MOTHERSHIP

Wrenn turns to the healing properties of nature in search of a cure for his complex PTSD.

The author, a professor of environmental literature and creative writing at James Madison University, opens with a scene of a lecture hall full of silent, disengaged undergraduates. Wrenn describes how he stood in front of the room in full scuba gear, yearning to bestow a sense of wonder for nature and the perils of climate change. The effort fell flat, but readers will appreciate the enthusiasm that pervades the text. The author dissects three periods of his life and journey of healing from the physical abuse he experienced as a child to the verbal abuse he continued to endure. During his travels, Wrenn investigated the healing properties that nature provides, and he recounts the many ayahuasca ceremonies in which “The Door” to his trauma was opened, fully exposing him to the pain but also the eventual forgiveness of those who had harmed him. Taking readers along on his fascinating journey, the author emphasizes the interconnectivity of the self and Mother Earth, drawing connections between his own C-PTSD and the complex being that humans are actively destroying with our “gimme-gimme, carbon-belching society.” He continues, “Whether we’re talking about abusers and victims—or people and the planet—it’s all part of what’s known as our extraction mindset: Pretend the interconnectedness of all beings is woke hogwash. That there will be no consequences for your crimes. Do what feels good, take what you want, and get out.” Wrenn paints a vivid image of a dying planet at the hands of humans—not as an issue of tomorrow, but as the current consequence of our daily actions and inactions, a form of trauma all its own.

A memorable book that capably interweaves the personal and the universal.