What a well written book this was. As a parent to a young child, I feel the author's angst about their future and what we will be leaving behind for them. I really loved how she incorporated art, the tracking of bird murals through New York City as she ponders the world, where the birds are going and what that means for us. She touches on all the tough topics of these times and I found it very comforting knowing that others are feeling the way I am.
For meaningful, very beautiful, very needed. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the ARC.

Although this is painful from start to finish, it was an important read. I can handle dark fiction like a pro but the reality of this made me incredibly uneasy.
It was quite dense and never really allowed for me to take a breath. I would have liked a littttttle reprieve, but so do women. Humans. Black people. Birds. So on.
The inclusion of the street photos was my favorite part of the book. I spent a lot of time observing them before continuing on. It really creative an immersive experience.

Lessons for Survival by Emily Raboteau is a beautiful kaleidoscope of essays on motherhood covering climate change, racism, the pandemic, and many other fascinating topics. I loved this book which included local and global perspectives on the climate crisis and illustrated the disproportionate impact on families of color. The writing is beautiful, and the examples are compelling. Raboteau clearly did a lot of research to write this book and poured her heart into the essays. The outcome is a book that I highly recommend.

Throughout the book Raboteau discusses photographs that she has taken of murals around New York City as well as birds she has viewed. The advanced reader copy of the book that I received did not include any of these images. I really hope that the final published version will include some of these photographs because I believe that the images will really enhance the narrative. If the final version includes these photos, I will edit my review from 4 stars to 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am looking forward to reading the published version.

Terrifying, illuminating, Insightful. Beautiful. Disheartening. Heartwarming, So many emotions, As a first time mom, Emily’s words unleashed something in me I knew was there but yet to be unearthed. Anger and hope, love and hate, exhaustion and energy. They can exist at the same time and that is what I found here in Lessons for Survival. Thank you Henry Holt & NetGalley!

This thoughtful book of essays (and street photography) is about parenting in the time of crisis — multiple crises: climate change, Covid, and Black motherhood in a racist world. Blending reportage, cultural criticism, and memoir, this important book looks at survival when things are dire. So, so good.

Emily Raboteau follows murals and climate art arounnd New York City as she grapples with what it means to be Black and a mother during a time when police violence and environmental disaster are around every corner. A poetic and thoughtfully written collection of essays. Includes a very good essay on Israel and Palestine (out of date at this point, but good background for what's going on now).

The cover and the title are pretty cool. They hooked me into requesting the book. I failed to realize that this is not a fictional story, but rather a non-fictional memoir. This changes the way I feel about the book. I did start reading it, and the writing was solid, but it is not something that I wanted to read. I think there will be plenty of people that like this book. It was just not working for me.

I really loved this book which centers on so many crucial issues relevant to our current moment. I loved the use of NYC as a character --the descriptions of people and places and street art--and the close look at family here was also beautiful.

I love this book. Love it. It got right into my soul and took up root there.

But- I had a hard time getting into it at first. I didn’t understand the connections. And it made it hard for me to really tap into what the author was saying. Until, suddenly, somewhere in the first 100 pages, it did click. It all made sense.

So I recommend that if you are struggling with the text, stick it out for the first hundred pages. If you can’t get into it past that, it isn’t the book for you. If you can, and it clicks, it will deeply resonate with you, like it did me.

I found myself re=reading entries, and I call them entries, because they are written like a diary. And I felt like I was getting a private glimpse into the author’s inner thoughts. I also felt the pain and sorrow in them. The sorrow of the pandemic, of loss, of her struggle in America as a woman of color.

I connected deeply with her in many ways, and the chronic pain aspect of her story was my anchor. The way she was treated by medical professionals, the denials, the suspicions, the brushing off she has gotten. I have experienced that as well. I’m white-passing multi-racial, and so many things resonated with me (but some things I will never quite experience or understand).

I loved reading about her travels, about her travails. I found myself unable to put this title down as soon as it clicked. Her journey to Palestine/Israel was particularly compelling, and sorrowful. It gave me perspective that I did not have, previously.