The Snag: A Mother, A Forest, and Wild Grief

by Tessa McWatt

In her memoir The Snag , the acclaimed, award-winning author of Shame on Me , Tessa McWatt, takes on personal and collective grief, and the solace and inspiration to be found in connecting with nature—and each other.

Every day, we hear about and experience griefs, large and small, in our families, friendships, communities, and worldwide. The grief of a loved one passing. The grief of a way of life ceasing to exist. The grief of global pandemic, war, climate collapse.

As her mother’s dementia advances and she can no longer live independently, Tessa McWatt confronts personal and political losses, and finds herself wandering in a forest asking, how do we grieve? And what can we learn from nature and those whose communities are rooted in nature about not only how to grieve but also how to live?

From the newest seedling to the oldest snag in the forest, there is meaning to be found in every stage of a tree’s life, all of which contribute to a thriving forest community. In this forest thinking, Tessa begins to find answers to her questions about how to live (for each other), how to grieve (radically), and how to die (with love and connection).

The Snag is an essential book about living and dancing and singing and praying, even in the face of unimaginable sadness, and in this way, growing together and supporting one another, like the trees in the forest.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Grief, Canada

320 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 2025

About the author

Guyanese-born Canadian writer Tessa McWatt is the author of six novels and two books for young people. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards, and the OCM Bocas Prize. She is one of the winners of the Eccles British Library Award 2018, for her memoir: Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging. She is also a librettist, and works on interdisciplinary projects and community-based life writing through CityLife: Stories Against Loneliness. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Reviews

[Hana White · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! really really good

have been thinking a lot the past few yrs about how do u reimagine/recreate ur social worlds so they're not modelled on individualism & self-sufficiency (capitalist, patriarchal, actually separates us from each other and is a MYTH - we are all entangled with each other in the things we use, the way we are sheltered, the food we eat everyday) n instead is more communal, acknowledging those systems that entangle & letting urself ask for help from ur community, helping n being helped, caring n being cared for (all big thoughts in my tiny brain courtesy of reading Big Thought Legend alison bechdel) and I really loved seeing all this in connection with trees n tree thinking and a deeper thinking in connecting these things with nature.

I also loved the vulnerability in this book, the cracked openness. the thinking about the world never felt preachy or worthy it all felt emotionally true to the writer and of real importance.

also I loved all the places?? Canada and the lake, the cemetery with the reggae van, lake annecy, the Spanish house, the itaparica rainforest.

I think my favourite bits were the praying mantis part.... my god... so well written and so visceral, the hope, the brutality of the .... splat. and the beginning of the 'mature trees' chapter 'the reds look fabled, invented, side by side with the yellows [...] re-member me.' - such an arresting and wonderful paragraph. the words and rhythm are beautiful, but also melancholic, and also works as a microcosm of the whole book in mood but also, content/metaphor/structure???? : 1)the leaves are 'not' anything else, they dont belong to normal reds: blood, sunset, carnivals, paint, they do not have the same 'home' as these other reds, (mcwatt searching for belonging, not knowing where home is, not feeling at home with belonging) 2) 'the reds look fabled' - the mythologising of mcwatts own life in coming from grief, this great narrative that has held her life in its grip (the brother!), and finally, 3) 'a blaze is now finally at rest', the blaze, I feel, is the living, the anger, the spinning - mcwatts life in the hold of this grief, & as we find out later, mcwatt's ori is fire, too, by the end of this book, when she has found herself more in tune with tree-thinking, she is also (or so it seems...) able to rest (those ideas of who she was/should be [more than, etc]). Anyway - such a great para for so many reasons. I also loved the bit with the mother asking if she had any more husbands (iconic), and the simple line, I thought all might not be... goodie.

One thing I did think I'd have liked to see (but maybe there wasn't quite place for this), was a bit of a noodle over commensality. There was a really great amount of writing about agriculture and the connection between nature-care-food, and then a small part about communion as an act of sharing something to do with food that is ritualistic that brings people together, but I thought the natural next link would be agricultural practices as nature-care-food, then commensality as food-care-social groups, but it never quite came. its also linked to resistance and would love to have read Tessa's thoughts on this! & feels like it sits exactly in the idea of becoming, rather than belonging , commensality is this act of remaking, the action of bringing connection, community & sometimes resistance into the world through this active practice... becoming!

also.... am I biased because I have been taught by Tessa??? NO... it is OBJECTIVELY a wonderful book even if I was a slug I would give this 5 stars.

[Becca Younk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened on audio while walking around my neighborhood, which was great because the audiobook included sounds of nature. I'm hesitate about reading books about grief because they can veer into cliche or schmaltz, or just feel so self-centered. This was none of those, because grief over personal loss was tied into grief over climate change.

[Mish Middelmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book interweaves three main parts: the narrator and her family navigating her mother's aging and loss; a call to connect with the biorhythms of nature; and a political demand for an end to capitalism. While I have some empathy with all three layers, it is the first that works best for me in this book.

I really feel the author's voice and heart and connectedness as she weaves in and out of joy and sorrow about her mother. She also acknowledges what she inherited from her mother, in an authentic way.

My mother is in touch with the invisible.

She also speaks powerfully about ancestral grief, backed by her perceptions of her own ancestral pain

Ancestral grief is slow and sneaky, is dulled and yet can hit like a sniper.

This rings true to me.

When she gets to ecosystems, I hear and feel her strong and authentic connections with trees. I love her reverence for the oldest trees (the snags of the title) and her understanding of the cycles of life beyond death

Despite a snag's inevitable death, its rich usefulness to wildlife is about to peak.

But then the long and passionate stories about other societies and ecosystems around the world sound a bit like a Facebook feed - somehow oversimplified and preened for public consumption. And when she turns to blaming capitalism for all the ills and suggesting that its overthrow will fix things - well to me, she sounds rather naive.

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read Tessa McWatt before and will read anything by her, but this book I took my time with... it is not fast-paced page-turner. As someone else wrote about this book: I can't recommend to anyone who demands a plot! This book is instead a lot of thoughtful writing about the author's experiences communing with forests in different parts of the world, and relating the life cycle of a forest to her mother's decline. She writes about both personal and collective grief, grief about climate change, about colonialism, and so much more. She writes about the relatively new term "solastalgia" which means soul sickness, and all the ways that resonates with her. The focus is on grief and yet there are also many moments of joy or times which make her mother exclaim "goodie goodie", giving the reader lots to reflect on about how to make true connections with each other, and with the world we live in.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book that interweaves memoir and travel narrative, insights into the astonishing world of plants and fungi, reflections on what we lose and rebuild over the course of our lives, and on what we have lost and are losing as a species inhabiting this overburdened planet. Oftentimes sad, but with moments of hope and joy that are deeply rooted in family, art, and love. I learned a lot from this book (‘petrichor’ is my new favorite word) and was touched by the author’s probing candor in her search for answers, to her personal questions and moral dilemmas as well as to those besetting the world at large – a book that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous poetic musings that tie together the author's history of immigration from Guyana to Canada to England, identity as a mixed-race person, colonial legacy, grief over the loss of a friend by suicide during covid, grief over her beloved mother's demise, and grief over the sixth extinction underway on our planet. I absolutely loved the writing and the weaving, but I can't recommend to anyone who demands a plot!

[Enid Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little exploration of life, love, family, community, colonialism, inter-generational trauma, ecology… with more than a little about grief along the way.

I personally enjoyed reading it - feeling comfort in a shared experience as I navigate the final chapter of the life of my own parents.

[Andrew Ruhemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by this book. Echoes of Braiding Sweet grass in its celebration of the dealing power of Nature. but somehow with added layers of pathos and even comedy at times in her enchanting relationship with her ageing mother who suffers with dementia.
Deeply moving and comforting at the same time.

[Alanna Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Snag
This was an interesting book to listen to while walking. I loved how the author wove the elements of grief and life’s journey into nature and the life of trees. The combination of science and emotion was unique. I appreciate the author’s perspective on life and loss.

[Libre Livre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely breathtaking.

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful