The State of Wonder

     Ann Patchett's State of Wonder was one of the best books we've read and discussed recently. Having really enjoyed Bel Canto, I knew I would love this author's writing style and plot development. I wasn't disappointed. The momentum of the plot grew and grew so that I sped few the last few chapters, while simultaneously wishing the book wouldn't end.
      I don't know how she comes up with her ideas, but Ann Patchett creates very unusual worlds in her novels. I feel lucky, as a reader, to be able to enter them, think about them, and temporarily live in them. The setting of this novel is the Amazon jungle of Brazil, with its heavy air, frightening insects, dense foliage, and camouflaged animal predators.

     The protagonist, Marina Singh, enters this realm in search of information about her now deceased colleague, a fellow research scientist named Anders Eckman. Marina's experiences while in the Amazon jungle -- using a machete to decapitate an anaconda, performing a C-section with no anesthesiology or sterilizing equipment, discovering her maternal nature in a relationship with a young orphan, surviving each day in a vastly different climate and culture than that of her home of Minnesota, and reuniting with her former doctorate professor who can still cause her to doubt her abilities 13 years after graduation --  compose an inner journey in this 42-year-old character that rivals her physical one. This book is an incredible adventure novel, exploring both the adventures of life in the Brazilian jungle and the adventures of the heart.



Please go to the follwing link to hear Maureen Corrigan's rave review of this book on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/137172645/state-of-wonder-deftly-twists-turns-off-the-map