After the death of her nature-loving mother, Margaret Renkl tenderly placed in an antique jar the "soft white hair" left behind in her mother's hairbrush. Years passed. When it no longer carried the scent (气味) she treasured, Renkl laid the hair across a tree branch in her yard. This act was meant as a direct invitation to the birds in her yard, and it was accepted: A bird used the hair for the nest it was building.
Renkl devotes only a half-page to this story, but it conveys the beautiful interaction of human and other animal lives at the heart of The Comfort of Crows. Starting in winter and continuing through the seasonal round, Renkl brings alive in 52 chapters her love for the animals and plants in her half-acre (半英亩) yard in Tennessee and in nearby parks. Equally moving, she admits her desperation at the human-caused crisis the natural world faces, and her determination not to back off.
Her determination is more than lip service. She cures a neighborhood fox against a skin disease, with the help of a trap, a bit of bacon, and advice from an animal doctor; ensures that leaves from the trees in her yard are not gathered so that insects overwinter and hungry birds can dine there; fills a garden with milkweed in support of monarch butterflies.
With these steps, Renkl refuses to give up in the face of human-caused global warming that is changing our environment and harming other species. In these days of climate crisis, the phenomenon of ecological anxiety is real. In order to seize opportunities to help, many of us do require fuel to restore our spirits. Find that fuel in Renkl's chapters of The Comfort of Crows. The animals and plants so cherished by Renkl need us now more than ever.
C Pessimistic yet tolerant. D. Regretful yet hopeful.
