Book Review: World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

I’ve come to really enjoy collections of short essays, in all formats. Whether it’s an ebook, an audiobook, or a print book, they’re a great way to fit in just a little bit of reading during a time where you might otherwise scroll social media (and the audiobooks are great for running errands, as a short essay could fill in just the amount of time it takes to drive to the store). An essay collection is also pretty easy to set down and then pick again days, or if necessary, even weeks later. While they may have an overarching theme and be occasionally self-referential, there’s not a plot that you need to hold in your mind.

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a great example of the short essay collection. Each essay highlights a part of the natural world: mostly animals, some plants, and even the monsoon storms of India. The author uses these wonders as a lens with which to view memories and/or her current life, examining themes of race, love, motherhood, family, and home, among others.

The wonders range from the relatively familiar, such as the grey cockatiel that many of us have kept as pets and the iconic monarch butterfly, to the more rare and unusual, such as the ribbon eels one might never encounter unless they go SCUBA diving in the right place.

Almost every essay includes an image of the subject by Fumi Mini Nakamura, which is especially great for those lesser-known wonders like the potoo and vampire squid, each of whom are delightfully weird looking little guys, so seeing an image of them should only enhance your appreciation of the fact that they truly are wonders.

I read Nezhukumatathil’s more recent Bite by Bite last year, and I think this reading order was a mistake. Not only are they somewhat chronologically out of order, but while World of Wonders is a great book, Bite by Bite is even better, and so this book suffers slightly for the comparison. I think it’s partially because Nezhukumatathil has perhaps grown even more as an essayist between volumes, but I think it’s largely because Bite by Bite is about food, and we experience food so much more intimately than we do the natural world, which we usually don’t stick in our mouths.

All that being said, I love reading about plants and animals, so I really enjoyed this book. There were only one or two wonders I didn’t already know about, being something of a nerd, but I think I learned something new in each essay. If you’re looking to read more essays, maybe more non-fiction in general, this is such a delightful entry into the genre and I highly recommend it.

CWs and TWs: This is a pretty gentle collection but it does touch on racism and species which are in danger due to climate change and other human-caused issues.

Source and Format: I have a hardback copy and I’m pretty sure we bought it at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park in 2021 or 2022.

Reading Challenge Prompts

Brick & Mortar: Essay or Short Story Collection. I really burned myself out on short stories a few years ago when I decided to read one a day until I got through a bunch of anthologies and collections we had built up on our shelves. Essays are currently where it’s at for me!

World of Whimm: On TBR for Over a Year. Since I can’t even remember what year we bought this book, it definitely counts. And you know what that means…

Physical TBR: This book has waited literally years for me to read it. I’m glad I finally got around to it! And since it’s been on my TBR since way before the start of this year, it’s time to make a donation to celebrate finally reading it. I was delighted to learn that the publisher of World of Wonders, Milkweed Editions, is a non-profit that focuses on publishing books based on their literary, artistic, and educational merit, and that they publish a lot of marginalized authors. They also published Braiding Sweetgrass, so they clearly know what they’re doing and are well worth supporting. Visit This Year’s Physical TBR Challenge for a complete list of what I’ve read and where I’ve donated.

Reading Challenge Progress

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 6 of 25, no bingos.

Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 9 of 25, 1 bingo!

Book Riot: 10 of 25.

Physical TBR: 4 of 12.

Brick & Mortar: 22 of 25, 6 bingos*.
*I’ve completed several of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!

World of Whimm: 11 of 24, no bingos.