Wondrous

 

    If, when discovering an author for the first time, you're drawn to read more of their work - not straightaway perhaps, but later - then they've passed a test of sorts. With Ann Patchett's State of Wonder that test was passed for me after only three or so pages, and reaching the end of the novel, the question isn't 'whether' I'll read more but 'when': how soon can I get hold of the rest of her books? Never before have I looked up all an author's published work with a view to buying everything in one go, but so taken am I with this book that I do want all the others, and as soon as is practicable.

    While I've read a number of excellent novels recently, State of Wonder is unsurpassed. It's a book of integrity and clarity with compassionate intelligence behind it; it's a story which holds the reader long after the final page has been turned, and it poses questions of ethics to exercise the intellect. I suppose it has everything I unconsciously look for in a book.

    It is set largely in the Amazonian rainforest where the maverick scientist Dr. Annick Swenson is conducting revolutionary research into female fertility. Funding for the drug she is developing comes from the Minnesota-based pharmaceutical company Vogel, but as Dr. Swenson refuses to report on progress and remains frustratingly out of contact (even her precise whereabouts are unknown), the CEO has sent one of his own team to find out what's going on. Anders Eckman was despatched from Eden Prairie to deepest Brazil, but little was heard from or about him until a curt note arrived to say that he had contracted a fever and died.

    Anders's wife needs to understand exactly what happened to him, and Vogel still want a definitive indication of how soon the drug can move to clinical trials and thence to market, so Anders's colleague and friend Dr. Marina Singh undertakes the mission to the Rio Negro and the Swenson camp to try to bring back answers to their questions. She was once a student of Dr. Swenson's, and it was her tutelage that was to directly determine the course of Marina's career; her visit to the jungle is thus no small undertaking, either professionally or personally.

    The plot is, I think, brilliantly and beautifully devised, and set into it are very clearly drawn characters, not least the imperious Dr. Swenson, a woman of "brio [...], utter assuredness [...] indefatigably right". The work being carried out in the jungle is fascinating and raises many questions and matters of conscience, both at universal and individual levels, and some very careful, creative thought has gone into this aspect of the book. In this short clip you'll hear Ann Patchett say that in writing State of Wonder she wanted to make the reader think about different issues, not just to be entertained "but sort of stirred up by this book", and that would be her best case scenario, she says. She has certainly achieved her aim.

Comments

[Jill]

So far the only Ann Patchett book that I've read is Bel Canto, which was a great read. It centres around a seige by terrorists in an embassy in an unnamed South American country. Despite the theme the reader gets really sympathetically drawn into the lives of the characters, both the terrorists and those being held captive. I'm off to track down State of Wonder as, not surprisingly dear Cornflower, you have inspired me to read this too.

[Susie Vereker]

Yes, I much enjoyed Bel Canto. Look forward to reading this one. Thanks for highlighting, Cornflower. By the way, I again mailed you recommending Jim Powell's The Breaking of Eggs as I don't know if you have read it or not. I had an email from you recently which I replied to, saying that you hadn't received my first mail. (Interested to know if some of my own mails are going into people's junk box. Tried to DM you on Twitter but you don't follow me so Tw wd not allow!)

[Cornflower]

Susie, how very odd. After I replied to you about The Breaking of Eggs (haven't read it, by the way) the other day I didn't hear anything back, and I've checked the spam and there's nothing from you there, either. Also, I do follow you on Twitter so a DM should be allowed, but I know that system can be temperamental sometimes! Do try again, one way or another.

[Erika]

Thank you for reminding me of Ann Patchett. I found "Bel Canto" breathtaking in its perfection but then read "Run" which was a big let down for me--poor writing technique, unconvincing plot and lots of rambling around. "State of Wonder" sounds as if she is back to her high standard again.

[Alex]

Really recommend Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars. I remember having Run on my TBR but somehow, after some years, I gave it up to charity. Can't really remember why now...

[Julie Fredericksen]

I agree with Erika that "Run" wasn't as good as "Bel Canto" and "The Patron Saint of Liars". I highly recommend Patchett's non-fiction book "Truth and Beauty": A Friendship". It's about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, whom she met in a writer's workshop. Grealy, herself a very talented but doomed writer, wrote "Autobiography of A Face", about the cancer that destroyed her jaw, the many attempts to re-build it and how her life was affected.

[Thomas at My Porch]

I have read all of Patchett's books and eagerly await new ones, so I can't figure out why I don't have this yet. Patron Saint of Liars is great, Bel Canto is good, The Magician's Assistant I quite liked. I enjoyed Run quite a lot, but I agree with the others, it didn't seem to have as much depth as her other novels.

[Jane H]

Hello - I have just come to your website via Stuck in a book, and I love Anne Patchett too having read The Magician's Assistant. She doesn't feature in my library so had to reserve - ought to be better known I think.
Here is my review.. (coincidence! Have not updated website since this!) http://passionatebookworm.blogspot.com/

regards, Jane

[Elaine]

I had read and disliked Bel canto so was not sure about this one but I read it and thought it was quite brilliant. I reviewed it over on Random and here is my review should anybody want to see what I thought

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2011/06/state-of-wonder-ann-pratchett.html

[carole]

I read this yesterday in one go - far too hot to do anything else!
I loved the book but was left wondering if M, as a result of eating the bark and the encounter with A, would conceive?

[Cornflower]

I wonder!