The Lion's Eye: Seeing in the Wild

Joanna Greenfield was fearless when it came to pursuing her passion for studying animals in the wild. I was caught up in her adventures and finished the book admiring her courage and resourcefulness. She lived in the remote Africa bush without modern conveniences while she studied the habits of assorted animals. Her lyrical writing, describing the landscape, the animals and their behavior, the guides, the living conditions and the dangers, is uniquely her own. I highly recommend this book.

I just don't know how a person learns to write like Joanna Greenfield. For years after reading a piece by her in The New Yorker describing how she was nearly eaten by a hyena in Israel, I've looked for more of her writing. Nothing turned up until this full, lovely book, The Lion's Eye. While it is the story of her student research on chimpanzees and monkeys in Uganda, that is just the skeleton of the book. I found it hard to read quickly, and sometimes I had to read it out loud to myself, because it often is poetry disguised as prose. The story is interesting, the science instructive, and the author's vulnerability amazes. But I think a voice as beautiful as the author's is rarely found in print.

For anyone who loves Africa or loves animals, this is a must-read. Greenfield spent time during college studying chimpanzees in the rainforests of Uganda, at a time when Uganda was barely out of its Idi Amin horror years. Her book offers insight about animal behavior, nature writing and philosophy about the meaning of life. What I most appreciated about the book was the balance the author brought to her findings. Animals are depicted as beautiful and soulful-- check out her descriptions of leopards hiding in plain sight in an acacia tree on the plain in Kenya. The image of the chimp relaxing in ecstasy as he is groomed by his mother-- both up in a tree in the first ray of sunshine after days of unrelenting rain-- makes me want to get back on a plane to Africa. But Greenfield doesn't romanticize Africa-- she sees its problems clearly. Her description of the child soldiers inspecting her passport at a bus checkpoint-- and deciding if she lives or dies-- is all too real. And her lament about the endless expansion of Nairobi's population at the expense of land for wild creatures hits at misguided US foreign policy without being overtly political. This multi-layered book has me thinking, and it will do the same for you too. Highly recommended reading.

"The Lion's Eye" is a beautifully crafted, poignant, mesmerizing dark and soulful story of a woman trying to connect with animals and with people, and reconnect with her childhood and herself. I couldn't put it down.

Joanna Greenfield's lyrically brilliant book reminds me most of The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Joanna Greenfield takes us on a trip into the rain forests of war-torn Uganda on the trail of chimpanzees. The language in this book is lushly mesmerizing. Like any great travel book, it's equally about the internal journey of the author. While Greenfield is convinced that she lacks depth perception, and that her flawed sight limits her, we realize instead that her unique vision sheds a marvelous light on all those - animal and human - around her.