Part science, part identity memoir, Sabrina Imbler's How Far the Light Reaches explores the varied life of the ocean and the ways in which the kindnesses and cruelties of nature are not so far from our own lives. The book is structured as 10 anecdotes about sea creatures which are presented in parallel with 10 episodes from Imbler's life as she navigates questions about racial identity, sexual orientation, and the meaning of family and love. The description of the underwater world is eminently readable - standouts include the descriptions of feral goldfish and the majesty of whales.

A less compelling writer would have written a book that might have seemed stretched too thin. Imbler somehow makes it work, though I daresay I still think of the nature writing and the memoir components somewhat separately, and not as one integrated unit.