Set on Salt Spring Island, the memoir offers an intimate glimpse into the daily life of a mixed farm, humorously dubbed Trauma Farm. Through one day, the author shares insights on farming practices, critiques industrial agriculture, and reflects on themes of life and death, including birthing and loss. With a rich understanding of biology and botany, the narrative balances wit and heartfelt observations, creating a compelling portrait of the challenges and joys of sustainable farming in a modern context.
For thirty years, Brian Brett shared his office and his life with Tuco, a remarkable parrot given to asking such questions as "Whaddya know?" and announcing "Party time " when guests showed up at Brett's farm. Although Brett bought Tuco on a whim as a pet, he gradually realizes the enormous obligation he has to the bird and learns that the parrot is a lot more complex than he thought. Simultaneously a biography of this singular bird and a history of bird/dinosaurs and the human relationship with birds, Tuco also explores how we "other" the world--abusing birds, landscapes, and each other--including Brett's own experience with a rare genetic condition that turned his early years into an obstacle course of bullying and nurtured his affinity for winged creatures. The book also provides an in-depth examination of our ideas about knowledge, language, and intelligence (including commentary from Tuco himself) and how as we learn more about animal languages and intelligence we continually shift our definitions of them in order to retain our "superiority." As Brett says, "Whaddya know? Not much. I don't even know what knowledge is. I know only the magic . . . and the mysteries." By turns provocative, profound, hilarious, and deeply moving, this fascinating memoir will remain with the reader long after the last page has been turned.
A collection of poems written over the past twenty years, a collection that
speaks with a child's open directness, in fierce ironies, a sometimes bent
logic, a justifiable fear of his body, of loves won and lost, and the
hallelujahs of a man standing on the lip of the grave. Brett has a unique
spirit, a unique musical voice.
