[ the kind of woman that loses all her luggage – twice! Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Future State: Wonder Woman #1 review – Yara Flor takes up the mantle Generations Shattered #1 review – a messy, weird, fun patchwork of DC history The Expanse season 5, episode 6 recap – Marcos makes [spoiler] an offer Surviving Death season 1 review – what happens when we die? As such – and despite Marina's Indian ancestry – the southern hemisphere serves to highlight the way the northern hemisphere works, rather than existing as a place in itself. What would have made it "happy"? by Ann Patchett. Ann Patchett's sixth novel. And I guess for me it falls into those categories of books I sometimes describe as "writers workshop-y" where the author's hand of god is felt for. For much of the book she is a case study in repression, rarely entertaining her emotions on any deep level. I won’t give too much detail; you need to read this spoiler free. This novel was just what I've been looking for this summer: a dazzling story, a meaty pile of ethical questions, characters that endure long after the book is over, and prose that gets more beautiful the more you notice it. Apparently I have a thing for matriarchal Heart of Darkness scenarios. Yet it's also home to tribes of natives who live with and from the jungle. It’s deliciously gloomy and atmospheric, a dark adventure with Hitchcock style suspense. Welcome back. I would say I was in State(s) of: Interest, Appreciation, Mild Irritation, Interest Modified by Moments of Irritation, Shock, and then Milder Shock that dwindled into a State of General Annoyance, which would possibly make it the longest book title in history. In the disenchanted millennial world, the American search for wonder centres on the very large and the unimaginably small. If it is, it's because I expect -- perhaps unfairly -- more of Patchett. “State of Wonder” is an immensely touching novel, although as with much of Patchett’s work, its emotional impact is somewhat muted by her indefatigable niceness. In the jungle she was valued as an individual. Alas, I did not reach a state of wonder reading this. Her mother is the novelist, “Never be so focused on what you're looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”, “Hope is a horrible thing, you know. Patchett's novels typically derive their narrative energy from unlikely romantic entanglements that slowly unravel under the pressures of life. And I guess for me it falls into those categories of books I sometimes describe as "writers workshop-y" where the author's hand of god is felt forcefully through out the pages with heavy, purposeful plotting, archetypal characters who speak in pronouncements and orations instead of conversations. 2011 - State of Wonder; The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life 2013 - This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage 2016 - Commonwealth 2019 - The Dutch House (Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. I'm not sure why the ending is seen as unhappy. To see what your friends thought of this book, I would hope she would return to the jungle, leave her job in Minnesota. Patchett has built novels around emotionally sealed characters before – in the Orange prize-winning Bel Canto, for instance, the Japanese translator Gen suspects he has "the soul of a machine", but his repression is balanced by our access to the minds of other characters, whereas throughout State of Wonder we stay close to Marina's consciousness. But this is no Bel Canto. Readers’ questions about State of Wonder. State of Wonder, Review and Giveaway. I won’t give too much detail; you need to read this spoiler free. 15. Identify a few—for example, Eden Prairie (Marina’s Minnesota home), Easter (the young deaf native boy), Milton (the Brazilian guide)—and talk about how Ann Patchett uses them to deepen the story. I read this at my mother's request and recommendation. Ann Patchett's sixth novel, State of Wonder, merges the two kingdoms in the story of a pharmacologist, Marina Singh, who travels into the Amazonian jungle to spend time with the mysterious Lakashi tribe. There was a lot of showing done here - as if Patchett wanted to show off how much she had learned about obstetrics and ethnobotony, and through Dr. Swenson's long soliloquies that filed plot holes and lurched the plot forward (and to provide a much-too obvious foil for Dr. Singh). State of Wonder is heavy with literary parallels (to Henry James, to Greek myth), but in this respect the strongest links are to Heart of Darkness, a novel that Patchett substantially rewrites, with Conrad's male text repopulated with female characters (Swenson is this book's Kurtz). At the other extreme, there's the seething world below eye level, the microscopic life of cells and bacteria. Fantastic book! And there may be a cure for infertility. She is my absolute favorite living author and I own every single one of her books. And also, it talks place in the Amazonian rain forest, a place where I had recently spent some time. I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say? She rarely recommends books and even more rarely asks me to let her know when I've finished so we can discuss it. It’s a wonder I never got to this sooner! Reviewed in Australia on 19 June 2014. I'm the author of the upcoming memoir Operation Cure Boredom (available 10.18.16). 15. State of Wonder is as overstuffed as that all sounds, but it mostly works: The book’s dreamlike claustrophobia weaves a spell even when far-fetched plot twists tip toward absurdity. Ann Patchett's new novel is her most mature work to date. It occurs to me, though, that wanting more of a book is as good a sign as any that it won me over completel. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The infuriatingly hapless heroine does not look ahead to scout out minor(everyone knows to pack some necessities in carry-on luggage, including cell phone)or major consequences of her actions and is locked in past failures and losses (one grows tired of her lost father nightmares and all her screaming). My pet peeve is when authors play fast and loose with characters and established world facts in order to advance plots. Pickles leaned up against Marina now and . SOLVED. She works in statin development, the field of cholesterol management that relies on drugs known as reductase inhibitors, but her inhibitions extend beyond the professional realm. Because it is only the constant pressure to produce, to publish, that would make a company like HarperCollins and a writer with the ability of Ann Patchett push forward this work, which is at best uneven and at worst something that I would expect to emerge from a blinded-by-friendship writer's group. As you can probably tell, I'm delaying the start of this review. I was curious whether I would think it was as horrible the second time around. This novel was just what I've been looking for this summer: a dazzling story, a meaty pile of ethical questions, characters that endure long after the book is over, and prose that gets more beautiful the more you notice it. I am referring to the end scene. One could also hope for subtler symbolism and metaphors, less stilted dialogue, more skillful writing. The Lakashi accepted her skills and presence among them. She was part of a community. . Retrieved 9/5/2016.) In the wake of another close coworker's apparent death in the jungle, Marina Singh is dispatched into, as … She rarely recommends books and even more rarely asks me to let her know when I've finished so we can discuss it. And according to DC Comics own blog, the CW is developing a Wonder Girl live-action series that would star a younger Yara Flor, before she took the mantle of Wonder Woman. He had been sent to determine the status of research, on a long-overdue revolutionary fertility drug, being conducted by the reclusive, and somewhat scary Doctor Annick Swenson. In the jungle she. It lacks the developed emotional core of Patchett's earlier books, but it is her most mature work to date, a novel that tries to be more alive to the nerve ends of philosophical life than to the simpler machinery of character motivation. The book is fascinating and engrossing and below I will tell you all of the reasons why you ought to go find a copy of this book and start reading now. Mistah Kurtz, he dead, well, Mr. Eckman anyway. I should keep a stack of them since I have handed mine off so many times that I never know if I have a copy or not. The inhibited central character and the relative descriptive restraint free Patchett to concentrate on larger metaphysical questions. Hi! The book was okay. Jill I would hope she would return to the jungle, leave her job in Minnesota. For example, the plot mires down in Manaus with minutiae of daily discomforts and too many days of waiting. He had been sent to determine the status of research, on a long-overdue revolutionary fertility drug, being conducted by the reclusive, and somewhat scary Doctor Annick Swenson. Sometimes you can really enjoy a book while you are reading it, then when you are completely done and reflect for a few minutes realize it is not just improbable, but impossible. For example. Yet it's also home to tribes of natives who live with and from the jungle. In the jungle she…more I would hope she would return to the jungle, leave her job in Minnesota. This is my second Ann Patchett novel, after meeting her through, This book has made me despair for the American publishing industry in a way I hadn't, yet. [s], Sept 18 - State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. But the researcher is incommunicado. As you can probably tell, I'm delaying the start of this review. Review State of Wonder. Scientist in the amazons seeks cancer cure. 5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (from AntonySimpson.con) Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2016. This book has made me despair for the American publishing industry in a way I hadn't, yet. Like Rose, Marina is in a relationship with a significantly older man – at 60, Jim Fox, her boss at the pharmaceutical company, is 18 years older than she is – and their relationship is marked by silences, with both "too fundamentally alone in their thoughts to stay with the other". I'm not sure why the ending is seen as unhappy. omg. Just as Bel Canto's siege unstitches the old parameters – time, language, class – that govern the characters' lives, so the jungle in State of Wonder is a space in which the calendar, medical ethics and capitalist economics are suspended and then sliced open for further consideration. I spoil just about everything, including the ending, below. Review from AntonySimpson.com: State of Wonder is a masterpiece novel, written by true wordsmith Ann Patchett. The basic plot of "State of Wonder": In the first sentence we learn that Dr. Anders Eckman is dead. It's a smothering, overwhelmingly hot, green, creature-filled jungle approachable by waters infested with beings that can kill humans in myriad ways. My interest was captivated by the first paragraph and it lasted until the last line. The book is a jewel box of structure, character, and language that left me overwhelmed with admirat. Lydia Millet reviews State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. In the jungle she worked as the practicing physician she would never have the opportunity to do in Minnesota. It's a plague. Goes on my favorites list and is in fact one of my all-time favorites! Helen Brown is impressed by Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, an intriguing novel about an Amazonian tribe in which women remain fertile till their deaths. There was nothing in Minnesota to give her cause to return. It's a smothering, overwhelmingly hot, green, creature-filled jungle approachable by waters infested with beings that can kill humans in myriad ways. This would seem like a failure of the novel's imagination, but elsewhere in the book – particularly back in Marina's Minnesota – Patchett's phrasings capture the radiant details of small moments: "It wasn't a bright day but what light there was reflected off the snow and cast a wide silvery band across the breakfast table . Patchett is unbelievably talented and this book left me with a feeling of Wow. While Future State: Wonder Woman is only a two-issue mini-series, Jones tweeted in November of 2020 that Yara Flor would be returning after the Future State event ends. 8 were here. State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. After all the rave reviews, my expectations were high. Anders had traveled deep into the Amazon at the behest of his employer, a Minneapolis-based pharmaceutical company that has a researcher working at a secret site on a secret drug that will revolutionize the world. But the boy doesn't understand the concept of danger. 14. Title: State of Wonder Author: Ann Patchett Genre: Fiction Year: 2011 Acquired: Library Rating: One Sentence Summary: A young pharmaceutical scientist heads into the heart of darkness that is the Amazonian rain forest to find her lost coworker and confront a scientist on the loose. There was nothing in Minnesota to give her cause to return. Woman who journeys into a remote rain forest complete with aborigines and ends up discovering some health cure but there is a mystery/plot twist.... read between 2005-2009. Lazy! . Dr. Swenson has been in the field for many years, but details have not been forthcoming. I didn't love the novel's end; it was a bit too rushed for me, and the sudden pile-on of action left me wanting more of the slow build-up that carried us to the climax. At one pole, there's the globe as playground, the hunt through the shrinking wildernesses for whatever magic may somehow lie hidden beyond the totalising reach of GPS. State of Wonder starts with the death of Anders Eckman, a Research Doctor for … 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. I thought that Ann Patchett had made her great contribution to literature with "Bel Canto," which seemed to me to be the perfect novel, and stays high on the list of my very favorites. 13 questions answered. What would you have done if you were in the shoes of Marina? You’d expect a fearless heroine in a novel like this; instead you get Dr. Marina Singh, a neurotic woman with a really bad case of low self-esteem quite content with her life as a pharmacologist. Fierce and driven, she refuses to communicate with her employer about the years she has spent putatively investigating why the Lakashi women are able to bear children into their 70s. Anders had traveled deep into the Amazon at the behest of his employer, a Minneapolis-based pharmaceutical company that has a researcher working at a secret site on a secret drug that will revolutionize the world. Patchett brings the Amazon to life in this novel. Along the way she has to overcome several obstacles, including a pair of gatekeepers in a Brazilian city, conflict about leaving her significant other, and a fear of facing her former teacher. Adult Fiction. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called drama "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment” and Patchett knew what he was talking about, she is able to make you do that completely. The typical assumption of our age, I guess, but not particularly edifying to read about. She thought about medical school, the fluorescent halls of that first hospital, the stacks of textbooks". [s], [Poll Ballot] State of Wonder by Ann Patchett - 4 stars, SOLVED. The book is a jewel box of structure, character, and language that left me overwhelmed with admiration. Refresh and try again. The day it came in the mail I called Luke at work because I was so excited. Harper, $26.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-204980-3. Certainly not a romance with Anders. State of Wonder is rich in symbolism. It is the book that I sold by hand as a bookseller and the book that I still pass along to friends. That is the beginning of the story and the basis on which the protagonist, Dr. Marina Singh, travels to Brazil to track what happened to a co-worker who also went there seeking answers for their employer, a pharmaceutical company. There was nothing in Minnesota to give her cause to return. 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. But the researcher is incommunicado. Bringing Easter to Minnesota? That is the beginning of the story and the basis on which the protagonist, Dr. Marina Singh, travels to Brazil to track what hap. 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