book review state of wonder ann patchett

I enjoyed Patchett’s Bel Canto and was expecting similar from this novel.

The anti-malarial pills she takes leave her screaming at night with nightmares of her father who left her family to move back to India and locating her former medical school instructor dredges up and forces her to confront an old memory from a medical specialty she once abandoned. And like Marlow, pursuing her goal means facing up to uncomfortable truths.Īs Mariana ventures forward, closer to her goal but also deeper into the jungle, she finds her past crashing upon her present. There, she discovers a world of anacondas, tribal villages, shamans and lots and lots of wilderness. Whereas Conrad’s Marlow is sent into the Congo to check up on the egomaniacal Kurtz, Patchett’s Mariana is sent into the jungles of the Amazon after the renown Dr. The story is in some ways reminiscent of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Swenson has died in the jungle, Mariana is sent in to check up the progress of the research the company has invested liberally and heavily in. When the company receives news that another doctor sent to locate and monitor Dr. The key to her research is hidden in the secrets of the Lakashi tribe with whom she has been living among in this time.

Swenson has, for many years, been given a blank check to research and develop a new, groundbreaking drug involving female fertility. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett ( Bel Canto, The Magician’s Assistant) tells the story of a doctor, Mariana, who is sent to Brazil, at the behest of the pharmaceutical company she works for, to locate an elusive scientist who was once her teacher, a Dr.

By Jennifer Marie Lin on Jan 7th, 2015 (Last Updated Sep 20th, 2018)

Book review state of wonder ann patchett