My Review — Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven

by Brenna K

Start with a double rainbow, acclimate to nature, and ease into this memoir. It was worth calming and opening my mind and spirit because Catherine Raven provides greater insights into relationships and the application thereof than Freud or Thoreau.

Raven, who has her PhD in Biology and is informally banned from making friends with wild animals, befriends a fox who shares her land, and we get to realize it with her. A brave account, I’m grateful Raven overcame the taboos of her field to write this magical new folklore.

Raven herself makes friends with her reader through just enough self- disclosure of past traumas and how they got her to her landowner status. She’s disparagingly funny, too. I admit while reading I was envious of Raven. But her writing guided me to follow the thread in my life and listen to my gut (which I’m learning to do).

Because Raven’s story is interwoven with Fox’s, be prepared for the journey or you may get lost. I didn’t lose heart and found my way in these pages.