Book Review - Robert Macfarlane's Underland
Published by: W.W. Norton and Company
Publication Date: May 2nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
Rating: ★★★
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Humankind has had such an impact on the world it is now a designated epoch, the Anthropocene. Robert Macfarlane takes it on himself to look at the forgotten realms of the Earth and see how they have been impacted by humankind and in turn how they have impacted us. Macfarlane takes eleven journeys to come to grips with the underland. Because that is where our history is, in deep time. With all that history laid bare the question is posited, are we really the caretakers that the Earth deserves? Humans have been around for such a short amount of time and yet the damage we have done is incalculable. Starting near his home his first journey takes him to the cave systems in the Mendips in Somerset. There he wonders if the Earth might just swallow him whole. The mental strain of the dangers he's about to face become apparent. He's not just taxing himself physically on these journeys, but mentally. He is placing himself at the mercy of the Earth and the Earth isn't kind to those who journey where they shouldn't. In Boulby, Yorkshire, he visits a mine that's so deep that it goes under the North Sea where Dark Matter is studied. So far underland as to be undisturbed by the disturbances of man. But the underland can also be studied above ground. The trees of Epping Forest have an understory beneath the forest that lets them communicate using fungi, a wood wide web if you will. Having experienced in England some of the great natural and manmade conduits to the underland he visits France and perhaps one of the most famous underground spaces in the world, the Paris Catacombs. There are the sections that are for tourists, but that isn't what he's interested in. He's reached out to urban explorers, those who map the terrain of abandoned buildings and have therefore taken a great interest in the Catacombs. Those who illegally tour the mines of Paris which were built for the access of workers are called cataphiles. They take Macfarlane on a journey he will never forget. Rooms that haven't been seen in hundreds of years and modern graffiti that seems to exist solely to say, I was here. The underland is vast, there are starless rivers, nuclear dumps, caves that can only be accessed at certain times of the year. Robert Macfarlane tasks himself to record it all, to pass on what he's learned, and to teach us to be better stewards of this amazing planet.
For me I had a problem with a disconnect between what this book was sold as and what it actually is. Underland was said to deliver "an epic exploration of the Earth's underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself." What I really connected to in that teaser was the myth and literature part. Which Robert Macfarlane never really addresses. I mean, come on! Book girl here wants to hear all about the underworld in literature. He barely touches on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and that one is just a gimme! What about all the tales of the realms of fairies being underground? Underhill anyone anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Fairy Mounds? Fairy Forts? I mean seeing as this book is about the magic of the Earth and what it means to people I think an exploration of how we've peopled that land in our myths and fairy tales would be quite important. But again, the book was sold as something it was not. The problem being my expectations were repeatedly crushed. I kept thinking, oh, the next section, that will be the section I've been waiting for. And if never was. Therefore I think that this book would be better on a reread. I'd have no expectations because I know what it's about and they'd be reigned in. The problem is I'm rather claustrophobic, and well, I don't know if I could read this book again. If there's one thing I'd tell anyone who was about to read this book, besides ranting about literary tradition being omitted, is that if you are even slightly claustrophobic you can not read this book. My Dad has a friend who told him he had to read this book, knowing that my claustrophobia is nothing compared to my Dad's, I laughed and laughed and said he can never read this book. Ever. I even thought, maybe I could find a section he could read... But no. Claustrophobics, run away run away. And I just realized I reached the point in my review where I'm just doing odd movie quotes so will move this along, no more Monty Python. The other problem I faced was while this is a whole interconnected narrative it's basically broken down into stories. Short stories. I don't really like short stories. There's no consistency. So while I loved "Invisible Cities (Paris)," "Red Dancers (Lofoten, Norway)" left me cold. The journeys he went on were so diverse that his writing style was inconsistent and annoying. To me. I can see why others found it magical, I just found it highly competent. Which, trust me, is a compliment.
