Schell, Jennifer

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

The GooseVolume 17 | No. 2 Article 196-12-2019pH: A Novel by Nancy LordJennifer SchellUniversity of Alaska FairbanksPart of the Literature in English, North America CommonsFollow this and additional works at / Suivez-nous ainsi que d’autres travaux et œuvres:https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegooseThis article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Goose by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrantede la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactezscholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended Citation / Citation recommandéeSchell, Jennifer. "pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord." The Goose, vol. 17 , no. 2 , article 19, 2019,https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol17/iss2/19.pH: A Novel by NANCY LORD Westwinds, 2017. $16.99 USD  Reviewed by JENNIFER SCHELL  In his landmark book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011), Rob Nixon encourages environmentalists “to engage the representational, narrative, and strategic challenges posed by the relative invisibility of slow violence” (2). Whether it was written with Nixon's scholarship in mind or not, Nancy Lord's novel pH attempts to represent the ravages of slow violence insofar as it chronicles the exploits of a group of scientists and students, who make several alarming discoveries about the detrimental impact of ocean acidification on zooplankton in the Gulf of Alaska. As the novel begins, Ray Berringer and Jackson Oakley—two rival professors at the University of the North—enter the Gulf of Alaska aboard a research vessel in order to collect data on ocean acidification. Shortly thereafter, Jackson hitches a ride to shore on a fishing boat, leaving Ray in charge of the expedition and its members: Helen, an Iñupiat graduate student; Nastiya, a Russian graduate student; Annabel, an idiosyncratic visual artist; and a motley crew of undergraduate and graduate students. As the team gathers samples, records data, and examines results, they discover that ocean acidification more severely threatens zooplankton calcification than previously thought. As the novel progresses, the scene shifts to the University of the North campus in Fairbanks, Alaska, and matters become infinitely more complicated. When Jackson ignores email requests for data from Ray, the rivalry between the two men intensifies and escalates. Eventually, Ray finds himself suspended by the university after harassment claims are lodged against him. Meanwhile, Annabel launches protests against the university on Ray’s behalf, and Helen discovers that Jackson is secretly working for the Center for Science Integrity, a conservative think-tank funded by the fossil fuel industries, in order to spread misinformation about climate science. All of these events culminate in Ray’s trip to Hawaii, where he experiences a rare “moment of clarity” that changes the trajectory of the novel (212). A former Alaska Writer Laureate and an accomplished writer of such nonfiction as Beluga Days (2003) and Early Warming (2011), Lord does an excellent job of describing the science behind anthropogenic climate change and ocean acidification. She deftly lays out complicated scientific concepts in terms simple enough for non-scientists to understand. To her credit, she does not oversimplify her information or treat readers as unintelligent. Not insignificantly, Lord also presents a convincing case for the similarities between art and science. According to Annabel, “Both required creative minds, speculation and hypothesizing, experimenting, sometimes-tedious detail work, a willingness to fail and try again” (44). Although he does not at first recognize the value of Annabel’s artistic vision, Ray comes to appreciate it, so much so that he encourages his daughter, Aurora, to attend a summer art camp in Sitka. As Lord indicates in these moments, much is to be gained when artists and scientists work together to combat environmental degradation. Perhaps the most commendable aspect of the book, though, is its focus on the ocean’s invisible—or almost invisible—1Schell: pH: A Novel by Nancy LordPublished by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2019microfauna. As Ray explains early in Chapter 1, zooplankton possess a beauty and charisma all their own:  There was nothing that excited him more than the tiny, footed, flagellated, ciliated, bristled, tentacled, transparent creatures, in all their life-cycle stages, all the way up to pulsing jellyfish as large as the reflected moon. It had become a primary goal in his life to encourage as many people as possible to look at his microfauna, to know that they existed. If ordinary people could admire their great beauty, maybe they would want to learn more about them, and maybe they would begin to understand why it was important for such creatures to have a home in the ocean. With his photographs, shot through the lens of a microscope, he was able to capture and enlarge the tiny larval forms of fish, the amphipods, the copepods, the microzooplankton radiolarians with their incredibly intricate mineral skeletons, and the shelled pteropods known as sea butterflies. (19)  Here, as she does elsewhere in the book, Lord indicates that tiny pteropods are just as majestic and amazing as the huge whales that consume them. Thus, she encourages her readers to invest their emotions—and their concern—in the ocean’s smallest as well as its largest denizens. Although pH certainly contains much to admire, it is not without a few flaws. From a craft perspective, the opening chapters are a bit short on plot and a bit long on exposition. Most of the characters spend far more time thinking—and justifying their thoughts to themselves—than they do acting. As a result, the plot takes some time to get moving in a clear direction.  Insofar as it attempts to engage in political and academic satire, the novel also has a few issues. Anyone wishing for subtlety will be disappointed. Although she does not mention anyone by name, Lord takes some obvious jabs at Alaska’s congressional delegation and university administrators. Also, some attempts at humour (such as Ray’s conference with a provocatively dressed, overweight student) fall short of the mark. Flaws notwithstanding, pH represents an important addition to the burgeoning genre of cli-fi. It introduces readers to the alarming aspects of ocean acidification and encourages them to appreciate the obscure beauty of zooplankton. Along the way, it attempts to entertain them with humour and inspire them with hope about the future of the planet. Both are worthy endeavors, indeed.   WORKS CITED  Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard UP, 2011.  JENNIFER SCHELL is an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her specialties include North American literature, Arctic writing, animal studies, and environmental humanities. She recently completed a series of articles on the ecogothic, and she is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Ghost Species: North American Extinction Writing and the Ecogothic, 1820-2018. 2The Goose, Vol. 17, No. 2 [2019], Art. 19https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol17/iss2/19

pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord

Scholars Commons

The Goose
Volume 17 | No. 2 Article 19
6-12-2019
pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord
Jennifer Schell
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons
Follow this and additional works at / Suivez-nous ainsi que d’autres travaux et œuvres:
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose
This article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Goose by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrante
de la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactez
scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation / Citation recommandée
Schell, Jennifer. "pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord." The Goose, vol. 17 , no. 2 , article 19, 2019,
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol17/iss2/19.
pH: A Novel by NANCY LORD 
Westwinds, 2017. $16.99 USD 
 
Reviewed by JENNIFER SCHELL 
 
In his landmark book, Slow Violence and the 
Environmentalism of the Poor (2011), Rob 
Nixon encourages environmentalists “to 
engage the representational, narrative, and 
strategic challenges posed by the relative 
invisibility of slow violence” (2). Whether it 
was written with Nixon's scholarship in 
mind or not, Nancy Lord's novel pH 
attempts to represent the ravages of slow 
violence insofar as it chronicles the exploits 
of a group of scientists and students, who 
make several alarming discoveries about 
the detrimental impact of ocean 
acidification on zooplankton in the Gulf of 
Alaska. 
As the novel begins, Ray Berringer and 
Jackson Oakley—two rival professors at the 
University of the North—enter the Gulf of 
Alaska aboard a research vessel in order to 
collect data on ocean acidification. Shortly 
thereafter, Jackson hitches a ride to shore 
on a fishing boat, leaving Ray in charge of 
the expedition and its members: Helen, an 
Iñupiat graduate student; Nastiya, a Russian 
graduate student; Annabel, an idiosyncratic 
visual artist; and a motley crew of 
undergraduate and graduate students. As 
the team gathers samples, records data, 
and examines results, they discover that 
ocean acidification more severely threatens 
zooplankton calcification than previously 
thought. 
As the novel progresses, the scene shifts 
to the University of the North campus in 
Fairbanks, Alaska, and matters become 
infinitely more complicated. When Jackson 
ignores email requests for data from Ray, 
the rivalry between the two men intensifies 
and escalates. Eventually, Ray finds himself 
suspended by the university after 
harassment claims are lodged against him. 
Meanwhile, Annabel launches protests 
against the university on Ray’s behalf, and 
Helen discovers that Jackson is secretly 
working for the Center for Science Integrity, 
a conservative think-tank funded by the 
fossil fuel industries, in order to spread 
misinformation about climate science. All of 
these events culminate in Ray’s trip to 
Hawaii, where he experiences a rare 
“moment of clarity” that changes the 
trajectory of the novel (212). 
A former Alaska Writer Laureate and an 
accomplished writer of such nonfiction as 
Beluga Days (2003) and Early Warming 
(2011), Lord does an excellent job of 
describing the science behind 
anthropogenic climate change and ocean 
acidification. She deftly lays out 
complicated scientific concepts in terms 
simple enough for non-scientists to 
understand. To her credit, she does not 
oversimplify her information or treat 
readers as unintelligent. 
Not insignificantly, Lord also presents a 
convincing case for the similarities between 
art and science. According to Annabel, 
“Both required creative minds, speculation 
and hypothesizing, experimenting, 
sometimes-tedious detail work, a 
willingness to fail and try again” (44). 
Although he does not at first recognize the 
value of Annabel’s artistic vision, Ray comes 
to appreciate it, so much so that he 
encourages his daughter, Aurora, to attend 
a summer art camp in Sitka. As Lord 
indicates in these moments, much is to be 
gained when artists and scientists work 
together to combat environmental 
degradation. 
Perhaps the most commendable aspect 
of the book, though, is its focus on the 
ocean’s invisible—or almost invisible—
1
Schell: pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord
Published by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2019
microfauna. As Ray explains early in 
Chapter 1, zooplankton possess a beauty 
and charisma all their own: 
 
There was nothing that excited him 
more than the tiny, footed, flagellated, 
ciliated, bristled, tentacled, transparent 
creatures, in all their life-cycle stages, 
all the way up to pulsing jellyfish as 
large as the reflected moon. It had 
become a primary goal in his life to 
encourage as many people as possible 
to look at his microfauna, to know that 
they existed. If ordinary people could 
admire their great beauty, maybe they 
would want to learn more about them, 
and maybe they would begin to 
understand why it was important for 
such creatures to have a home in the 
ocean. With his photographs, shot 
through the lens of a microscope, he 
was able to capture and enlarge the 
tiny larval forms of fish, the amphipods, 
the copepods, the microzooplankton 
radiolarians with their incredibly 
intricate mineral skeletons, and the 
shelled pteropods known as sea 
butterflies. (19) 
 
Here, as she does elsewhere in the book, 
Lord indicates that tiny pteropods are just 
as majestic and amazing as the huge whales 
that consume them. Thus, she encourages 
her readers to invest their emotions—and 
their concern—in the ocean’s smallest as 
well as its largest denizens. 
Although pH certainly contains much to 
admire, it is not without a few flaws. From a 
craft perspective, the opening chapters are 
a bit short on plot and a bit long on 
exposition. Most of the characters spend far 
more time thinking—and justifying their 
thoughts to themselves—than they do 
acting. As a result, the plot takes some time 
to get moving in a clear direction.  
Insofar as it attempts to engage in 
political and academic satire, the novel also 
has a few issues. Anyone wishing for 
subtlety will be disappointed. Although she 
does not mention anyone by name, Lord 
takes some obvious jabs at Alaska’s 
congressional delegation and university 
administrators. Also, some attempts at 
humour (such as Ray’s conference with a 
provocatively dressed, overweight student) 
fall short of the mark. 
Flaws notwithstanding, pH represents an 
important addition to the burgeoning genre 
of cli-fi. It introduces readers to the 
alarming aspects of ocean acidification and 
encourages them to appreciate the obscure 
beauty of zooplankton. Along the way, it 
attempts to entertain them with humour 
and inspire them with hope about the 
future of the planet. Both are worthy 
endeavors, indeed.  
 
WORKS CITED 
 
Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the 
Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard 
UP, 2011. 
 
JENNIFER SCHELL is an Associate Professor 
at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her 
specialties include North American 
literature, Arctic writing, animal studies, 
and environmental humanities. She recently 
completed a series of articles on the 
ecogothic, and she is currently working on a 
book manuscript entitled Ghost Species: 
North American Extinction Writing and the 
Ecogothic, 1820-2018. 
2
The Goose, Vol. 17, No. 2 [2019], Art. 19
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol17/iss2/19


https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1550&amp;context=thegoose

pH: A Novel by Nancy Lord

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Wilfrid Laurier University

Scholars Commons