The Fog: 10/03/17

The Fog by Kyo Maclear shows the influence of a year of bird watching, as chronicled in Birds, Art, Life (2017). Told from the point of view of a yellow bird named Warble, it's the story of a fog that covers the island of Icyland, leaving everyone in their own personal bubbles.

Warble's hobby is people watching. He loves to stand on shore and watch the people arrive. He counts and categorizes them just as many avid birdwatchers do.

He is there when the Fog rolls in. He watches in dismay as everything vanishes into a cold gray mist. He remembers what it was like before the Fog but no one else seems to.

Like a hero trapped in a remote village cut off from the rest of the universe, Warble sets out to reconnect with the world. He sends out messages, hoping for a reply, hoping for evidence that the rest of the world still exists.

These scenes of the Fog with Warble diligently watching through his binoculars brings to mind the icy and foggy mornings Maclear describes when she was learning patience along the shores of Lake Ontario. She was trying to learn how wait for nature to come to her and found the experience difficult and exasperating. She also apparently got the idea to turn the tables on those very birds she was trying to wait for!

Five stars

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