May 8, 2012 by Harper Perennial {Paperback Edition}
Paperback, 384 Pages
Review Copy
Dr. Marina Singh spends her days working for a Pharmaceutics Research Company. She enjoys her work, enjoys her quiet affair with her much older boss Mr. Fox and in the beginning has readers believe she could be a somewhat mundane character. When word comes back to the company that her colleague and friend Anders Eckman has passed away in the Amazon on a mission to bring back an assumed missing top of her field Dr. Swenson, her life in a day is turned upside down.
Dr. Marina Singh spends her days working for a Pharmaceutics Research Company. She enjoys her work, enjoys her quiet affair with her much older boss Mr. Fox and in the beginning has readers believe she could be a somewhat mundane character. When word comes back to the company that her colleague and friend Anders Eckman has passed away in the Amazon on a mission to bring back an assumed missing top of her field Dr. Swenson, her life in a day is turned upside down.
With still no word to Swenson's whereabouts {who cut off communication with the company years ago} and the mysterious reason for Anders death the company decides to send Marina to Brazil to investigate. Mostly they just want information on the progress of Swenson's life changing fertility drug, the FDA and the drug companies need a pay day, they need to recover their top paid Doctor and they need answers about where shes been. More or less the company needs to save face and quickly.
What at first begins as a recovery mission, quickly turns personal as Marina faces her past and the professional relationship she had with her former mentor Dr. Swenson, something the company or her current lover knows nothing about. The story takes us down a road into the Amazon environment, its heat, the mysterious animals, the death around every corner and the enigmatic people of the jungle. When Marina finally finds the much mysterious and aloof character we are dying to meet, Dr. Swenson most of the questions in the beginning are answered along with the discovery of new mysteries and shocking plot twists. Marina also finds out the real story behind Anders Eckman and the questionable ethics behind Dr. Swenson's somewhat shocking drug and test patients.
This was my first Ann Patchett novel, and I must say as a reader Im left in a state of wonder trying to describe Patchett's stunning literary prose. That said, the story itself did not provoke strong emotion or really any sense of getting to know the characters outside of Marina's voice, as the novel was plot driven and not character driven, I felt very outside of the book yet at the same time riveted to the scenes. The build up of Dr. Swenson was brilliant, yet at the same time I wish she had been a focal front once she entered the story, how do I say this...her hype didn't meet my expectations. Some things did give me pause, things that shocked me or rubbed me the wrong way, like the use of the experimental drug or the romantic encounter {which needed to be tossed out of the book} near the closing of the story or the fact that Marina became a much more complex character in the end than she was in the beginning. Encapsulating all of those elements gave the plot its heaviness and even with the slow almost nagging middle and the disappointment I felt about the last page didn't dull the magical pull of Patchett's writing.
This was my first Ann Patchett novel, and I must say as a reader Im left in a state of wonder trying to describe Patchett's stunning literary prose. That said, the story itself did not provoke strong emotion or really any sense of getting to know the characters outside of Marina's voice, as the novel was plot driven and not character driven, I felt very outside of the book yet at the same time riveted to the scenes. The build up of Dr. Swenson was brilliant, yet at the same time I wish she had been a focal front once she entered the story, how do I say this...her hype didn't meet my expectations. Some things did give me pause, things that shocked me or rubbed me the wrong way, like the use of the experimental drug or the romantic encounter {which needed to be tossed out of the book} near the closing of the story or the fact that Marina became a much more complex character in the end than she was in the beginning. Encapsulating all of those elements gave the plot its heaviness and even with the slow almost nagging middle and the disappointment I felt about the last page didn't dull the magical pull of Patchett's writing.
Rating
State of Wonder is recommended to adult readers and contains: Violence, sexuality, mild language.
4/5- Contemporary
4/5- Contemporary
Thanks to Harper and TLC Book Tours for Review Copy
Ann Patchett is the author of six novels: State of Wonder; the New York Times bestselling Run; The Patron Saint of Liars, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Taft, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize; The Magician’s Assistant; and Bel Canto, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, the BookSense Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of two works of nonfiction: the New York Times bestselling Truth & Beauty and What now? Patchett has written for many publications, including the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Magazine,Gourmet, the New York Times, Vogue, and the Washington Post. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Visit Ann on the Web~Follow the Tour Here.
I agree her writing is beautiful! I've heard other people also say the plot moved slowly too, but I was engrossed in it the whole time, LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe plot was only slow for me in the middle...but it never slowed my reading down, I want to read Bel Conto {?..I think thats the one}soon....:)
DeleteHer writing sounds amazing and definitely something I need to experience for myself, but you know how I am about characters. I have to be involved with them so I usually struggle with more plot-driven stories, but despite that, I don't want to miss out on beautiful writing:) I'll have to give her a try!
ReplyDeleteHer writing is just flawless, I mean you can tell she has a gift....:) Nothing paranormal, except for maybe the spitting frogs and crazy snakes.....lol
DeleteSounds excellent.
ReplyDeleteI love the cover and the hints to a mystery.
Isnt the cover beautiful??? I loved it too, and the feel of the pages, the whole book screams design genius.
DeleteAwesome Review! I haven't read her before but I will put her on my to check out list.
ReplyDeleteohhhhhh, Felicia I think you would love her, I know you dive into the good adult reads and she is an amazing writer.
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