Andes Rising [Hardcover]

James Munves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

A new American novel-about an ornothologist, a physicist, and a rabbi-that takes us deep into the heart of the Colombian Andes. In Andes Rising the reader is confronted with a mystery. What happened to Thomas Cooper? A scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and attended the disarmament conference following World War II, he had quit his job, left his family, and gone off to Colombia, South America, on an ornothological project undertaken by the Peace Corps. His family and friends have lost all trace of him. Finally his mother persuades her rabbi to go down to Colombia and find out if Thomas is dead or alive. What the rabbi eventually finds is Thomas's journal filled with notes about his bird studies, ruminations about life (to which the rabbi sometimes responds), and pages from the work of Chapman, the early 20th-century ornothologist who collected specimens for the Museum of Natural History. Flashing through all is a rare tanager with turquoise markings. The director of the project wants Thomas to bring in specimens of this bird. "If what is being prepared is another extermination," Thomas writes, "I am not going to abet it by pushing another bird to extinction." But is he slowly going mad? Does he die in the avalanche, or is he somewhere among the birds of the Andes?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 1971 diary of what may be the last months in the life of a vanished Manhattan Project scientist, Thomas Cooper, constitute this whimsical but flawed first novel. Its entries are full of natural fact, philosophical musings and historical notes. Sent by Thomas's aging mother, Sadie, from California to Colombia to find her missing son, Rabbi Teitelbaum gets his hands on the journal and converts it to a palimpsest. His footnotes, which he affectionately calls the "Teitelbaum midrash," are rendered in a sometimes difficult to read though quite realistic handwriting. Teitelbaum, an unappealingly intrusive character whose concern over the probably dead Thomas's spiritual growth and religious neglect is nevertheless touching, contradicts, calls into question and pokes fun at many of Thomas's private thoughts. He is more reverent of Thomas's relationship to nature, however, and gives background to Thomas's obsession with the rare blue-and-black tanagerAthe ostensible reason Thomas left his family and took off for Colombia on a Peace Corps ornithology mission. Reading the diary, Teitelbaum looks for clues that might indicate whether the lost Thomas is dead or alive; there are suggestions that he has fallen in with or prey to tropical bird smugglers, kidnappers, drug dealers or atomic age spies. Most satisfying in this otherwise loose novel is Thomas's relationship with the work of 19th-century ornithologist F.M. Chapman, whose study of the tanager helped him develop a quasi-Darwinian theory about the environmental roots of speciation. The scrapbook effect diverts the eyeAclippings from newspapers, field guides, Manhattan Project memos, letters from abandoned loved onesAbut cannot bear the weight of narrative responsibility Munves gives it.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In 1980 Rabbi Sherman Teitelbaum reluctantly agrees to look into the reported reappearance of Thomas Cooper, an acquaintance thought long dead. His misgivings only intensify after discovering and reading the missing man's journal. Its contents, and the rabbi's commentary on them, make up most of this richly textured short narrative. Cooper's writings inspire more questions than answers: Could he have engineered a "fatal" avalanche? To what purpose? Why did this former Manhattan Project scientist desert job and family for a Peace Corps bird observation assignment in Colombia? What was really behind his refusal to collect a rare specimen? Are his philosophical musings evidence of self-absorption, or do they imply a miraculous spiritual revelation? Disturbing yet exhilarating reflections haunt the rabbi for decades after his search for Cooper. Readers may find similar intellectual stimulation in this challenging debut novel. Recommended for most fiction collections.AStarr E. Smith, Marymount Univ. Lib., Arlington, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation; First Edition edition (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811214079
• ISBN-13: 978-0811214070
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,695,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Parting the Clouds of the Andes, June 27, 2006

By 

Brian Allen "neotropical birding" (Manistee, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Andes Rising (Hardcover)

A lost son (Thomas), a physicist involved with the Manhattan Project disappears in Columbia. The family's Rabbi goes off to Columbia to find what has happened as a favor to his mother. The story unfolds from the diary of Thomas and his ethical struggles over his work on the atomic bomb, his break from his family and wife and his pursuit of a rare, perhaps mythical bird of the high Andes as a Peace Corps volunteer.

I first read this book last year and I admit I had a difficult time of it. I was familiar with the ornithology and geography of Columbia where most of the story is set. I am not at all familiar with Hebrew and only know a little of the history of the Jews. Fortunately conversations with my brother-in-law and some reading has since increased my understanding . You need a familiarity with some Hebrew expressions and Jewish history in addition to the history of the Cold War to fully understand this book. This should not discourage anyone that would attempt this book.

I am very interested in the natural history of the Andes and with better preparation I tried the book again this summer. This second time around I had a much better appreciation for the book and did enjoy it. I remember a phrase from my Peace Corps experience "It's the toughest job you'll ever love. This is one of the toughest novels I've ever enjoyed. If you like the "man's search for meaning" genre and descriptive novels of exotic locals you'll enjoy this book.

I especially enjoyed the forays into Chapmann's historical expedition into Columbia and Thomas's (main character) diary, a collection of thoughts on the birds, science, evolution, history and politics of the US and Columbia.