State of Wonder

I've just finished State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, and the fact that I've come to the end of this book has put me in a state.  But don't worry, it's just a state of disappointment that the story has come to an end.

Dr. Marina Singh is a researcher for a drug company in Minnesota, the state where she was born and raised.  Her lab partner and friend, Anders Eckman, has been on assignment at the company's drug research station in the Amazon, but he has suddenly died. Marina is asked to go and investigate. Two places and cultures could not be more diametrically opposed than Minnesota and the Amazon, and from the moment she lands in Manaus, Marina is assaulted by the heat, the bugs and the crowds.  But when she finally makes contact with the head researcher and heads down the river into the jungle, she finds herself pulled into a mysterious world made of equal parts wonder and danger.  Marina, quite literally, will never be in the same state again.

Seldom can a book truly take you mind and body to a completely different place, a place totally foreign, beautiful and frightening, but State of Wonder does all that and more.  I loved this book, and I hope you agree.

mk, tbc