State of Wonder
- Authors: Ann Patchett
- Series:
- Type: Novel
- Genres: Literary fiction
- Rank:Top 300 in Best Literary Fiction Books on Amazon
- Rating: 4.4 based on 12,319 reviews
- Release Date: June 7, 2011
- Print length: 368 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
There were people on the banks of the river. Among the tangled waterways and giant anacondas of the Brazilian Rio Negro, an enigmatic scientist is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women for ever. Dr Annick Swenson's work is shrouded in mystery; she refuses to report on her progress, especially to her investors, whose patience is fast running out. Anders Eckman, a mild-mannered lab researcher, is sent to investigate. A curt letter reporting his untimely death is all that returns. Now Marina Singh, Anders's colleague and once a student of the mighty Dr Swenson, is their last hope. Compelled by the pleas of Anders's wife, who refuses to accept that her husband is not coming home, Marina leaves the snowy plains of Minnesota and retraces her friend's steps into the heart of the South American darkness, determined to track down Dr. Swenson and uncover the secrets being jealously guarded among the remotest tribes of the rainforest. What Marina does not yet know is that, in this ancient corner of the jungle, where the muddy waters and susurrating grasses hide countless unknown perils and temptations, she will face challenges beyond her wildest imagination. Marina is no longer the student, but only time will tell if she has learnt enough.
Accolades
Praise for State of Wonder
Outlandishly entertaining…[with] a brilliantly constructed plot.
A spellbinder from bestselling author Patchett... . Thrilling, disturbing and moving in equal measures-even better than Patchett’s breakthrough Bel Canto.
A superbly rendered novel... . Patchett’s portrayal is as wonderful as it is frightening and foreign. Patchett exhibits an extraordinary ability to bring the horrors and the wonders of the Amazon jungle to life, and her singular characters are wonderfully drawn... . Powerful and captivating.
A thrilling new novel... . The world imagined in this novel is unusually vivid... . Reading State of Wonder is a sensory experience, and even after it’s over you’ll keep hearing the sounds of insects, and your own head will still be hot.
The Amazon setting is something Patchett does rather marvelously.… The book is serious, but also so pleasurable that you hope it won’t end.
The large canvas of sweeping moral issues, both personal and global, comes to life through careful attention to details, however seemingly mundane-from ill-fitting shoes and mosquito bites to a woman tenderly braiding another woman’s hair.
Patchett makes the jungle jump off the page…This is Patchett’s best effort since The Patron Saint of Liars and, yes, that includes Bel Canto
Extraordinary... . Is there nothing the prodigiously talented Ann Patchett can’t do?... Patchett’s last knockout pages proceed full-speed ahead, with more twists and turns and trachery than the Amazon River. Nothing is as it seems, and the ending is as shocking as it’s satisfying.
An engaging, consummately told tale.
Emotionally lucid... . Patchett is at her lyrical best when she catalogues the jungle.
Packs a textbook’s worth of ethical conundrums into a smart and tidily delivered story... . Ms. Patchett presents an alluring interplay between civilization and wilderness, between aid and exploitation.
This is surely the smartest, most exciting novel of the summer.
About the author
