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    State of Wonder: A Novel
    State of Wonder: A Novel
    State of Wonder: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    State of Wonder: A Novel

    Written by Ann Patchett

    Narrated by Hope Davis

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “A nail-biting narrative, setting stark human dilemmas against a lush, exotic backdrop.”— People

    “Extraordinary. . . . Nothing is as it seems, and the ending is as shocking as it’s satisfying.” — Boston Globe

    From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett, a provocative and assured novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest

    In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity.

    As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-infested Amazon, she's forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness.

    Stirring and luminous, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss beneath the rain forest's jeweled canopy. Patchett delivers a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 7, 2011
    ISBN9780062072498
    Author

    Ann Patchett

    Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Women's Prize in the UK, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. President Biden awarded her the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the owner of Parnassus Books.

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    Reviews for State of Wonder

    4/5

    2,698 ratings283 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A beautifully written but ultimately unsatisfactory novel, this is in some ways a reworking of Heart of Darkness.A man travels to the Amazon to check up on medical research that’s been going on for years. The sponsoring company is getting impatient for some kind, any kind, of a report on the progress of the project.He’s reported dead. The company sends a pharmacologist down to see what’s happened, and what on earth is going on with the research.State of Wonder is peopled with unlikeable characters. Dr Swenson, the head of the project, is a monomaniac determined to get her way through sheer strength of will. Pharmacologist Marina, the main character...spends most of her life doing the bidding of others, without the will to say no. Other more minor characters, some of whom materialize in the pages like smoke, are mostly selfish or so minor that they don’t really matter. The single exception is Easter, a boy who lives in the research compound. The indigenous people are truly anonymous: they don’t even have names. I’m sure that the cavalier attitude is meant to reflect that of the researchers, but it’s hard to take.I’m not sure what Pratchett was trying to do here. Certainly the reader becomes completely immersed in the story, feeling the humidity and claustrophobia of the jungle. But the ending, I thought, was a bit facile. State of Wonder is worth reading, but it won’t make you happy.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Riveting, surprising narrative. Narration very well done. Best book I’ve listened to in months.
    • 2/5
      I loved this and then was so disappointed by the last 30 pages.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story of a female scientist who is recruited by her work to go to the Amazon in search of answers about her colleague's death. There are some interesting characters in this story and I enjoyed the story overall. You definitely need to suspend belief in parts but that made for interesting reading. Thought the ending was sweet.
    • 5/5
      Patchett is an elegant writer. The extraordinary skill she possesses always introduces her readers into something amazingly new. I was left yearning when I finished this book, wanting more.
    • 5/5
      Adventure in the Amazon jungle. Characters rich in emotion and passionate values
    • 3/5


      I very much enjoyed Bel Canto, and State of Wonder was good, too, but not great. Easter was the most lovable character. I wish the story had been about him. The ending was just awful, in my opinion, however the writing was descriptive, the plot kept my attention, and the pace was fast. It was just a bit too unbelievable for me to give any more than 3 stars.
    • 4/5
      This story would make a fair Sunday evening movie. You see it, you enjoy it, you forget it.

      What was good about this book:
      - the writing skills of Ann Patchett: she is good with words and is able to depict delicate states of mind, such as the scenes in which she describes how difficult it is to share bad news with someone, or how grief sets in and affects one
      - some states of wonder that were described: the scene with the anaconda attack, the scene with the hostage exchange and the love scene in the Amazon, between Marina and Eckman

      What was fair in this book:
      - the portrait of the tough professor, dr Swanson, who has the ability of intimidating students and professionals for years
      - the portrait of Easter, the little amazonian deaf boy and his ability to connect without words

      What I had a hard time with in this book:
      - the entire plot, I found it hard to believe and I did not understand what the stake really was. Nothing was developed well enough, neither the stake of the pharma company, nor the stake for protecting the tribe, or the personal stakes of dr Swanson
      - the description of the tribe: I was expecting to find out more interesting facts about the tribe, but they are barely sketched
      - the pace of writing was uneven: there were hundreds of introductory pages, followed by a quick resolution and many things are left lingering, without a closure.

      In short, the book did not rise to expectations, I guess there are other books of Ann Patchett that deliver better plots and better writing.
    • 5/5
      Felt like I was there because it all sounded so real. Loved that I felt the emotions the characters were experiencing.
    • 4/5
      I absolutely love Ann Patchett’s writing, so I stayed with this even though I felt it was a little slow in the beginning. I’m so glad I hung in; great story, very satisfying ending, and authentic.
    • 4/5
      This book took me on a journey – into the Amazon and into the heart of a person’s soul. Dr. Marina Singh goes to the Amazon to find out what she can about her colleague’s death. The author’s writing drew me into the world of the jungle: snakes at my feet, insects in my hair, overhanging trees, unbearable heat, wild incessant noises. I felt languid waiting for Marina to ask the right questions. And then zap! Everything became incredibly real. The ending is quite a shock.
    • 3/5
      I'm a huge fan of Ann Patchett's writing - usually. I was disappointed in this one; it didn't begin to compare to the quality of her other books, and I have them all.There were a handful of ridiculously unbelievable things that happened in the last 28 pages of this 353 page book. That was the biggest disappointment. I won't name them here, no reason to spoil it for anyone, but seriously - I was shaking my head by the end.
    • 5/5
      This was an amazing book. :) I'm partial to books about traveling around the world, granted. And I like science. So this was right up my alley. It almost makes me want to go travel to the amazon. I think these books read differently then say a fantasy book or a science fiction. For example I could say that there didn't seem to be much character growth or dimensions for many of the character. And yet I feel for a book like this, which focuses on something fundamentally different, it's just not needed. I've never really thought about it before but there is something different there. Anyways, I enjoyed this book immensely, although some events didn't sit completely easy with me. The book teaches that too though. That in the wild, in the amazon, things have to be different. It's a different life with different morals. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the amazon forest or the science of working in the field.
    • 2/5
      I have to give it two stars because I like the prose. The beginning pulled me in. I lost interest in the middle party because the main character became increasingly annoying and partly because the story began to drag in a way where I sometimes forgot the purpose of the main character's trip. The ending seemed rushed. At one point one of the characters says of the main character, "I keep hoping you are more than you show yourself to be..." and then goes on to talk about how she's continually disappointed. I felt the same while reading the book.
    • 4/5
      Very good. A world away, no escaping the human elements.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Ann Patchett combines many interesting characters with a unique story line and setting in a wonderful novel. Beginning with a tragic event and continuing on in the Amazon, this story is the about many relationships, especially that of two intense, intelligent women who share a history, but also are connected through their relationship with a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Marina Singh is a pharmacologist and Dr. Annick Swenson a drug researcher in the Amazon. Through a series of events their paths cross and their unresolved past issues are addressed. The book is rich in many ways…through the unique characters, the lush setting of the jungle and the intertwining of characters. Loved it!
    • 5/5
      Wonderful Book! Ann Patchett just keeps getting better and better. I feel as though I've taken a trip down the Amazon and met some Amazing people!
    • 5/5
      Great story. How did I miss this one? I also learned much about the Amazon
    • 5/5
      As usual with Ann Patchett, I really enjoyed this book, though still not as much as Run, which is my favourite so far, even more than Bel Canto (but there are still one or two I haven't read). This reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver, for some reason, can't put my finger on it, perhaps just the removal of the characters from what they would normally consider to be civilisation. Others have commented that the ending was a little abrupt, and I suppose that's true, though I liked the way it ended, despite leaving the reader to fill in some of the blanks.
    • 4/5
      ?State of Wonder? opens with ?the news of Anders Eckman?s death?. Eckman, a medical researcher who worked for the Vogel pharmaceutical company in Minnesota, had been sent to Brazil to try and gather information about the progress of the research being done by another Vogel scientist, Dr. Annick Swenson. Swenson had been in the Amazon for many years, investigating a biological substance that appears to enable women to remain fertile for their entire lives. A lone wolf, Swenson refuses to provide much information to the company, not only about her work but even about her address. Indeed, she hires a quirky young couple from Australia, the Bovenders, to run interference between her and the outside world. When word of Eckman?s death from a fever reaches Minnesota, it falls to his offic mate, Dr. Marina Singh, to travel to Brazil and attempt to find out more about the circumstances surrounding Anders? death, and to bring word back to Anders? wife Karen, who is left with three young children. Marina travels first to Manaus, a large, noisy, dirty city that serves as a gateway to the Amazon, and then down the Rio Negro to Swenson?s field station. Many reviewers have described this as a female ?Heart of Darkness,? with Swenson cast in the role of Kurtz. Swenson certainly shares some of Kurtz?s defining characteristics: she?s a nearly maniacally driven genius, she has little need for other people, and of course, she lives amongst indigenous people in a site that can only be reached by riverboat. However, she is also a much less evil person than Kurtz. Her relationship with the deaf native boy she calls Easter is particularly touching. Swenson is by far the best-drawn character in the book; only Marina comes close. Where it is Swenson?s relationship with Easter that humanizes her, Marina?s most interesting relationship turns out not be with Mr. Fox, the Vogel executive with whom she is having a love affair, but rather with Anders. Sharing a lab with Anders for many years has led to a set of feelings that Marina discovers only slowly, and after he is gone.Patchett can write lyrically and powerfully, describing scenes that linger. In ?State of Wonder?, these notably include Marina?s Larium-induced nightmares that are pure expressions of separation anxiety stemming from a childhood in which her parents lived in different continents. Also memorable is an account of an encounter with an anaconda that occurs when a young native many and would-be Amazon tour guide decides to drag the snake onto his boat, thinking that this is the sort of stunt that tourists will expect from him.The book is full of external references, which in the hands of a less talented writer would be jarring, but which Patchett is able to pull off. My favorite, from late in the book, is this: ?Of all the tributaries in all of the Amazon, he had wandered onto hers.??State of Wonder? is not perfect. It?s very heavily plot-driven, and as noted above, some of the characters are quite flat. The plot itself has some implausibilities that detract from the story: for example, the fact that despite having lived amongst the Lakashi tribe for years, Swenson and her staff can barely understand any of their language. The scientists? study of the perpetual fertility drug raises potentially extremely interesting and controversial questions about whether there are limits on what should be studied, but the novel gives only a very shallow exploration of these questions. And the ending is unsatisfying: Marina makes a choice that would seem to have much greater consequences than it does. Despite these shortcomings, this is a good book that, more than anything, provides a rich sense of what it is like to be a totally foreign environment?and it?s fun to read, to boot.
    • 5/5
      This book made the top ten fiction list for 2011 in numerous book review publications, and it was well-deserved. The book takes place in Minnesota and the Amazon rain forest. Dr. Marina Singh is sent by her employer, Vogel Pharmaceuticals, to discover the circumstances of her co-worker's death. Dr. Anders Eckmann had been sent earlier to check on Vogel's researcher Dr. Annake Swenson, who was out-of-touch and behind schedule. What follows are twists and turns of plot that are as numerous as the the turns of the Amazon itself. Well, maybe not quite that numerous but almost! It's a delightful book that many have compared with Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I would say it's a much happier book than that one, however. It does give the reader a definite feel for how life goes in the rain forest. Patchett is to be commended for a literary accomplishment.
    • 4/5
      This book was different from my usual read but it was unpredictable, interesting, and engaging. I enjoyed all of the characters, even the one I probably wasn't supposed to like. And the Amazon jungle was a character all on its own, one I think was stunningly portrayed. Great read (listen). I enjoyed the audio version as well.
    • 4/5
      can't decide how i feel about this book. at first i thought it was going to be amazing, then i got bored in the middle, but toward the end i was really into it again. amazing writer, but the plot was a little dull to me.
    • 3/5
      I liked this almost as well as Bel Canto. A doctor working for a pharmaceutical company is sent to the Amazon to investigate the death of her colleague and to discover what progress has been made toward a new drug that the team there has been working on. Once there, she finds that nothing is quite as she expected, but she also finds that she is able to respond to the situation the way she needs to in order to survive. The only thing that was a little disappointing was the ending. Not that it was a happy ending, I was fine with that, but I felt something was lacking in the end. Can't quite put a finger on what.
    • 4/5
      I have enjoyed all of Ann Patchett's fiction, and this new story surpasses her previous work. Unusual, engrossing, and surprising are ways I would describe this story. I really liked how Patchett wrote Dr. Swenson's character through crisp dialogue and her habit of looking at Marina "as if everything was obvious."?A couple characters suffer nightmares, and I did as well one night, the fears of the story entering my subconscious. Although I admired the story, I was also anxious to leave the jungle, the wild and dangerous world of natives, poison, and secrets.
    • 3/5
      I realised I had not written a review for this book. It has been over a year since I read it and many books since, therefore I cannot possibly write an educated review. I recall enjoying the book to a certain extent, yet felt it lacked something. These details would be more pronounced had I written the review a year ago. My apologies. I do recall preferring other books of Ann Patchett's (i.e. THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS and THE MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT).
    • 4/5
      Loved the writing, loved the story, loved that it was about women, about the amazon, about love. Ending a bit trite.
    • 2/5
      FINALLY! Finally, I finished this book. It took me about a month and a half and that was down to some serious flaws of this book. Flaws aside, this book has some of the most vivid imagery and lush descriptions of the amazon. For the description alone, this book was a real treat and really fed the imagination. This however, is the only positive I could give this book.

      The plot at first seemed interesting, and gripping. But what followed was so slowly paced, I felt like I was going backwards in some places. It didnt really get interesting until chapter 9 (there are 11 in total). The chapter themselves are very long, and just due to personal preference I like chapters to be shorter so it breaks the book down into chunks into which you can dip in and out of the book easily if you so wish. The earlier chapters were so dull that reading the incredibly long chapters seemed too much of a cognitive effort, hence the book took me a month to read.

      I also was bitterly disappointed at the random sex encounter of Marina and Dr Eckman at the end of the book. What the frig? that made no sense at all!! Hands down, the most random way to end a book ever - it ruined it for me personally.

      All in all, a nice book but too slowly paced for my liking.
    • 4/5
      I love Patchett’s writing style and the stories she creates. This was one of the craziest but always with a little suspense as to what will happen next. Can’t imagine how she came up with this one!
    • 4/5
      A trip down the Amazon was an enticing prospect and well worth piling through the tricksy start which jumps about in time and place in what seemed to be a deliberate attempt to confuse. Get into the story, though, and there is much to enjoy here. The descriptions of the heat, humidity, insect life and sheer otherness of the rain forest setting were superb, and in amongst it was an interesting and original tale about the complexities surrounding drug development.