Skunk Dreams

"We should take comfort from the skunk, an arrogant creature so pleased with its own devices that it never runs from harm, just turns its back in total confidence." What a beautiful and unique comparison. I feel as though Skunk Dreams is full of such lovely thoughts that get less recognition then deserved. But even though I feel this way, I'm not so sure how much I enjoyed reading Skunk Dreams. While it brought up a great amount of ideas facing philosophy in my mind, it also made me feel like the "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" was exactly right about me. I absolutely adored Erdrich's writing style, but the long paragraphs of droning details about trees made me yawn. They were stunning at first, but quickly became useless and far too plentiful.

But like I said-- her writing style was stunning. I was crazily drawn to it. "Its ripe odor must have dissipated in the frozen earth of its winterlong hibernation, because it didn't smell all that bad, or perhaps it was just that I took shallow breaths in numb surprise." While this sentence is rather wordy, it's also quite informal. That's a style that's quite refreshing to read every once in a while. You could tell that she had a creative eye and could twist pretty visions into pretty writing, but at times I wish she would've been more frank. The paragraph that I found the most entrancing was the one she straight-forwardly declared that her "dream, however, was about obstacles still in place." She went on to describe that "the obstacles that we overcome define us." This brought up some fairly deep thoughts in my mind. I began thinking about the obstacles that restrict my own decisions.

I'd like to say that I enjoyed Skunk Dreams, but I can't. It's a lovely essay that touched on some great ideas, but I wish she would've been more consistent in her writing. While the organization of the essay severely pleased me, it was the disorganization of heavy description versus thought that bothered me.