REVIEW | Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang
“I’ve been called magic, but I wouldn’t use that term exactly. I like to think of myself as always being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. Very rarely am I simply in an acceptable place at a generally convenient time. That said, I find those rare occasions very pleasant, mostly because they give me time to work on my crosswords.”
Themes:
- Family dynamics
- Nature’s raw power
- Finding your purpose
When I read the synopsis for this book, I became immediately convinced that I’d love it. Once I had the book in my hands, I began with apprehension, because my expectations were high! I can happily say, those expectations were exceeded. This book is MAGICAL.
Brimming with whimsy and wildlife, quirky personalities and human complexity, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance was a joy to read.
Throughout the book, our protagonist, Weylyn, finds himself within a few different family dynamics. It inspires thoughtfulness on the reader’s part, and is an element of the story that captured my attention early on and entertained throughout. It created a sort of examination of human life through Weylyn’s observations. His wildness lent him a fascinating and believable naïveté through which the reader explores average things through a new lens.
In honor of tomorrow’s holiday, I thought a post about gratitude was in order. So today, we’ll be visiting with Mary Oliver. If you’ve never read anything by her, prepare yourself. This woman is magnificent, and I’m convinced her poetry can move even the most stoic and unpoetic of individuals. If you’ve not figured it out from the last two sentences, Mary Oliver is my favorite poet. And she often talks about gratitude. “Messenger”, which is one of the poems in the collection titled 
