Nancy Lord

This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.
PH – A NOVEL is a fun and informative read about marine biologists and their passion. It starts out as we watch the cast of quirky characters navigate their yearly boat trip, collecting specimens and bonding along the way. The requisite “bad guy” is a two-faced arrogant chemist; and there are the dual specters of global warming and ocean acidification to add some drama.

Ray Berringer is a quiet man who just wants to photograph and catalog pteropods, but he finds a target on his head when he tries to uncover corruption at his university. His students (and one very unusual artist) come together to support him, utilizing unconventional methods – performance art, sit ins, a little sabotage – that are in turns endearing and hilarious.

Author Nancy Lord’s talent for dialogue makes this novel stand out. The ocean’s pH, a potentially dull and complex subject, is easy to understand here. The Alaskan natives and political actors who make it their concern reveal the poignancy in the otherwise clinical science. This sleeper of a novel surrounds you with the realization that we are slowly killing the ocean that nourishes us. It seeps into your subconscious in between the brilliant dialogue and backstabbing drama. With just the right touch of pathos and humor, Lord shouts her agenda quietly.

Pitting environmental defenders against unethical university officials makes it easy to choose sides, regardless of what you believe. The tiny pteropods are portrayed as cute, harmless creatures who become the unofficial mascot of the group. Ray Berringer is appropriately reticent and passive, while the artist Annabel takes up the cause with aplomb. Using all the weapons in her armory, such as performance art and lighting origami on fire and setting it adrift on the beleaguered ocean, Annabel is a character that could easily be written off as a crackpot, but isn’t. Prepare to be delighted.

Regardless of your opinion on climate change, PH – A NOVEL is a pleasant and thought provoking read. I highly recommend it.… (mehr)

Nancy Lord is the writer laureate of Alaska, and once you read her latest release, Rock, Water, Wild, you'll understand why. Nancy is our generation's John Muir, and more. Her prose is as exquisite as the wildlife and world she loves. Lord lives and writes with such wonder about the world around her, with such love for that world and such desire for its preservation, you'll be transformed reading her. She is evocative and challenging and in her travels to glaciers, encounters with bears and sea lions and moose and geese, she captures a sense of place so vivid, I felt as if I were there with her. An important book.… (mehr)