Refuge

I had mentioned that I would bring Refuge into class this week, but thought I'd give you all a little overview. The book is a combination of a memoir and a nature book. As Williams struggles with her mother dying of cancer, she reflects on the rising of the Great Salt Lake and its effects on the local bird sanctuary. Throughout, she tries to find reasons for the incredible loss that surrounds her. The bird sanctuary floods, and the birds have no where to go. The government has tested nuclear bombs in an uninhabited locale in Utah, which has severe consequences for the local communities. Williams has lost six aunts, her grandmother, and her mother. The descriptions of personal and environmental loss are heartbreaking.

Refuge is a creative non-fiction piece that is both personal, political, and historical, covering many of the purposes Fact and Artifact describes. She criticizes the government's choice for nuclear testings, the land developers that have eaten up and thus left no room for the birds. Everyone and everything is this book is looking for refuge, refuge from sickness, from grief over the loss of loved ones, from the loss of home and environment. Williams brilliantly connects all of that in her symbolic description of the natural surroundings. I unfortunately forgot the book in my office. I'll make sure to include an excerpt on here tomorrow.