Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane – REVIEW

Synopsis

Nature writer Robert Macfarlane travels to some of the world’s most polluted and/or threatened rivers to explore the crucial question, “Is a river alive?”

My Review

Is a river alive? Spoiler alert: The answer is YES, and humans should stop arrogantly trying to control or pollute them as though we’re not committing mass murder that threatens to wipe out all life on this planet. *breathes* Sorry, I’ll try not to make this an angry review. But honestly, I’m starting to think I shouldn’t read ecological nonfiction. I’m the choir that doesn’t need preaching to, so when they paint such a bleak picture of the damage humans are inflicting on the world, it just fills me with rage.

I suppose my visceral reaction to this book means that Macfarlane has done a good job with it. If you read it, you will feel the devastation of the earth’s dead and dying rivers, the grief of the Indigenous peoples who rely on and attempt to protect them, and the hope against hope of activists who are starting to see faint glimmers of understanding from the occasional government as they enact laws to grant rivers rights as living beings. By “occasional” I mean, like, maybe 2… but that’s a start, right?

What works for me

I like the observation that humans are essentially bodies of water, and using that analogy (or statement of fact, really) to explain and perhaps even exploit our emotional connection with rivers. Also, I think Macfarlane does a good job of choosing which rivers to focus on and the order in which he writes about them. He takes us from heartwrenching descriptions of dead or dying rivers in Chennai to his rafting adventures on the Magpie River (aka Mutehekau Shipu), a Canadian river that is very much alive but under threat of destruction by the construction of dams. It’s a very effective narrative structure. By the end of this book, the conscientious reader is ready to dedicate their life to protecting this magnificent river, as though it’s the only one we have left.

I also appreciate the heavy focus on facts and figures in the first half of the book. We get a history lesson that stretches back to The Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as information on global geopolitics and the current Rights of Nature movement. These are the things I was hoping to find when I picked up this book. I’m very pleased to walk away from it knowing a lot more than I previously did about the fight to save our rivers.

What doesn’t work for me

Unfortunately, this is my second time reading Macfarlane, and it might be my last. There’s something about his writing style that doesn’t jive with me. I’m not a sense-oriented person, while he most certainly is, so the way he focuses on his personal, sensual experiences with nature kind of rubs me the wrong way. He also has a very poetic writing style that isn’t for everyone. I’m obviously in the minority on this, because he’s a very popular author. I just get tired of the word “I” in his books. And I always get the feeling that he fudges the details or the timeline of his adventures to imbue them with more meaning. I don’t know, it bugs me, but that’s just my personal take.

Conclusion

If you enjoy poetic writing and philosophizing about rivers and the natural world, you’ll probably love this. If you already believe that rivers are alive, as I do, you might end up a little traumatized to find out just how badly we humans treat them. However, if you’re expecting a scientific treatise proving once and for all that rivers are living, breathing entities, that isn’t what this is. Someone who comes to this book saying, “No. Change my mind,” could probably walk away feeling no different. But I’m not sure that this book is intended for people like that anyway. This is perhaps best viewed as a sermon directed at a choir that has become complacent and needs a good stirring-up. Rivers are alive, but they’re under attack. They need our help before it’s too late.

Pre-order Is a River Alive? now on Bookshop.org* (Release Date: May 20, 2025)
*As an affiliate, I will receive a small commission from any purchase made through this link.

Many thanks to NetGalley for granting me early access to an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!