Fionnáin reviewed Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
A Personal Universal Memoir
4 stars
Dara McAnulty presents many faces in a hopeful memoir: a teenager, a complex and astute nature enthusiast, a sensitive autistic, a member of a loving Northern Irish family, an environmental activist and an eloquent writer. None of these tells the whole story but all are relevant in this diary of one year in his life.
The writing is at its best when it is poetically focussed on nature, particularly birds. In these moments it is like reading JA Baker, putting across the beauty of nature through perfectly chosen words and descriptions of moments. The depictions of his autism and his family are also wonderfully revealing and carefully considered. The moments of activism (and occasional linked anger) are the only ones that seem to lose the run of the book and become too polarised. But the diary is a marvel and a fascinating insight into a great mind and a section …
Dara McAnulty presents many faces in a hopeful memoir: a teenager, a complex and astute nature enthusiast, a sensitive autistic, a member of a loving Northern Irish family, an environmental activist and an eloquent writer. None of these tells the whole story but all are relevant in this diary of one year in his life.
The writing is at its best when it is poetically focussed on nature, particularly birds. In these moments it is like reading JA Baker, putting across the beauty of nature through perfectly chosen words and descriptions of moments. The depictions of his autism and his family are also wonderfully revealing and carefully considered. The moments of activism (and occasional linked anger) are the only ones that seem to lose the run of the book and become too polarised. But the diary is a marvel and a fascinating insight into a great mind and a section of the hopeful youth that are coming of age today.
