By Jackie Law.
Claire Carroll, The Unreliable Nature Writer (Scratch Books, 2024)
In her debut short story collection, Claire Carroll takes the reader into worlds that are uncanny yet recognisable. Some may feel futuristic but only insofar as there may be denial that man has messed up the natural world to quite this extent to date. Little revealed within these pages is as it first seems, the quiet reveals proving unsettling although presented with a degree of humour. Secondary characters in particular offer a palette of human foibles that temper the more serious issues swirling through the undercurrents of plot and development.
The collection opens at a wedding where the titular nature writer is introduced. This story is divided into five parts, interspersed between the other seventeen tales. It is structured as a conversation between the writer and another guest. The latter is trying to make small talk but is repeatedly discombobulated by the direction in which the writer drives their interactions. One theme explored is that of feeling caged by ordinary existence within a setting of family and necessary employment. This idea is revisited in other stories. It is not made clear if the same characters recur occasionally.
Another repeated theme is that of dreams and lingering memory. The surreal quality of many of the tales allows these to merge with reality leaving the reader to ponder what is happening or has happened.
As the title suggests aspects of nature, especially how the damage inflicted on it can no longer be ignored due to the impact on people, wind through each story. This is dealt with skilfully, ensuring there is nothing overly didactic. The tendency of humans to accept negative changes if introduced gradually enough offers food for thought to those who may wish to consider currently accepted, sometimes promoted, behaviours.
Feelings of isolation and alienation within families and friendship groups are presented to effect. Attempted solutions include the use of mechanisation and artificial intelligence that sometimes appears more attractive than human interventions. Parents and partners are rendered as more selfish than supportive, the fallout of an inability to ever fully understand another’s perspective.
Impacts of falling fertility rates are explored. Plastic pollution and the dangers from atmospheric changes garner mentions alongside how these are managed rather than mitigated. Society continues to tinker around the edges of the problems it has created, outlooks blinkered by an inability to accept lifestyle changes until no other choice is available.
“The Sheer Delight of What You May Become” was an interesting inclusion, offering as it does a view of environmentalists granted official powers to take action. The suggestion is that nature can only regenerate when humans are removed — and how this could be enacted.
Although the underlying themes on which these stories are built are serious, the telling does not dwell on such foundations but rather weaves an engaging plot around them. The writing is finely tuned, trusting the reader to mine each layer without undue exposition. There are clever twists to enjoy when what is happening is revealed.
“Geodesy” takes an amusing poke at the wellness industry, the protagonist joining a group of friends to spend some time in what they regard as nature, on a guided meditation — sound bathing — held in a yurt in a carefully constructed Tranquillity Forest. Everything is clean and controlled, just as so many humans like any exposure to nature to be.
“As Far North as it Goes” follows a woman on a journey from southern England to the far north of Scotland. She is heeding a call but proves herself incapable of grasping the opportunity presented. Even well intentioned humans, it would seem, can no longer listen to their surroundings, having detached themselves and lost what abilities they once had to understand what they are hearing.
Often playful but still powerful, the messaging within this collection encourages the reader to pay more heed to the world of which they are a part and in which they live. Humans are not presented as evil but rather drifting, often mindlessly. That this will lead to their eventual destruction is made obvious without the need to articulate.
An impressive and always engaging debut from a writer whose future work I now look forward to reading. Original and entertaining, these stories make full use of the form to hold attention in a world designed to distract from critical thinking.
You can read an extract from The Unreliable Nature Writer in 3:AM here.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Jackie Law is a writer living in rural Wiltshire, England. Her reviews and articles have appeared in a wide range of publications including Bookmunch, Structo and Berfois. She maintains a personal blog, Never Imitate, where she writes on an eclectic range of subjects but mostly about the books she reads and those who create them.
