by Dawnell Smith
Some of my friends steer clear of tough subjects when choosing books, at least some of the time. They want light reading to escape the real world and have some fun. (Strangely, some of these books involve mysterious dark forces and blood-sucking romance with a lot of bloodshed, but who am I to judge.)
I love many of those books, too, but–and maybe I’m misinterpreting fun, here–I feel most exhilarated with books of all genres that willfully bite into and chew on the bumpy, dark terrain of human behavior and experience.
It’s possible that Marybeth Holleman’s first novel, “Bloom Again,” appeals to both these reading preferences. Yes, the novel delves into the climate crisis, but it centers its story on the trajectory of two childhood friends who reconnect as women in the middle of their lives—people who continue to learn, laugh, love, create and take chances that can transform their lives. (Read Nancy Lord’s review.)
Here, Holleman employs the facts of the changing climate in a story that nudges at the boundaries of what working together can look like and what it can do if left to bloom. The nature of collaboration, whether intentional, invisible, or even unacknowledged, presents a central thread throughout the book, as theme and the seed of hope. The sort of collaborating explored here bridges the mythical gaps between art and science, heart and mind, and all living beings with human beings.
In “Bloom Again, one of the characters, Astrid, is reminded that “survival of the fittest” wasn’t Darwin’s message at all, but rather that nature works in cooperation more than competition.
“I see collaboration and cooperation among nonhuman beings all the time,” said Holleman. “The way the birch and the spruce grow next to each other in my yard. The way the mixed flocks of songbirds—some who stay all winter, some who are here for our brief summers—stick together at the birdbath, one or two chickadees bathing while the juncos, warblers, nuthatches keep an eye out for danger. And we all know how ravens and wolves collaborate—ravens help wolves find prey, and wolves leave scraps for ravens.”
Consider the collaborations among plants, like the acacia tree, who releases ethylene gas when a giraffe begins eating its leaves, signaling to the trees downwind to produce the bitter tannins that protect them from overgrazing.
It’s possible these two words—cooperation and competition—do not contain the breadth of meaning necessary to fully recognize the ways in which living beings relate and intersect, complement and consort. For humans, stories compel us to enrich our relationship with meaning.
For Holleman, whose memoir, “The Heart of the Sound,” came out in 2004 and her first book of poetry, “tender gravity,” in 2022, the novel offered a new playground for her writing.
“I’ve always been impressed by writers like Annie Dillard who don’t just stick with one genre—poetry or fiction or nonfiction—but work in all of them,” said Holleman. “These genre labels are just a human way of sorting the world, and they’re not so useful much of the time, in my opinion. I want to use all the tools in my toolbox, so to speak—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or some amalgam of them—depending on the subject matter, on what I feel I can and need to say, on what I feel will be effective, and on what inspires me.”
Writing about the relationships between people, between more-than-humans, between all living beings affected by the changing climate poses important questions. When the impact of extreme wildfires, floods, heat, and storms becomes unavoidable—which it already has for many—what do you do and how far will you go to change the possible futures?
For Marybeth, that question led her to writing “Bloom Again,” a book that considers being open, curious, playful even, as we engage with and approach the adversities before us.
“As Thomas Berry said,” noted Holleman, “‘The purpose of life is existence, and self-delight in existence.’ That doesn’t get me off the hook. I still need to be useful and speak truth. But so often the truth of our relationship with the beyond-human world – the reality of what we have done and continue to do to them – is very hard, very dark. Playing in the field of forms, that’s what keeps it fun for me.”
“Bloom Again” is available now. You can pick one up at the book launch event on Thursday, Sept. 18, at Organic Oasis in midtown Anchorage. The event will run from 5:30 to 8 pm, with music by The Forest Never Sleeps, and food and drinks provided. The launch is hosted by Trustees for Alaska, an Alaska nonprofit environmental law firm that Holleman supports. Trustees’ holds annual outreach events to share its work with supporters and the community.
Holleman will read from her book and join artist and science illustrator, Kristin Link, in a conversation about collaboration. Link designed the book cover for “Bloom Again.”
The event is hosted by Trustees for Alaska, an Alaska nonprofit environmental law firm that Holleman supports.
You can also find “Bloom Again” at local bookstores and online stores.
Marybeth will sign books at Fireside Books in Palmer from 1 to 4 pm on Sept. 20 and join a virtual event at 3 pm Alaska time on Oct. 2 with Kathleen Dean Moore, a distinguished philosophy professor emerita at Oregon State University, an advocate for climate justice, and the author or co-editor of a dozen books about our cultural and moral relation to the wild. Get more details on the book launch on Sept. 18 and the virtual event on Oct. 2 here.
(The author of this post works for Trustees for Alaska and serves on the board of 49 Writers.)