Red Pockets is an intriguing memoir, weaving together ancestry, climate change, and our deep connections to the land. Mah's exploration of these themes is thoughtful and evocative, offering a fresh perspective on how personal and environmental histories intertwine, with her climate anxiety acting as a palpable undercurrent.

However, I found the themes are a little undermined by the book's disjointed structure. The jumps across time, place and pace can be confusing, making it harder to fully engage with the overarching themes. While the ideas are compelling, it felt like a more cohesive narrative might have given them greater impact.

I expected a book about a mixed-race Chinese-Canadian woman visiting her Chinese ancestors' village, and it was that and so much more. Alice Mah is a sociologist and academic who focus on the environment, industrial development, petrochemical contamination... and a large part of this short memoir focuses on her climate anxiety and her desperation at every "once a century" climate event, from fire to flood to contaminated rivers. It was bleak, her constant thoughts about the planet being echoed by the Hungry Ghosts of her Chinese ancestors, her obsessive monitoring of the news during Covid finding a bit of peace here and there, outside or within a community of friends sharing the same fears. I think I loved this so much because it found me at the right time, in a period where I also moved and feel disconnected from others around me who don't seem worried about the planet as much as I am. It's a very reflective book and it is beautifully written, I will probably re-read it at some point.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.