Otherwise, the basic plot of State of Wonder is more directly indebted to those classic tales where Western explorers delve deep into the primitive "off the map" places left on the planet and in their own psyches. State of Wonder revisits the South American locale and even features a key scene that takes place in the Manaus Opera House deep in the Amazonian rain forest of Brazil. The idea of terrorists invading the South American estate of an opera-loving Japanese businessman sounds like a premise for a disposable thriller in Patchett's hands, of course, it turned out to be a riveting mediation on how love can reveal itself in unexpected human and artistic forms. If you're familiar with Patchett's work, particularly her most famous novel, Bel Canto, you know that her imagination roams far afield without sacrificing authenticity or lyrical power. The numbness has worn off by now, but for days, all I could say to friends who asked me about it was the one-word review "Wow." But Ann Patchett's new novel isn't called State of Wonder for nothing, because that's exactly the state I've been in ever since I first opened it. But while she is as threatening as anything the jungle has to offer, the greatest sacrifices to be made are the ones she asks of herself, and will ultimately ask of Marina.It's not often that a novel leaves me (temporarily) speechless. With a combination of science and subterfuge, she dominates her research team and the natives she is studying with the force of an imperial ruler. Swenson, now in her seventies, remains as ruthless and uncompromising as she was in her earlier days at Johns Hopkins.
Swenson as well as answers to troubling questions about her friend's death, the state of her company's future, and her own past. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the jungle in hopes of finding Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina's research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Nothing about the assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a pharmaceutical company, is sent to track down her former mentor, Dr. State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss, a tale that leads into the very heart of darkness and then shows us what lies on the other side.ĭr.
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