Thank you for the e-arc to review.

I loved this book for the most part. I struggled a little with it to honestly. Some parts I just wanted to skip because I couldn’t really get into what was going on. Side note* I also cried* at parts as well. Over all I think it was a fantastic read about a girl who wanted to be alone but a fox made her realize company is just as great sometimes.

One day a little wet fox calls at a cottage deep in the sagebrush hills of Montana...

Dr Catherine Raven is a biologist living with a black widow spider 60 miles from the nearest city. She teaches online ecology classes and writes school textbooks. She’s a scientist: logical and observant. But what she’s observing is that this singular visitor has personality, hobbies, and preferences. Is it possible for a wild animal to have hobbies? Is it possible to befriend and be befriended by a wild animal?

Fox and I is the account of two neighbours - a woman and a fox - and their relationship with the wildlife and land around. Raven discusses foxhunting, land management, the tactical introduction of mange; zoos, Frankenstein, Moby-Dick, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s books The Little Prince and Wind, Sand and Stars. She describes the local flora and fauna, and her experiences as a park ranger, firefighter, and teacher.

Raven’s writing is poetic, intelligent, and extremely observant. Unusually, the narrative occasionally shifts to represent the point of view of the fox or a magpie - a blurring of science and imagination.

A highly-enjoyable, beautifully-written work of nature-writing and memoir.

The story just resonates with me. I love the descriptives of her home, her surroundings, and her fox! It just brought me so much joy, and envy, reading her book. I would have loved to lived way out in the country, and would have but for circumstances beyond my control. Catherine Raven allows me to live vicariously when I read her book. She is truly blessed! Lovely story.

A nice memoir that can be read by anyone and any one can relate to. Very few have ever lived like this and even fewer have had these interactions with a fox but I felt very involved in her story as I read.

I admit that I didn't get on with this book at first. Raven's writing style is almost bird-like in its quickness and jumpiness, unwilling to pause to let the reader catch up before it moves on. But once I grew used to it, I was utterly hooked.

'Fox and I' is one of the most unusual stories about friendship between a human and a nonhuman that I've read. It is uncompromising and almost subversive. It is also stunningly beautiful, in both prose and content. It's mostly about the author's growing bond with a fox, yes, though it's also a love letter to places of wildness, to being a person standing outside watching a sunset, to the myriad relationships between different animals and plants. The author is a biologist by training, although 'Fox and I' is by no means a pop science book. Raven spends much more time thinking over the ways humans throw up mental barriers against nonhumans, and the ways we can be cruel towards them. Black-and-white animal lovers may be upset to read about the author hunting deer, but she makes clear that she only wants to eat animals she's hunted herself; and she writes movingly about a young wild deer she tried to keep comfortable after finding it maimed by someone's dog.

The book is, of course, still mostly about the fox that befriends Raven. It's hard not to read with a sense of disbelief; how could a wild fox choose, on a daily basis, to sit near a human, to follow them, and to allow themselves to be followed? And even to guard its kits? The author provides a more or less convincing theory, drawing on evidence from the silver fox domestication project from Russia. I hope that anyone studying animal behaviour finds this book. The fox called Fox was clearly a fascinating, wonderful individual, whose interactions with Raven demand explanation beyond "instinct". Once more I have been reminded of the astonishing complexity of life, and the beauty of different creatures discovering each other, and being compassionate to each other.

So: I started 'Fox and I' with a frown, but by the end, my heart felt a little bit broken. And the photo at the end of Fox with his favourite flower undid me.

(With thanks to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

I read this book in two sittings. My first impression was that its writing seemed a bit scattered. I was still curious, and planned to finish it.

The following day my mind kept wandering to it, and I found myself excited to get back to reading. Still, it seemed disjointed, yet still I’m glad to have read it.
It works, because the woman herself was disjointed during the time of her life this memoir is based. She lives alone, in the wilderness, pushing away opportunities for true human connections. It’s no surprise that a visiting fox becomes her best friend.

The book follows the years they co-existed in nature, and the ending draws lovely parallels between their choices in existence. Ultimately, the author heals herself, rejoining the world at large.

Upon finishing, I ranked this book lower than I do now, a week later. Though this isn’t a life many of us could or would choose, it’s certainly relatable to anyone who has survived and thrived a low period. I have found myself thinking of fox often.

This book was such a drag. I couldn't get into it. The author was hard to relate to. I found it odd that the POV switched to the fox occasionally. I found it hard to read about a scientist anthropomorphizing all the critters on her property. It would have been helpful to read more about her background. Instead it was just hinted at among the names of flowers and grasses

After leaving behind her cold and uncaring parents, Raven turned to nature for comfort and inspiration. Her extraordinary desire to earn a PhD in biology saw her working as a custodian and living in her car to make her dream come true. She builds her own little house where she eventually befriends a rather mangy looking fox who shows up at her home at the exact same time every day. Eschewing human companionship, Raven begins to look forward to the visits from her little friend. Not knowing how to engage him, she begins reading to him from The Little Prince, and he seems to enjoy it. The two become fast friends and Raven grows to love the unusual creature, but nature is often cruel and even the strongest of loves cannot always save us. This is a beautiful heart wrenching story that should be on the reading list of every person who has faced adversity and the loss of someone they love