The Nerves and Their Endings: Essays on Crisis and Response

These lyrical essays by bookseller Johannesson (How We Are Translated) contemplate the consequences of impending climate collapse. “The climate crisis is an illness of severed connections, on a colossal and intimate scale,” she contends, likening the interconnectedness of humanity to a worldwide nervous system. The tender opener, “ ‘What Have I Done?’ and Other Illusions of Control,” meditates on how the author’s desire to feel that she had “chosen” the anorexia that landed her in the hospital at age 20 mirrors the impulse that leads many to ignore their dependence on a healthy environment because they wish to believe that they’re “self-sufficient entities.” Though the tone is often serious and touched with grief, as when Johannesson imagines explaining to a kid she’ll never have her decision to forgo childbearing because of climate change, she weaves in moments of whimsy and describes watching online coverage of moose migration while she opines on humanity’s relationship to the natural world. “On Whether or Not to Throw in the Towel” even strikes a measuredly optimistic tone and serves up brief dispatches on the nature of hope. Johannesson’s prose has a quiet, entrancing pull, and she cleverly structures her pieces to highlight unexpected connections, driving home her vision of interconnectedness. Understated and moving, this ruminative outing resonates. (Feb.)