If you’re to Google this book, you’ll note that it is the winner of the Australian Book Industry BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD (emphasis not added, this just seems to be an award that comes with CAPITAL LETTERS). You’ll read that it is about ‘awe, wonder, and things that sustain us’.
If you access the audiobook version, as I did, you’ll experience hours of Baird’s breathless, softly spoken and earnest voice in your ears.
You’ll hear her talk of surviving cancer, and relationship breakdowns. She muses on god and the power of religion. She extols the virtues of swimming, the evils of technology, and the wonders of nature, and and and…
It’s a gathering together of all the things we know. Cancer treatment is awful. Friendships are important. Glowing aquatic life is nifty. Sexist church rules are dumb. Children are little miracles.
Sigh… perhaps I’m too jaded for a book like this.
I listened to this book on my daily commute. I try to pick audio books for this walk that put me in the right mindset to transition from home to work, so that I arrive fresh, positive and ready. Sometimes Baird’s soft and soothing vocals had the effect of perhaps making my morning a little more positive, so that’s a win, I suppose. Though it aimed to be educational, I certainly didn’t learn anything new from it.
Mostly though, it was just another thing I felt I had to get done in the morning.
As a person, I feel for Baird. She is a well-known Australian journalist who has been battling cancer on and off for many years, yet she consistently features prominently in our media landscape. I particularly liked her recent take on Harry’s plight. She’s a journalist who is more than merely intelligent, she also has great empathy. But sadly her book really didn’t hit the mark for me. Perhaps that says more about me and my failings than hers. It did win the BOOK OF THE YEAR award, after all.
Nevertheless, it’s 2 illusive glowing jellyfish out of 5 for me.
