Tuesday, May 22, 2012

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Published in paperback May 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours

When co-worker and friend Anders Eckman dies in the Amazon jungle of Brazil, Marina Singh is sent by the company to finish the mission he was sent on - a mission she is reluctant to taken on. The sense of an obligation to Anders widow convinces Marina to journey to the equator in search of her former mentor who has disappeared while researching and developing a new drug for Marina's company.

As with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Patchett has dropped her lead character into an unforgiving setting for which she is utterly unprepared. If you had given me that comparison before I read the book, I might well have run screaming even though Patchett is one of my favorite authors. Thirty years after I studied Heart of Darkness in college, I still can't forget how much I disliked that book. Fortunately, Annick Swenson is no Kurtz, although she is equally idolized by the natives she lives among. Swenson is certainly a force to be reckoned with, a doctor who wishes that she had never revealed that fact to the tribe, a woman who brooks no nonsense and who deeply resents the company who pays for everything she does and has.

Throughout her journey, Marina learns that poisonous snakes, insect bites and unknown infections are not the only dangers she faces. Along the way, she must come to terms with events in her past that she has been pushing into the dark recesses of her mind and discover the things that are really important in her life.

"The news of Anders Eckman's death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationery and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope. Who even knew they still made such things? This single sheet had traveled from Brazil to Minnesota to mark the passing of a man, a breath of tissue so insubstantial that only the stamp seemed to anchor it to this world."

Patchett has a marvelous way of making the smallest details come alive. From a Minnesota winter to the stifling heat and humidity of the jungle, she makes her settings come alive. Seriously, the deeper into Brazil Marina went, the more I wanted to jump into a swimming pool! Patchett's writing blends both a lyricism and starkness and her characters are wonderfully realized. Are they characters readers will relate to or like? Maybe not, but I knew these characters by the end of the book and Patchett kept me interested in the book because I wanted to know what would happen to these people. As much as the book is character driven, the story is, at heart, a look at ethics - just what are we willing to do in the name of scientific discovery and business? Patchett never fails to deliver a book with amazing depth.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. For other reviews, check out the full tour.

14 comments:

  1. Great post! I loved this book, too! Well except for the ending - I just couldn't get on board with it. And as far as Conrad goes, I know what you mean. I studied Heart of Darkness too many times in college and hated that book - it wasn't until grad school, where I had signed up for a lit course that turned out to be a Conrad lit course taught by a Conrad fanatic, that I finally began to understand Conrad's work more and actually appreciate it. Suffice it to say, it definitely took a while to get there - LOL! Anyhow, I enjoyed this post! And I'll definitely be reading more Patchett in the future.

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  2. Can still recall sitting on my deck last summer and not being able to pull myself away from this book. Glad u enjoyed it.

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  3. My book club had a great discussion with this book. I love Patchett's novels!

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  4. As you know, this was one of my favorites of the year, and I loved every minute of it. It was weird, and complex, and the end was subtly mind bending. A great success with me, and from what I can see, with you too! Wonderful review today! It's a book I love without any reservations.

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  5. I love your header. I haven't been here for a while..

    Lovely review. This author has been in my TBR list for a while.

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  6. I've had my eye on this book and will start looking for it! The setting and the story intrigue me no end.

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  7. I haven't gotten to this one yet. I read Lost City of Z and it seems sort of like that one. Except of course, this one is fiction.

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  8. hmm I tried to leave a comment earlier on today, it does not seem it worked. Just wanted to tell you I agree on what you say about her characters: they also feel so real to me, by the end of the book I feel I know them - same thing in Bel Canto. And I experience this in books by Mary Doria Russell as well. here is my review of State of Wonder and Bel Canto combined: http://wordsandpeace.com/2011/07/05/bell-canto-and-state-of-wonder/

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  9. I have been wondering about this book. It's tough to follow Bel Canto.

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  10. This sounds amazing. I almost picked up the audio version at the library today!

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  11. I had a tough time connecting with these characters, and by mid-way through the book I DIDN'T care what happened to them so put it in DNF. I keep reading so many wonderful reviews that I'm thinking I should dig it back out and read the second half.

    Thanks for the review.

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  12. I have this one waiting patiently for me to get around to it. You have convinced me that I may need to get to it sooner rather than later!

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  13. I love it when an author makes me FEEL the setting of the story as if I were there. Sounds like I'll need a fan nearby to keep me cool as I read this one!

    Thank for being on the tour.

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  14. Great post, I think you hit the major points on the nose. I also loved the literary aspect of this book (my thoughts:http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=5355).

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