Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is a mixture of highly personal memoir, science-writing and nature writing. It’s meditative, reflective and feels somehow deeply organic in a way that’s deeply right for its subject matter.

It’s a love letter to the diversity of nature and the ways that misunderstood and overlooked or unpopular organisms (corvids, fungi, bugs, etc) often resonate with queer communities. It’s a tonic and a comfort at a time when queer rights are increasingly under attack to be reminded that our identities are reflected back to us in nature and that things are often more complicated and more interesting than the rigid adherence to binaries of the past made them seem. More than a tonic, Forest Euphoria is powerful, holistic medicine, brimming with magic.

Kaishian breaks down hierarchies, biases and binaries and puts humanity on the same level as cicadas, eels, or lichens in a way that elevates rather than diminishes us. Simply put, this book feels like coming home.

A blend of memoir and scientific exploration, Forest Euphoria situates a queer individual within the queerness of nature. This grants it tangibility; allowing the reader to also place themselves within the mind boggling grand scheme of things. Content warning for child sexual abuse though. It is introduced suddenly which clearly helps portray the impact of such abuse and trauma on a child, but be mindful as a reader
There is fascinating foci throughout, with each chapter interweaving a moment in the author’s life with the stirring life and study of organisms from fungi to corvids.
It is a superb critique too of the Eurocentric baggage science carries alongside how harmful Westernised binary thinking is when the majority of nature and biological processes do not adhere to binaries at all.
The author does a brilliant job of decentering the human individual and allowing this fact to act as reassurance rather than a threat. In short, it’s about time we came off of our manmade pedestals and embraced the spontaneity and queerness of the world that has been living and breathing long before we ever did.

Anyone interested in biology, queerness, and/or who just needs a reminder that they are a part of everything, everywhere and needs some hope and love should read this book.

I don’t typically pick up non-fiction books but the topic of this one intrigued me. Unfortunately I DNFed at around 35%. It just wasn’t for me although I really appreciated the author’s enthusiasm for her subject and I liked getting to see how it’s something that she always was interested in and drawn to even as a child The connections to queerness were interesting and comparisons I’’d never considered before. I think this would work for a lot of people, especially if they’re interested in biology and mycology already.

Kaishian’s narrative is a wonderful look at the queerness inherent in nature while also being moving, personal, and reflective. I did learn a great deal about fungi and slugs and snails, but I wouldn’t say that’s the primary focus of the book. Instead, these and other vignettes helped frame larger discussions, like why certain fields, animals, and environments are not as studied, the continued struggle of underrepresented populations in science and other fields, and the importance of reconnecting and paying attention. I thought this was an excellent book and would highly recommend it.

Simply gorgeous. A beautiful memoir exploring the queerness of nature, in particular of fungi, eels, insects, & plants & the parallels to the author's own queerness & the spectrum of gender & sexuality across the human race.

Patricia's writing is genuinely captivating - she builds such a vivid world with her words & manages to explain relatively complex scientific terms in ways that are easy to understand.

Overall, I loved this book.

Read this super fast because each moment reading it was pure hope and love. Honestly. It’s been a ROUGH couple years for me and my peers (young & neurodivergent, queer, disabled, etc.) and the world mostly feels like a place that is trying to spit us out. Eradicate us. This books reminded me that I am the carbon of eternity itself; I am everywhere. This was comfort in a book. Read it.

Overall, this is like extended musings and meditative essays about queerness in nature and the author’s own experiences and observations.
The language is engaging and the musings are interesting.
3,5 stars.

I love how the author mixes their story with nature's queerness. I grew up in a fundamentalist religion that had a thick book of all the character qualities we can learn from nature. All the stories supported what their cult taught. To read this book on queerness in nature is like reading the flip side of that book of my childhood. It's great, and I'm glad this author wrote this book!

This is written as essentially a love letter to queer biology and nature, with side notes about different creatures. You can really feel the love the author has for all forest ephemera/euphoria. There’s a lot of exploration of queerness and how nature reflects and intersects with queerness.

This book is the perfect blend of science, memoir, and theory. It paints a vivid picture of the natural world through the lens of queer ecology. It touched all the points I could ask for in a work of creative nonfiction--practical, conceptual, and personal.

I loved this read! As both a queer woman and a nonprofit worker that works towards sustainability and conservation of the world, this book just resonated so deeply with what I believe to be true. I've always had a strange relationship with nature; both a longing to be amongst it and a fear of it in its entirety. Through this book, I've recognized that the fear has come from the mentality pushed forward through society to alienate our nature from us. Kaisian's work made me feel reconnected with the world.

"Humans are part of this collective body, whether we choose to protect it or not, whether we choose to remember or not."

I loved the ways Kaishian interconnected her story with that of nature, specifically creatures normally looked down upon such as eels or fungi. By learning the ways other cultures interact with nature, Kaishian has opened me up to a new worldview that I can pull from to help me connect. I would absolutely recommend this book to others.

Very cool book. I like when you’re talking to someone new and they light up when they get to talk about something g theyre passionate about. That’s the same kind of feeling I got while reading this.

This book is more about a personal journey with anecdotes about how differents life-forms have reproductives and living strategies that don't fit in the general human need for bi-categorisation than a book about biology in all its diversity. The author's love for nature and its weirdness is palpable throughout the book and make for a good read. There are a lot of personal anecdotes too, sharing the pages with data of various species of animals, insects and fungi.
A nice exploration of queerness, nature's weirdness and how both can intersect.

I was looking for a book exactly like this when I stumbled upon the ARC request on Netgalley. I was so stoked when I got the approval notice.

Patricia's love for nature is palpable in this book. Her way of writing made a more information based book still very enjoyable to read, and the info she shared on nature was such a fun and eye-opening experience. I really enjoyed my time reading this.

Nature truly is queer.

Eels use magnets to find saltwater? Cicadas can count to 17? Crows know when you’ve been mean? Patricia Kaishian is the weird, queer, bug kid who maybe got picked on, writing a love letter to what others don’t understand. I want to be her best friend (maybe that’s because she’s a queer, neurodivergent, millennial Scorpio like me). The prose was readable, and I devoured it. From slugs to mushrooms to crows, I learned so many things and greatly appreciate the world around me for someone who truly cares. Kaishian’s love of nature is palpable throughout the page and I enjoyed going on this journey with her. The staunch narratives weaved throughout what might be dry material made this book so much more real, showed the time and effort done in the research process, and helped build credibility through humanity.

Nature is weird, fascinating, and queer. This book has an almost spiritual nature and brought me a sense of peace to read. There are so many great facts within the pages about parts of our world I’d never really explored. Let’s all become queer to places.

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.