State of Wonder
A Novel
-
-
3.9 • 147 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A nail-biting narrative, setting stark human dilemmas against a lush, exotic backdrop.”— People
“Extraordinary. . . . Nothing is as it seems, and the ending is as shocking as it’s satisfying.” — Boston Globe
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett, a provocative and assured novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest
In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity.
As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-infested Amazon, she's forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness.
Stirring and luminous, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss beneath the rain forest's jeweled canopy. Patchett delivers a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Patchett (Bel Canto) is a master storyteller who has an entertaining habit of dropping ordinary people into extraordinary and exotic circumstances to see what they're made of. In this expansive page-turner, Marina Singh, a big pharma researcher, is sent by her married boss/lover to the deepest, darkest corner of the Amazon to investigate the death of her colleague, Anders Eckman, who had been dispatched to check on the progress of the incommunicado Dr. Annick Swenson, a rogue scientist on the cusp of developing a fertility drug that could rock the medical profession (and reap enormous profits). After arriving in Manaus, Marina travels into her own heart of darkness, finding Dr. Swenson's camp among the Lakashi, a gentle but enigmatic tribe whose women go on bearing children until the end of their lives. As Marina settles in, she goes native, losing everything she had held on to so dearly in her prescribed Midwestern life, shedding clothing, technology, old loves, and modern medicine in order to find herself. Patchett's fluid prose dissolves in the suspense of this out-there adventure, a juggernaut of a trip to the crossroads of science, ethics, and commerce that readers will hate to see end.
Customer Reviews
State of Wonder
Ms. Patchett weaves a tale that has all the elements of a mysterious death, a Lewis and Clark expedition, a tepid love story and a Florence Nightingale saga all wrapped into one. I never felt bored reading this book, for Patchett is an extremely accomplished writer, but I did find the tale a little far fetched when it began to pick up elements of science fiction. The reader will enjoy being put deep in the Brazilian jungle with this book-her narrative is very enlightening.
Loved it!
I loved this book. It combined deep jungle adventure with this really dry sense of humour and lots of heart. I finished it yesterday and it is still lingering with me so much that I hate to start another book. I want more of THIS book!
State of wonder
This book transported me to another world, one in which I could not imagine residing and simultaneously wanted to visit. I couldn't wait to get to the conclusion but as the pages turned quickly in that direction I didn't want the book to end. Such was the impact of this novel and the opposing feelings that it wrought in this reader. Belief and disbelief. Hope and futility. Reality and fantasy. Trust and mistrust. Truth and lies. Morality and immorality. Innocence, naivety, possibility, fact. The end.