5 Works of Eco-Fiction You must Read

An exploration of the world of the relationship between nature and the human communities that dwell in it

Photo by Eugenio Mazzone on Unsplash

When I visited Seychelles January 2019, I was not aware the land is inhabited by humans about 300 years ago, with untouched flora and fauna, thousands of species lived on this beautiful turquoise waters and lush green land. And I didn’t know to what extent this remarkable view and experience of nature so close, would inspire my reading and writing over the coming years.

As a writer, I find myself curious to read about environmental issues captured into stories and characters and words written through an eco-focused lens, from how a story unfolds, and characters adapt and survive through the changes.

There’s no shortage of nonfiction about the environment, and the way humans are degrading it with every passing day and additionally animal extinction and protection, but fiction has the power to open eyes and hearts in completely unexpected ways. If you don’t believe the oceans are in trouble or farmlands are eroding, for example, you’re not likely to pick up a nonfiction book that outlines exactly that.

Fiction personifies the world around us, by contextualizing life into the story in the same way that it did to me, as I saw nature through a different angle when I visited a place with rich nature.

I’m inspired by the writers on this list, who have woven environmental themes into their fictional stories, raising important issues while they also show how the characters are dealing with the issues. These authors also see the untold ways in which everything is connected — humans, animals, land, dignity, power — and subtly and seamlessly allow readers to connect the dots as well.

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This is one of the best books on eco-fictions ever written, dated back to 1939.

The book is set during the Great Depression which was followed by Dustbowl. The novel focuses on Oklahoma capturing the economic hardship, drought, and changes in the agricultural industry from 1920 through 1930. The situation puts the tenant farmers out of work since the farmlands were severely affected by wind erosion. This made thousands of farmers move from their home to different places in seeking jobs, land, dignity, and a brighter future.

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can’t scare him — he has known a fear beyond every other

 The book is a portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, and a man’s fierce reaction to injustice. The novel captures the terrors and panic of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in the world.

2. The Drowned World by JG Ballard

This book was first published in 1962, a classic book on climactic fiction, 

which has mesmerizing descriptive narrative style making the reader envision going into a petrified future in which solar radiation and global warming have melted the polar ice caps. The book depicts the chaotic breakdown of the world, giving a perceptive of deep implications of time, space, the evolution of humans and the psychology of people going through the catastrophe. Writing during such an era most of perhaps fervently believed the world was ours to shape and module. Sadly, we see now in 2020, it wasn’t true.

3. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

The book is muscled with poverty, helplessness, and reality. Set during hurricane Katrina, building over the Gulf of Mexico, highlights the tragic turn of events of the people living in the Mississippi during the 12-day hurricane and aftermath of the storm. The writer draws a vivid link between personal trauma and climatic disaster.

Suddenly there is a great split between now and then, and I wonder where the world where that day has happened has one, because we are not in it

The writer lived through Katrina and wrote this book after being very dissatisfied with the way Katrina had receded from the world’s attention and people’s consciousness. The book also depicts the Southern life of Afro — American people and culture and their hardships.

4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road is a profoundly moving book on an unplanned journey of a father and his young son over several months, blasted by an unknown cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization on earth, intervening life on it for years. It depicts a future of no hope, dignity or a simple livelihood, but is sustained by love for each other. It gives a vivid imagination into the world of catastrophe we humans are capable of bringing into this world causing ultimate destruction, making the survivors witness complete devastation.

5. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

The book is set in rural Tennessee during a period of unseasonable rain when a young woman tempted to attempt adultery out of marriage witnesses hundreds of monarch butterflies in a field near her house. As the news reaches the experts, it comes as a warning of a disturbing event due to global warming, although they look beautiful in the farmland in Tennessee, displaced from their natural habitat in Mexico.

The book captures the reader leading us to one of the most crucial topics of our time — climate change. With a deft and versatile empathy, the writer dissects the motives of humans of this precarious world.

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So there you have it!

I realized how impactfully these books have captured my empathy and giving a glimpse of ultimate destruction, we humans are causing to the world. I hope this article motivates you to pick up at least one of these books.

I hope this list helps you add some books to your reading list. If anyone has any other books I would love to hear them.

©Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.