Many thanks to reviewer Natalie D. for this rave 5 star review of on Netgalley.

“Wonder” is the word that comes to mind when reflecting on Sadiqa de Meijer’s In the Field. The word holds as many various meanings as is required to sum up such a nuanced collection of essays. Meijer paints a masterful portrait of marvel, musing, curiosity, questioning, phenomenon — She paints a portrait of wonder. There are several recurring themes that are woven throughout her essays: artistic expression, the human anatomy, Dutch culture and politics, death. It seems to me that all of the topics and each of the essays are strung together by Meijer’s desire for a holistic experience of human connectivity: to and through art, to past and present human beings, to the human body, to nature, to and within Amsterdam, I could go on. I find myself struggling to write about this book in a very grounded way because her writing — not so much the actual syntax as the feeling of the words — has the effect of visual art; it touches a wordless part of the soul. Meijer has gifted to her reader the experience that was gifted to her by a Kenojuak Ashevak lithograph. “For a moment I receive what there is no word for.”