This month’s Book Club choice is Nature Cure by the award winning naturalist Richard Mabey.
I met Richard Mabey last October at Jarrolds in Norwich where he was writer in residence for a couple days during the stores’ week of literary events. I self-consciously introduced myself as the EDP’s new book club person and, among other things, we talked about where we lived. He asked me if I liked Wymondham and I made some quite boring remark about enjoying pottering about the town centre on a Saturday morning. Later I thought maybe I should have said that my appreciation of the town is enhanced by knowing something of its human history and then we could have talked about the similarities between studying natural history which is what he does and studying human history which is what I used to do. Instead I bought a copy of Nature Cure which is an account of the depression which took away two years of his life and of his recovery after moving to south Norfolk.
I don’t often read books in one sitting but the following Saturday afternoon, a cold day in Wymondham, I sat in front of a warming fire and read Nature Cure without a break apart from a couple of cups of tea. A friend of mine says that I am quite often more interested in reading about the lives of writers than I am reading what they have written. I think I get more from a book, whether fiction or non-fiction, knowing something about the author. I believe the reason I got so absorbed in Nature Cure was because I was finding out about someone’s life at the same time as appreciating what he obviously does to perfection – writing about nature. Nature Cure is simply a lovely and fascinating book.
Nature Cure isn’t a book I would have automatically picked up to read. I much prefer fiction to autobiography and memoir. However I was tempted after reading Jeff’s introduction to give it a try. At first I thought why did I buy this? I thought it pretentious and contrived although I did finish reading it. I began to wonder why I found it pretentious. Is it more to do with me rather than Richard Mabey and maybe it is the reason I prefer fiction to non-fiction. I think it is easier in non-fiction to obviously show off. Non-fiction is essentially about extolling knowledge and I find people who have a huge amount of knowledge about a subject, who are experts, usually quite pompous. I’m not sure if this is because I’m jealous of their expertise or because they really are pompous. Maybe a mixture of both.
Maybe I was in auto pomposity hating mode when I reacted to Richard Mabey’s obvious expertise with regard to the natural world. I gave him a second chance and began to read bits of the book again. I then began to enjoy his expertise which has obviously been so much a part of him since his childhood. I felt that he was almost being like one of the animals he was describing, as if a bird or a deer had suddenly been given the power of speech. However I still thought the book was contrived. Linking his depression to the state of the world and the behaviour of other animals. Why wasn’t he writing in a very natural free flowing way. Isn’t that what a bird would do – a stream of consciousness thing. Then I thought maybe the writing had started like this with impressions, reactions, notes in a book. Like a bird constructing a nest he would then take these bits and construct something which was as well crafted, enough to help him survive – a book which would provide the financial rewards to help build his own nest.
When I say I prefer fiction I do also enjoy travel writing – the sort which concentrates on people and places. Maybe because you don’t have to be an obvious expert to understand human behaviour. It is something which comes natural to us all.
Writing Nature Cure has obviously helped Richard Mabey deal with his depression. I come away from the book with one question unanswered. Why did it take so long for his friends to provide help and understanding? He was lucky that eventually people did rally round. Some people don’t have that luck.
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