a psalm for the wild built by becky chambers

Tea is a vehicle for care and Dex’s mobile tea wagon is where people find respite and replenishment, repair and restoration, and Dex’s job is to provide those things. Without spoiling too much, Dex, as a tea monk, is a caregiver, a person who arrives with a wagon full of tea, sets up shop, and welcomes people in different towns who need to rest, to talk, or be left alone.

But the two major facets I found most resonant were the messages about purpose and caregiving. There are themes of technology and nature, friendship, agency, and autonomy. They have a destination, but Mosscap and Dex’s examination of their own journey while it happens is the heart of the narrative.ĭescribing what it’s about is probably the most challenging part because I think each reader who encounters this book will find a different element that speaks to them most.

Mosscap and Dex go on a road trip of sorts, but that’s the foundation to what the story is about. It begins with Dex deciding to change their life’s vocation, then jumps ahead a bit, and then a bit more until Mosscap arrives. Much like Dex’s mobile tea shop, which is attached to a bicycle, the story doesn’t go fast. It was intriguing and easy to sink into, with a plot and pace that invited me to savor each scene. This is a quiet, thoughtful, short and meditative book. Until Sibling Dex, struggling with many feelings, among them frustration and dissatisfaction, looks up from their campsite to meet Mosscap, a robot who walked out of the woods and asked, “What do you need?” Humans learned to get along without the robots, and they’ve become almost a legend. Humans asked them to stay, but the robots said no, thanks, and headed off into the wilderness.

Hundreds of years prior, the robots humans had invented gained sentience, and wanted to leave and experience the world. In this world, set far into the future, humans exist on half of the planet, with the other half given over to wilderness. Sibling Dex has chosen a new path in life, and with the support of their community (literal support – the community builds Dex build a trailer and provides everything needed) they become a tea monk, a roving administer of tea and comfort. TL DR: if you like science fiction, comforting tales about comfort and care, and stories that are the literary version of warm late afternoon sunshine slanted through leafy branches on a day with perfect temperatures when all the biting insects are on vacation, you’ll like this.

A psalm for the wild built by becky chambers