the larger implications of animal abuse and the environmental impacts caused by consuming animals. In one essay, Aimee explains how she "had fresh calamari about twice a week" while staying in Thanos, Greece. On the same trip, her son captures an octopus and places it into the author's hands, only to die shortly after. Even though sadness is tied to this recollection, she ends the essay by explaining how her "son never ate an Octopus again." Apparently, the experience was not enough for the author to change habits, especially considering the health concerns and environmental ramifications of eating seafood. Maybe my current analysis is pedantic, but as a reader, I may be able to forgive her discretions and lack of knowledge if she had not called out others for theirs. For example, in her essay discussing cassowaries, she claims:

"If the cassowary population decreases, so does the proliferation of fruit trees, and with that, hundreds of animals and insects then become endangered. Boom, I want to tell the people at Siesta Key, whom I see dumping empty potato chip bags into the shrubs of sea grapes from my blanket on the beach. Boom to the man in the truck in front of me on highway 6, who tossed a whole empty fast food sack out his window and then, later, a couple of still-lit cigarettes. Boom, I want to say to the family who left their empty plastic water bottles on a bench at Niagara Falls State Park, only to have two of them blow over and plummet into the falls. Don't you see? We are all connected. Boom."

What Aimee says is true. Our actions often have substantial consequences, but she fails to mention how corporations and our capitalist way of life is the real culprit. Especially when just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of greenhouse emissions, that does not even account for animal agriculture and other companies who cause significant destruction across the globe.

To be fair, World of Wonders is mainly about the author's experiences with racism, fitting in, dating, family, and how turning to nature was a solace through both good and bad times. On the other hand, since Nezhukumatathil does mention habitat loss and species extinction (a large intent of the memoir), it might as well be done to its full extent.

There is also a lot of "name dropping" that comes in the form of travel. Aimee has scuba dived with whale sharks, stayed in Greece with students and her family, and lived in a beautiful area of land in Mississippi. With these comforts and privileges, it seems easier to blame people who lack the education she was granted rather than corporations or larger institutions responsible for the greatest loss of species extinction and climate change. I will say that Aimee Nezhukumatathil's memoir calls attention to the importance of finding connections with nature given our busy lives, but it does not offer much more than that. Essentially, it seems Aimee had been given the advantage of taking time to explore her environments relatively safely while growing up, which cannot be said for many economically disadvantaged people.

Overall, Aimee is sentimental in how she addresses the love she has for her family, but some of the connections she tries to make between animals or plants and her own experiences feel contrived. It's a great concept, but it felt more like a first draft and was not executed as well as I expected.