State Of Wonder by Ann Patchett – 353 pages

Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug, the development of which has already cost the company a fortune. Nothing about Marina’s assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina’s research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend’s death, the state of her company’s future, and her own past.
In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, and a neighboring tribe of cannibals, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss. It is a tale that leads the reader into the very heart of darkness, and then shows us what lies on the other side.

The idea of this book was more thrilling than the actual book which was somewhat disappointing for me. Perhaps it was the characters’ lack of depth that kept me from a getting a handle on them and thus a connection. Regardless, I was intrigued with the storyline, the mystery and the science enough to keep me reading on. The representation of the Lakashi tribe was wonderful and the author’s description of the Amazon was good enough to keep me itching at night thinking of all the bugs.