• State of Wonder

  • A Novel
  • By: Ann Patchett
  • Narrated by: Hope Davis
  • Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (8,416 ratings)

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State of Wonder  By  cover art

State of Wonder

By: Ann Patchett
Narrated by: Hope Davis
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Editorial reviews

Best-selling author Ann Patchett and accomplished actor Hope Davis make a stellar combination for Patchett's latest novel, State of Wonder, an homage to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Davis deftly voices an international cast of medical researchers in the Amazon jungle. Her talents enhance Patchett's artistically descriptive prose, in many cases coiling the jungle imagery closer than you may want.

Hope Davis voices Dr. Marina Singh's stoic professionalism as she, a pharmacologist, is sent to the Amazon jungle by her employer to seek information about the death of a colleague.

Patchett's gift is to give characters multiple, very human layers, and Davis' gift is to bring those creations to life. Dr. Singh's reserve falls apart as she is plagued by unsettling nightmares and vivid memories of past medical mistakes. Dr. Annick Swenson's imperious personality has, through Hope Davis, the ability to intimidate through your earbuds. Dr. Swenson's arrogance keeps everyone quaking until, as the story unfolds, Davis' tone allows hints of humanity to ease through the doctor's sharp-edged exterior. Davis easily moves from dialects as the individual personalities - among them, a West African doctor, an Indonesian researcher, and a self-absorbed Australian couple - flow one from the other. Davis gives a brilliant performance of a prickly, uncomfortable argument between the married couple Alan and Nancy Saturn, making all who are listening want to distract themselves with the scenery.

Terrain itself becomes if not a character, a force, in State of Wonder. Contrasting Dr. Singh's beloved Minnesota plains with the claustrophobic, crawling, itching, frighteningly enveloping jungle, Patchett's words offer Hope Davis another opportunity to shine artistically. Davis infuses Patchett's prose with palpable energy, allowing listeners to exult in the wide, open prairies of the Midwest and then sense the creeping terror of forbidding, dangerously alive Amazonian jungle. While Davis' depiction of a confrontation with an anaconda is not to be missed, be forewarned that Patchett's imagery and Davis' performance will put anyone listening right beside the panic-stricken fictional characters as a life-and-death battle ensues.

For fans of Ann Patchett, State of Wonder is all that one has been waiting for and more. The story has as many twists and turns as, well, the Amazon jungle itself. And Hope Davis takes the joy of a new Ann Patchett book to an even higher level of pleasure through her masterful performance. It is a fantastically compelling adventure trip without the hazards of incessant bug bites, poisonous critters, or sweltering heat. (Carole Chouinard)

Publisher's summary

A New York Times best seller

Orange Prize nominee

A Time Magazine’s Best Books of the Year

A Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Top Ten Best Books

A Wellcome Trust Book Prize nominee.

“Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.” (New York Times Book Review)

Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author Ann Patchett returns with a provocative and assured novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest.

Marina Singh is a research scientist at Vogel, a pharmaceutical institute in Minnesota, and inconveniently in love with her boss, Mr. Fox. When one of her colleagues is reported to have died while following up on the progress of a field team based in Brazil, Marina is dispatched by Mr. Fox to the Amazon to uncover the truth of his death. And his widow wants his effects.

She travels to Manaus, then down into the Amazonian delta, deep into the dense, dark, insect-infested jungle. The research team is looking into the development of a new miracle drug that could revolutionize Western society. A local tribe has the bark of a certain tree, it yields a substance which allows them to conceive late into middle age: many of the women are getting pregnant into their 60s and 70s.

The problem is that the team is taking too long: they have been silent for two years, and Marina has been tasked to find out what is holding back their progress. The second problem is more serious: the team is being headed up by the daunting figure of Annick Swenson, an eminent and fiercely uncompromising scientist who was once Marina’s colleague, and towards whom Marina has very complicated feelings. What Marina learns will change her life. In a novel that is packed with amazing twists and surprises, Ann Patchett returns with immense confidence to a broad canvas, teeming with atmosphere and characters and rich with narrative.

Remarkable events - fights with anacondas; encounters with cannibals; deaths; re-births - and profound moral decisions come together in a novel that will enthrall her many listeners and fans and is guaranteed to be a major best seller.

Infusing the narrative with the same ingenuity and emotional urgency that pervaded her acclaimed previous novels Bel Canto, Taft, Run, The Magician’s Assistant, and The Patron Saint of Liars, Patchett delivers an enthralling, innovative tale of aspiration, exploration, and attachment in State of Wonder - a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.

©2011 Ann Patchett (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Critic reviews

“An expansive page-turner . . . Patchett’s fluid prose dissolves in the suspense of this out-there adventure . . . that readers will hate to see end.” (Publishers Weekly)

“An engaging, consummately told tale.” (New York Times)

“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.” (Library Journal, starred review)

What listeners say about State of Wonder

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Aww, Really?

I was flowing along, listening to the story, the jungle, the "mission". The narration was fine. The set up looked promising... Slow, but promising. Then, well, somebody might have snacked on the mushrooms! This just got silly I tried to stay connected with the story and the author. Searching for the "Wonder", I found not much more than: "Huh"?
I don't regret listening to this. I do wish I had that credit back though.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Rivetting

Ann Patchett's writing is masterful. She is descriptive and original in the way she sees the world, and she has an understanding of character that gives the novel great depth. In addition, though I never cared a fig to read about the Amazon, she has made me appreciate that environment and makes me believe she understands the effect it would have upon the people who inhabit it. I don't know how much research goes into her ability to make the setting such an effective element in the book, but whether she really has traveled there or not, she seems like she has first hand knowledge. The plot itself carried me along. At a certain point, I just could not stop listening.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Fairly boring

Narration was too slow, I had to speed up the i-pod. Could've done without all the dream remembrances. Way too long for not much content. I would not recommend this.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

wonderful premise...lost the magic

The main character is supposed to be a highly intelligent MD/PhD but she seems really unintelligent and uninteresting Patchett's dialogue. Her character doesn't seem to evolve truly. It was a flat experience for me and the characters became sort of parodies and predictable by the end. I'm not sure I've enjoyed an Ann Patchett since Bel Canto.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

good summer read

Overall a good read. It was a little slow at the beginning ,but has a good ending.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Slow and disconnected

I hate saying this, but I just never got what was so spectacular about this book. The characters were not compelling to me at all. So much of it seemed to be whiny and takes a very long time to really explain what's going on. I found nothing to make me latch on to the characters enough to care about them. I did finish it, but I simply did not like it and don't understand the rave reviews.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

WONDER - full

The writing is terrific and the story is engaging. I was fascinated and couldn't stop listening.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful Ending!!!!!! WTH....

Wow the book wasn't so bad but the ending was awful! Not sure how this is getting good rating???? I wish I could give this negative 5 stars...

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring

Incessant detail that doesn't add to the story. Worked hard to finish but finally just too painful.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Goofy at best.

It is gratifying to see readers looking for options beyond the typical pop fiction, but enabling this author's goofy notions is an unfortunate result. The simplest way to describe this book is that if an unpublished author submitted it to publishers, it would be laughed off the planet, but Ms. Ann's lightning in a bottle success with BC gets it a sell. Joke.

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6 people found this helpful