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. It is the book that I sold by hand as a bookseller and the book that I still pass along to friends. 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 book is a jewel box of structure, character, and language that left me overwhelmed with admirat...

Alas, I did not reach a state of wonder reading this. 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.A super-summary: Although she trained as an OB/GYN doctor, Marina is working in service of evil a pharmaceutical drug researcher who has studied cholesterol for the past seven years with...

Mistah Kurtz, he dead, well, Mr. Eckman anyway. At Minnesota-based Vogel pharmaceuticals, weeks-old news of bio-researcher Anders Eckman’s Amazonian demise leads the company to send another scientist to find out what happened, and to complete Eckman’s charge. 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. (think Kurtz) Pharmacological researcher Marina Singh (think M...

It’s a wonder I never got to this sooner!There is always something mystical when a story takes you into the depths of the Amazon where civilization doesn’t exist; tribes and their cultures are what does.Marina Singh is sent down by the pharmaceutical company she works for to track down a researcher who ignores all contact with the outside world and to find out how another close colleague of hers died while there.Vivid colours, wildlife, insects, dreams and extraordinary customs.Reminiscent of Eu...

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 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. It occurs to me, though, that wanting more of a book is as good a sign as any that it won me over completel...

This book never felt right. The characters were weak and hard to identify with, the plot seemed like something of a time past (yet wasn't), and the outcome of it all was ridiculous. The book would head in one direction for a while, then veer wildly in another. My pet peeve is when authors play fast and loose with characters and established world facts in order to advance plots. Lazy!Let's go for a ride: -American researcher dead in the jungle and his colleague goes to Brazil to find out more - R...

State of Wonder was such a great story, one I was hooked on right from the beginning. Marina Singh, a scientist working for a pharmaceutical company, Vogel, in Minnesota, is sent down to the jungle of Brazil to find out what happened in the death of her close co-worker, Anders. He had previously traveled there to check on the progress of a doctor whose research regarding fertility drugs is being funded by Vogel. This doctor, Dr. Swenson, also happens to be one of Marina’s former professors. The

First, if you haven't read the book and intend to, don't read this review. I spoil just about everything, including the ending, below. This just didn't work for me. So much bothers me about the way State of Wonder is written and the way the story plays out that I'm overwhelmed by where to begin. I guess the first thing that bothered me was Dr. Swenson - she's a caricature. Her actions and words are absurd and the way the other characters respond to her is worse. It's not just that I didn't like

Full disclosure: I fucking hated Heart of Darkness, so when I read that this was sort of a female version of the story, I was wary. But State of Wonder is, fortunately, nothing like Heart of Darkness. For one thing, it's coherent (bazinga!) and although there are thematic similarities, the story stands on its own merits. Conrad can suck it. The story follows Marina Singh, a researcher at Vogel Pharmaceutical. For years, Vogel has been funding a research project in the Amazon, led by Singh's form...

Dr. Marina Singh is sent from her home in Minnesota to the jungles of Brazil by her employer, a pharmaceutical company. Her purpose is twofold – to find out what happened to her colleague, Dr. Anders Eckman, who has died of fever in the rainforest, and to determine the status of research on a new wonder drug being conducted by her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson. Dr. Swenson has been in the field for many years, but details have not been forthcoming. This book is a slowly developing multiple m...

3.5 stars! I was enthralled with this story. Yet, Its a good thing I'm writing this review 'now' --because the more I think about the details of the 'entire' story iself, my review could get get lower and lower. I was going to give it 4 stars (some inconsistencies going on in this novel), Yet, this was also a compulsively readable book! Have you ever read a book that you loved 'while' reading it...yet, the more you started thinking about the absurdity of the storyline....you found yourself laugh...

I won’t give too much detail; you need to read this spoiler free. It’s deliciously gloomy and atmospheric, a dark adventure with Hitchcock style suspense. 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. That is till her boss & lover Mr. Fox (exactly the kind of ass insecure women go for) bullies her into taking on the quest of finding a missing colle...

| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | | “There was no one clear point of loss. It happened over and over again in a thousand small ways and the only truth there was to learn was that there was no getting used to.” Boasting her signature writing style State of Wonder is a captivating and thought-provoking read. Ann Patchett’s quiet yet graceful prose drew me in from the very opening page and I found myself enthralled by the calm rhythm of her storytelling. As with many of her other novels, State of Wond...