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pH: A Novel
When marine biologist Ray Berringer and his student crew embark on an oceanographic cruise in the Gulf of Alaska, the waters are troubled in more ways than one. Ray's co-leader, a famed chemist, is abandoning ship just as the ocean's pH is becoming a major concern. Something at their university is corrosive, and it's going to take more than science to correct. Powerful bonds are forged among offbeat characters studying the effects of ocean acidification on pteropods, a tiny, keystone species, in this cutting-edge CliFi novel. (Includes author Q&A and reading group discussion questions.)
- GenresScience
256 pages, Paperback
Published September 5, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 19, 2017
Who knew that a book about the effect of the rising acidification of seawater on pteropods would be so entertaining? Nancy Lord, who has had experience in the fishing industries of Alaska, has published several books on the dangers of climate change, and also holds a degree in creative writing. In this, her first and hopefully not her last, novel, she brings to the lay reader a cautionary tale in a genre some are calling cli-fi.
There are three main characters, with their differences but united in their common love of the natural world. Ray Berringer, a university professor whose primary course of study is pteropods. Through him we experience professional frustration in academia. Annabel is an "environmental artist" who turns out to be quite observant and wise despite her hippy-dippy persona. And through Helen, a grad student with a native heritage, we get experience of life in her family village, beautiful and tradition bound, but providing a life she knows is unsustainable for her. The novel, bookended by oceanic study cruises off the coast of Alaska, also mostly takes place in Fairbanks, a place far from the coast that looks intriguing from internet pictures and maps. Highly recommended.
There are three main characters, with their differences but united in their common love of the natural world. Ray Berringer, a university professor whose primary course of study is pteropods. Through him we experience professional frustration in academia. Annabel is an "environmental artist" who turns out to be quite observant and wise despite her hippy-dippy persona. And through Helen, a grad student with a native heritage, we get experience of life in her family village, beautiful and tradition bound, but providing a life she knows is unsustainable for her. The novel, bookended by oceanic study cruises off the coast of Alaska, also mostly takes place in Fairbanks, a place far from the coast that looks intriguing from internet pictures and maps. Highly recommended.
August 23, 2018
Beyond the cheesy title, Lord nimbly weaves climate science into this tidy, if banal, work of fiction (or 'cli-fi') in a valiant effort to increase scientific literacy around ocean acidification. Might sound super boring, but her science writing is surprisingly accessible, lacking any prolixity; it is the fictive facets of the novel that are tedious, filled with academia tropes and political cheap shots. Where the story lacks, the host of stereotypical-yet-endearing characters prevail despite the book's undercurrent of feeling a little bit doomed.
October 31, 2018
Spoilers ahead, as these reviews serve as preliminary research/teaching notes.
Cli-fi at its best is subtle: it uses engaging storylines to cultivate an emotional reader response to, and perhaps increased comprehension of, climate change. PH: a Novel contains a great deal of scientific information about climate change and its impact on ocean acidification, but precious little intriguing, affective plot or character development. Our protagonist, Ray Berringer, shares echoes of Solar's Dr. Michael Beard, but without the humor. Like Beard, Berringer is overindulgent; he is a slightly misogynistic alcoholic who lacks self-awareness. Berringer is a marine biologist in Alaska who is fixated on the impending doom of pteropods — small snail-like creatures whose shells dissolve in increasingly acidic waters and who, like Ray himself, are low on the food chain. Ray gets no respect: not at work, where he allows himself to be pushed around by students, colleagues, and administrators alike; and not at home, where his wife treats him as a charmless nuisance and his children perceive him as a pitiful buffoon. Berringer is set to co-lead a research cruise with his new, celebrated colleague, ocean chemist Jackson Oakley. But Oakley almost immediately bails on the cruise, then buries its alarming findings. Ray learns that Oakley is working with organizations funded by climate change deniers, and worse, that the university itself is dependent upon their funding as well. What follows is a quest to expose the truth that is somehow entirely devoid of suspense.
The novel attempts to alternate POV, which should clarify a variety of perspectives on the subject of ocean acidification, but a lack of character development makes the technique more disruptive than illuminative. Other characters, like Berringer's tween daughter Aurora, chime in for no discernible reason. The strongest sections are probably those written from the perspective of Oakley's Iñupiat advisee, Helen, who is so disillusioned by academia that she ultimately leaves to work in public policy instead.
I was particularly troubled by the character of Annabel, an environmental artist who comes across as something of an analog for Lord herself. Annabel goes along on the cruise and creates small, ephemeral, experiential art pieces. Ray himself is skeptical of her work while on the cruise, as am I, as her creation preaches only to the choir, aka the researchers who already believe that climate change is a crisis of humanity's own making. Her work becomes no more credible as the book progresses. She sends a piece to Jackson Oakley, hoping it will move him, but instead he interprets it as a threat and misses the point entirely. At the book's conclusion she presents Ray with a hand-hewn pteropod, which is inaccurate. Her rallying cry at these moments (there are a few within the text) is a petulant "but it's ART!" which is an argument that suggests art should be forgiven for being sloppy and incoherent. Throughout the book, Annabel's art does nothing to alter anyone's opinions about climate change, which is Annabel's stated intention. Annabel's ineffectiveness implies that art is an ultimately impotent form of resistance to climate change — an unfortunate takeaway from a piece of art that is intended to do just that.
Cli-fi at its best is subtle: it uses engaging storylines to cultivate an emotional reader response to, and perhaps increased comprehension of, climate change. PH: a Novel contains a great deal of scientific information about climate change and its impact on ocean acidification, but precious little intriguing, affective plot or character development. Our protagonist, Ray Berringer, shares echoes of Solar's Dr. Michael Beard, but without the humor. Like Beard, Berringer is overindulgent; he is a slightly misogynistic alcoholic who lacks self-awareness. Berringer is a marine biologist in Alaska who is fixated on the impending doom of pteropods — small snail-like creatures whose shells dissolve in increasingly acidic waters and who, like Ray himself, are low on the food chain. Ray gets no respect: not at work, where he allows himself to be pushed around by students, colleagues, and administrators alike; and not at home, where his wife treats him as a charmless nuisance and his children perceive him as a pitiful buffoon. Berringer is set to co-lead a research cruise with his new, celebrated colleague, ocean chemist Jackson Oakley. But Oakley almost immediately bails on the cruise, then buries its alarming findings. Ray learns that Oakley is working with organizations funded by climate change deniers, and worse, that the university itself is dependent upon their funding as well. What follows is a quest to expose the truth that is somehow entirely devoid of suspense.
The novel attempts to alternate POV, which should clarify a variety of perspectives on the subject of ocean acidification, but a lack of character development makes the technique more disruptive than illuminative. Other characters, like Berringer's tween daughter Aurora, chime in for no discernible reason. The strongest sections are probably those written from the perspective of Oakley's Iñupiat advisee, Helen, who is so disillusioned by academia that she ultimately leaves to work in public policy instead.
I was particularly troubled by the character of Annabel, an environmental artist who comes across as something of an analog for Lord herself. Annabel goes along on the cruise and creates small, ephemeral, experiential art pieces. Ray himself is skeptical of her work while on the cruise, as am I, as her creation preaches only to the choir, aka the researchers who already believe that climate change is a crisis of humanity's own making. Her work becomes no more credible as the book progresses. She sends a piece to Jackson Oakley, hoping it will move him, but instead he interprets it as a threat and misses the point entirely. At the book's conclusion she presents Ray with a hand-hewn pteropod, which is inaccurate. Her rallying cry at these moments (there are a few within the text) is a petulant "but it's ART!" which is an argument that suggests art should be forgiven for being sloppy and incoherent. Throughout the book, Annabel's art does nothing to alter anyone's opinions about climate change, which is Annabel's stated intention. Annabel's ineffectiveness implies that art is an ultimately impotent form of resistance to climate change — an unfortunate takeaway from a piece of art that is intended to do just that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2017
"pH," by Nancy Lord, belongs to a genre known as "cli-fi," or climate fiction. According to Lord, this is a "sub-category of environmental fiction that addresses climate change issues." Ray Berringer is a dedicated scientist who lives and works in Alaska. He teaches in the School of Ocean Sciences, and has led a number of research cruises in the Gulf of Alaska to test the waters for acidification and other changes allegedly brought about by global warming. His particular area of expertise is a type of zooplankton known as pteropods, small marine gastropods or sea snails that are an important food source. Their shells can completely dissolve when the ocean's acidity increases to a certain level. Ray is a modest man who has contempt for his colleague, Jackson Oakley, a charismatic chemistry expert who is arrogant, adores publicity, and spends a great deal of time raising funds from corporate donors.
Lord skillfully integrates a number of intriguing elements into this engrossing novel. Without preaching, she explains how man's greed and indifference may already have done irreversible damage to our environment. In addition, she presents an interesting mix of characters besides Berringer and Oakley. Most notable are Annabel, an avant-garde and flamboyant artist who is as irritating as she is creative, and Helen, an Alaska native who is Jackson's star student and lover.
The author touches on such issues as the vitriolic conflict between those who believe that climate change is real and those who ridicule it as a hoax; and the corruption of powerful people who are willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. Ray is falsely accused of wrongdoing, and fears losing his job as well as his hard-earned reputation. Berringer's integrity and good nature have not prepared him for the dog-eat-dog world of academia, predatory reporters, and political infighting. "pH" is an engrossing story of human frailties, fierce rivalries, and the search for truth, which these days has become an ever more elusive commodity.
Lord skillfully integrates a number of intriguing elements into this engrossing novel. Without preaching, she explains how man's greed and indifference may already have done irreversible damage to our environment. In addition, she presents an interesting mix of characters besides Berringer and Oakley. Most notable are Annabel, an avant-garde and flamboyant artist who is as irritating as she is creative, and Helen, an Alaska native who is Jackson's star student and lover.
The author touches on such issues as the vitriolic conflict between those who believe that climate change is real and those who ridicule it as a hoax; and the corruption of powerful people who are willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. Ray is falsely accused of wrongdoing, and fears losing his job as well as his hard-earned reputation. Berringer's integrity and good nature have not prepared him for the dog-eat-dog world of academia, predatory reporters, and political infighting. "pH" is an engrossing story of human frailties, fierce rivalries, and the search for truth, which these days has become an ever more elusive commodity.
October 2, 2017
Picked up this "cli-fi" novel about ocean acidification at BEA, after hearing the author speak on a small press panel. Despite the overly cluttered cast of characters, a slightly colorless plot about academic integrity and shady funding sources in scientific research, and some awkward expository passages--present in most early fiction by primarily nonfiction writers--this book has a hell of a lot of heart. Marine biologist Ray Berringer is a bit of a stereotypical art-misunderstanding scientist, but eventually he comes to value the environmental artist Annabel's contributions to climate change public outreach. The passages about Iñupiat grad student Helen are lovely--both in terms of her genuine self-struggle over her heritage and her defiance of a manipulative white male thesis adviser (get it, gurrl).
October 6, 2022
I enjoyed this story - the settings were familiar to me, the science shared was interesting (and alarming), the struggles within the University enlightening. I feel like I learned more about ocean acidification and the resulting cascade of environmental and biological consequences. All of this was set in a story line that I found compelling. Thank you Nancy Lord for a good story!
November 13, 2022
Climate fiction novel. Scientist I know who works in ocean acidification read it first and said the science is accurate, which I knew very little about. I enjoyed the theme of the creativity of art and science and their cross over. Set in Alaska.
April 24, 2018
A fun story about ocean acidification and university politics. Every detail rings true.
January 8, 2018
Solid idea - love the science - but characters are cliché, interchangeable.
See my other ten word book reviews at my blog: https://tenwordbookreviews.wordpress....
See my other ten word book reviews at my blog: https://tenwordbookreviews.wordpress....
November 3, 2017
This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.
PH – A NOVEL is a fun and informative read about marine biologists and their passion. It starts out as we watch the cast of quirky characters navigate their yearly boat trip, collecting specimens and bonding along the way. The requisite “bad guy” is a two-faced arrogant chemist; and there are the dual specters of global warming and ocean acidification to add some drama.
Ray Berringer is a quiet man who just wants to photograph and catalog pteropods, but he finds a target on his head when he tries to uncover corruption at his university. His students (and one very unusual artist) come together to support him, utilizing unconventional methods – performance art, sit ins, a little sabotage – that are in turns endearing and hilarious.
Author Nancy Lord’s talent for dialogue makes this novel stand out. The ocean’s pH, a potentially dull and complex subject, is easy to understand here. The Alaskan natives and political actors who make it their concern reveal the poignancy in the otherwise clinical science. This sleeper of a novel surrounds you with the realization that we are slowly killing the ocean that nourishes us. It seeps into your subconscious in between the brilliant dialogue and backstabbing drama. With just the right touch of pathos and humor, Lord shouts her agenda quietly.
Pitting environmental defenders against unethical university officials makes it easy to choose sides, regardless of what you believe. The tiny pteropods are portrayed as cute, harmless creatures who become the unofficial mascot of the group. Ray Berringer is appropriately reticent and passive, while the artist Annabel takes up the cause with aplomb. Using all the weapons in her armory, such as performance art and lighting origami on fire and setting it adrift on the beleaguered ocean, Annabel is a character that could easily be written off as a crackpot, but isn’t. Prepare to be delighted.
Regardless of your opinion on climate change, PH – A NOVEL is a pleasant and thought provoking read. I highly recommend it.
PH – A NOVEL is a fun and informative read about marine biologists and their passion. It starts out as we watch the cast of quirky characters navigate their yearly boat trip, collecting specimens and bonding along the way. The requisite “bad guy” is a two-faced arrogant chemist; and there are the dual specters of global warming and ocean acidification to add some drama.
Ray Berringer is a quiet man who just wants to photograph and catalog pteropods, but he finds a target on his head when he tries to uncover corruption at his university. His students (and one very unusual artist) come together to support him, utilizing unconventional methods – performance art, sit ins, a little sabotage – that are in turns endearing and hilarious.
Author Nancy Lord’s talent for dialogue makes this novel stand out. The ocean’s pH, a potentially dull and complex subject, is easy to understand here. The Alaskan natives and political actors who make it their concern reveal the poignancy in the otherwise clinical science. This sleeper of a novel surrounds you with the realization that we are slowly killing the ocean that nourishes us. It seeps into your subconscious in between the brilliant dialogue and backstabbing drama. With just the right touch of pathos and humor, Lord shouts her agenda quietly.
Pitting environmental defenders against unethical university officials makes it easy to choose sides, regardless of what you believe. The tiny pteropods are portrayed as cute, harmless creatures who become the unofficial mascot of the group. Ray Berringer is appropriately reticent and passive, while the artist Annabel takes up the cause with aplomb. Using all the weapons in her armory, such as performance art and lighting origami on fire and setting it adrift on the beleaguered ocean, Annabel is a character that could easily be written off as a crackpot, but isn’t. Prepare to be delighted.
Regardless of your opinion on climate change, PH – A NOVEL is a pleasant and thought provoking read. I highly recommend it.
December 18, 2020
This is a surprisingly entertaining novel about ocean acidification, academia, and climate change research. Alaska native Nancy Lord's debut work of fiction (she has written about Alaska's fishing industry in the past) is entertaining and educational. She manages to delve into climate science, the inner world of academia, and the very public war between real academics and those paid off by the fossil fuel industry. The story takes place over six months, starting on a research boat in the Gulf of Alaska led by Prof. Ray Berringer, who specializes in pteropods. Twice a year, he and his students go out to obtain samples of seawater and sea life, to better track ocean temperature and the effect of warming.
In the story that follows, we meet a group of interesting characters, including the young Prof. Oakley and Berringer's family, learn a lot about climate science and small ocean life, and get some insight into how corporations work to insinuate themselves inside academia and direct what research is funded and published. Well done!
In the story that follows, we meet a group of interesting characters, including the young Prof. Oakley and Berringer's family, learn a lot about climate science and small ocean life, and get some insight into how corporations work to insinuate themselves inside academia and direct what research is funded and published. Well done!
December 1, 2017
You can read my review of this book online at The Brooklyn Rail.
http://brooklynrail.org/2017/09/books...
http://brooklynrail.org/2017/09/books...
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February 24, 2018Many of the characters were obviously inspired by real people at UAF. Well researched for its time, although some of the science is outdated in the fast-moving field of ocean acidification. A believable story that blends environmental writing with the personal struggles of its characters. Touches on the sometimes uneasy alliance between art and science in the pursuit of a common goal. Luckily, most of the time, the scientific life isn't quite as dramatic...
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March 8, 2019Marine biologist Ray Berringer and his students find evidence that ocean acidification is changing the ecosystem off Alaska's shores. But his colleague at the university doesn't seem to be helping them get the word out....
This novel makes climate change personal, and kept me turning the pages with its quirky characters and humor. Highly recommended for adults and science-oriented teens!
This novel makes climate change personal, and kept me turning the pages with its quirky characters and humor. Highly recommended for adults and science-oriented teens!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews