How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in 13 Animals by Sy Montgomery

Source: Toadbooks

How to be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery

Published in 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: Memoir, non-fiction, animals

Format: Audible, 3 hours and 42 minutes

Read: Listened in March

Goodreads Summary

National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals--her friends--who have profoundly affected her in this stunning, poetic, and life-affirming memoir featuring illustrations by Rebecca Green.

Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet's rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy's life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets.

This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals--Sy's friends--and the truths revealed by their grace. It also explores vast themes: the otherness and sameness of people and animals; the various ways we learn to love and become empathetic; how we find our passion; how we create our families; coping with loss and despair; gratitude; forgiveness; and most of all, how to be a good creature in the world.

My Thoughts

Source: Sy Montgomery's website

Every encounter she has with animals is one where she reflects and learns from each and every one. I love animals but I can't compete with the empathy and genuine love she has for each creature she has encountered. Her encounter with an exotic tarantula from Brazil was poetic. The way she was able to be apart of the emu bird group in Australia was brilliant. And these stories are only the animals she didn't take home with her! Her stories of her border collies and her pet pig Chris are truly tear-jerkers.

I listened to this and Montgomery reads her own memoir. You can feel the emotion and love and tenderness she has for each of these creatures and the memories and experiences she has shared with them. And she has literally given her life over to animals. They truly are her family. Her love and empathy is palpable. I just ugly-cried in the car when her animals passed away.

I'd like to buy the book because the artwork is so pretty and I'd love to share this one with my son as well. It's a gorgeous book on the variety of ways these creatures have taught her all about being a good human.

*Linked up with Doing Dewey's Nonfiction Friday posts