State of Wonder

Ann Patchett  
  I so wanted to LOVE this book, but the most I can say is that I liked it... without an impressive amount of enthusiasm behind my statement. The book description reads like an action/mystery novel: Dr. Marina Singh travels into the Amazon in search of the truth regarding her lost friend and the project her company has entrusted to her old mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, but instead finds an even greater mystery awaiting her. It was only after I started the book that I was informed that it is actually a modern day telling of Heart of Darkness. The story itself was actually very interesting, and forces the reader to consider some challenging ethical issues. How far can modern science go? What are the limits? What SHOULD be the limits? What lines are we willing to cross? The questions that Ann Patchett raises still pop into my head weeks later.
     My main issue with State of Wonder was the structure. Basically nothing happens for the first 150 pages of a 350 book. When the catalyst (Dr. Swenson) finally arrives on the scene, the pace picks up and we get to the heart of the story. However, the pace continues to pick up and you are left with an extremely abrupt ending. Everything that Dr. Marina Singh was searching for, all of her decisions, come to a very rapid close in the last 20 pages. I felt a little shell-shocked. That was it? After such a thoughtful and slow beginning, I felt that the book came to a careless end. Maybe that was the feeling that Patchett was aiming for; to create the shocked feeling that her lead character must have had, but I felt deprived of the lengthy ending I surely deserved after waiting for the resolution Marina searched for throughout the entire story. Despite the negative points of State of Wonder, I am still impressed by Patchett's writing and skill in developing a magical Amazonian world, and will try another of her books in the future.