State of Wonder

A Novel

By: Ann Patchett

Narrated by: Hope Davis

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

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)

Beautiful story!

A friend recommended this book and I’m so glad she did. So many plot lines interweaves beautifully like a symphony. In the end they all came together perfectly. I’m going to miss the characters and am sad there wasn’t a prologue to give a bit more info about them. Alas, even that wouldn’t have been enough. This tale sucks you in and keeps you curious until the very end!

Slightly predictable, very enjoyable

There’s nothing about State of Wonder that would have spurred me to read it other than my daughter’s answer when I asked for a good book to read. I wouldn’t have wondered about a doctor going into a jungle to learn how her colleague died while following up on drug research in the Amazon. I wouldn’t have cared about her past failures and inabilities that posed extra challenges beyond just going deep into the jungle. But if you ask me, “Read any good books lately?” I have one for you.

State of Wonder begins with Dr. Marina Singh processing the news of the death of Dr. Anders Eckman. He was checking on the progress of a revolutionary fertility drug in a remote area of the Amazon. Mr. Fox is the head of Vogel, the pharmaceutical company funding a project led by Dr. Annick Swenson who, at the age of 73, prefers to work at her own pace without being slowed by outside interruption or supervision. She is so focused on her work that she reported Dr. Eckman’s death with a postcard that seemed more like an ingredients label than the passing of a friend. To make it worse, Marina, accompanied by the mostly silent Mr. Fox, must inform Dr. Eckman’s wife of his death.

As is expected, Mrs. Eckman is crushed. As is not expected, the grieving window convinces Marina that Vogel owes her more than just bad news and that she must travel to the Amazon to learn more and retrieve any personal objects that may still be there. It isn’t until Marina suffered through a dinner with an emotionally absent Fox, with whom she’s had more than just a working relationship, that she chooses to make the trip. She’s motivated by a combination of Mrs. Eckman’s anguish and her recognition that her life and career are not so compelling and exciting as to deter her from literally risking death. Marina goes home and starts packing.

“Fish out of water” is a good plot simplification as Marina has no survival skills for dealing with the jungle. However, her good nature and positive intentions are more than enough for dealing with people such as the Bovenders, a couple that lives in Dr. Swenson’s condo, fields her mail, and helps her travel back and forth from the secluded jungle to the city of Manaus, Brazil, for restocking supplies and other needs. Once Marina eventually connects with Swenson, we realize there’s more to this story than just finding out how and why Dr. Eckman died.

It’s likely that every story has at least one moment that could be viewed as a convenience or contrivance that facilitates the plot. The only failure in State of Wonder is having several conveniences. It’s apparent from Marina’s arrival in Brazil that she would have accomplished absolutely nothing without Milton, a taxi driver who seems to have access to anyone and anything she needs. He gets her through the locked doors of a local store late at night when she needs supplies. He steers her to the Bovenders who then connect her with the reclusive and elusive Dr. Swenson, the subject of another convenience.

A blurb for State of Wonder refers to Marina as entering the jungle to find answers to “questions about her friend’s death, her company’s future, and her own past.” Before working on pharmaceuticals, Marina was a med student pursuing obstetrics. One of her professors was the same Dr. Swenson for whom she now searches. She had a very unfortunate event in her past, an event that involved Dr. Swenson and feels like another contrivance to add a little extra drama. Throw in the suggestion that she also has a romantic history with the deceased Dr. Eckman, and the web of connections feel artificially thick.

It could be argued that some of State of Wonder is predictable, but that doesn’t make it bad. Marina’s triumphs are telegraphed and welcomed at the same time. it’s expected that a former obstetrics student would eventually have to deliver a baby, kind of like the Tom Cruise movie formula. However, the complications involved are not expected yet still enjoyable.
Actually, nearly everything Marina does is enjoyable, even when it isn’t for her. She allows us to explore the Amazon vicariously through her, and she’s so likable there’s no way anything bad is going to happen. I say “nearly everything” because there’s a moment at the very end of the story when she has a choice to make. What she chooses certainly seems like the right thing to do, but it’s not exactly enjoyable. Not for us. What is for us is a very good but not great book in State of Wonder.

An amazing journey

This book transports you to a place unimaginable and Ann skillfully brings it into existence and you feel yourself there. Thank you for this wonderful offering

Amazing!

A wonderful mixture of adventure, science, and romance. Characters that you both love and despise simultaneously.

Just Amazing

Really a story like no other. It starts in Minnesota and reaches a very climatic conclusion deep in the Amazon. Ann Patchett is an amazing writer. Hope Davis is a wonderful narrator and very enjoyable to listen to. She allows you to forget the book is being read to you, you feel more like you are living within the story itself. Well done.

Ann Patchett is a Wonder

I had a hard time getting hooked- but then I usually have a hard time getting hooked. The Magician’s Assistant, The Dutch House. She doesn’t make it easy; I have a suspicion that’s on purpose though she might articulate it differently. One has to pay attention, make a commitment. Ann Patchett doesn’t pander, spoon feed or talk down to her reader (or listener). But then every time I find myself sooner than later immersed in whatever story inside it one of the characters or a fly on the wall not overhead though never exterior always inside I believe because she is so meticulous so uncompromising in her observation and description one cannot help but see the person the room, house, jungle. I feel the overpowering humidity and heat, bitter cold of the upper Midwest. She reports being a very hard worker but one without the set time place and schedule I see it all I see that she loves to write she loves to make up stories they must come from her brain like lumps of clay I picture her reading up on visiting studying the Amazon the world of glamour Magic, history of the legendary house. Unspooling a story must require research and study; her sculptors tools, potters wheel, scientists microscope. The detail is astounding and captivating. She’s a wonderful writer.
And Tom Hanks is by far the best audiobook narrator I have ever ever heard tell a story. God knows he doesn’t need the money - he should go on doing it simply as a public service.

I loved the characters!

I loved the story. The characters were well developed. I learned something about life in the Amazon.

the characters

I loved the characters. The author has a great imagination. We're currently reading it as part of our book club.

Another great one by Ann Patchet

So good! I thought how could a story about scientists in the jungle be any good. Wow was I surprised! So imaginative and told so well. Hope Davis is a wonderful narrator too.

perfect narration

This book was extremely well narrated. The story was quite good-- I enjoyed the evolution of Marina, the main character. This is the 2nd Ann Patchett novel I have read-- the first one being Belle Canto. I enjoy her rather ethereal way of writing and it translates well to an audible version.