Customer Reviews

Seducing the Spirits

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was expecting some anthropological, sociological or cultural insight into the Kuna culture or at least some genuine facts on Harpy eagles. What a disappointment. This is cheap chick-lit marketed as serious reading. I was appalled that the author can't even spell city names correctly ("Cartegenia" instead or Cartagena)and that she fell for the stale stereotype of Colombians as drug pushers and thugs and of Colombia as the land of cocaine, cathouses and little else to see. This is exploitation of Kuna culture as a setting for a bad Danielle Steele knock-off.

The synopsis of this book appealed to me--I am a biology student, and love books that incorporate that awareness of the natural world with a great story (e.g. Barbara Kingsolver). I have to say, I wasn't completely sold on the main character throughout the first half of the book. Jenny is supposed to be a graduate student doing independent research in the jungle, but initially appears to spend much of her time crying, being kind of a wuss, and waiting for men to save her. She repeatedly allows all manner of men she randomly meets to be quite friendly with her. I didn't give up on the story, and the character ended up evolving in a satisfying way. Truth be told, the biological details sound a lot like an anthropologist writing about what it would be like to be a biologist (Jenny wonders, at one point, "if eagles can love." Gag.) I gave the book 4 stars because, though sometimes unrealistic, though I sometimes wanted to slap the character, I completely enjoyed the descriptions of the Kuna culture and the beautiful writing throughout. Young's anthropological knowledge of this region and the people's beliefs and customs make this book very real, and the touches of the mystical are wonderful. Overall, a great effort.

Sensual and hypnotic are only the first of many titillating words that come to mind after reading, no, experiencing, Louise Young's "Seducing the Spirits". I had no idea what I was in for when I tore the wrapping away from the sleek tapestry of the book's cover and devoured the first page.

Perhaps it was best that way, for the pleasure each page revealed, and the amazingly detailed narrative of a woman's solo journey, both physical and mental, into unknown and completely contradistinctive territory, was a welcome and praiseworthy surprise. I love, love, love this book!

Jenny Dunfree is a graduate student of tropical ornithology. After a brief `affair' with her superior she suddenly finds herself near the Columbian border, deep in the rain forest, on an elusive quest to find, watch and document the habits of nesting harpy eagles. Alone, with little more than the clothes on her back, some pots and pans and the star filled night as a roof over her head, Jenny finds herself confused, bewildered and abandoned, forced to fend for herself, her rights and at times, even, her very life.

To make matters even more interesting, Jenny is ordered to attend weekly meetings and community gatherings at the neighboring Kuna Village, their customs, language and adversity to outsiders making an already exacting and rigorous existence, even more precarious. Gradually, over time, and with infinite patience, (trial and error!) Jenny makes a friend. She finds comfort in and gains' understanding of the Kuna people with the help of Pedro, the only one besides her that speaks English. Through Pedro, Jenny forges unique relationships with other members of the Kuna Village, and each one supplies her with valuable and different information about an anagogic and ancient ethnology.

Through the weeks, Jenny finds herself immersed deeply in the Kuna world, becoming attuned to the thrum and pulse of the earth and learning the natural order of things that only living simply, sagely and with eyes wide open, brings about. Through the lives of her new friends, Jenny is able to see the outside world and its invasive intrusion, from a completely new and utterly disturbing perspective. Who is the the true outsider, in the end? Who chooses which path is right? Who are we to judge anyone?

Louise writes with breathtaking descriptive clarity, beauty and rhythm. I could smell the air, taste the sweetness of ripe banana on my tongue, and hear the beat of eagle wings and their plaintive, mournful cries in the canopy of lush green above. I could imagine Jenny's fear, her hunger, and feel her passion, her desire to know and understand, and her frustration is recanted achingly and bewitchingly.

When she fell in love, I fell in love.

Louise has managed to weave a spell of a story that this reader won't soon forget and highly recommends to anyone looking for something with substance, passion, guts, sass and grit. KUDOS! Seducing the Spirits is a linguistic orgasm. I need a cigarette.

I purchased this book for a study abroad trip to Panama, and although I was required to read it for educational purposes, the story definitely held my interest! I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys other cultures and romances.

To begin with, the book looks at the Cuna people with a colonialist, anti-feminist, ethnocentric, surprisingly lacking understanding of a region the author claims to know well. The work is little more than sappy words dressed over unsympathetic situations that reads more like a badly written grant application. Perhaps I am a bit biased by the fact that I have an actual background in this material, and newbies might find her approach quirky. However, as a work of scholarship, the work ultimately falls flat, and as a work of fiction, it exhibits the self-satisfied mentality that is found in many attempts from dry academics to bring life to previously lifeless research. Then again, with a little research of your own, one discovers why: the author refers to herself as a "cultural guide" to the region, and is trying to write about anthropology.

Although I do appreciate that this historian does not try to fill the shoes of the professional anthropologist in real life, her job title appears to be dressing up her experience in the region as much as her book dresses up her lack of knowledge of regional issues.

A real disappointment.

Ecologist Jenny Dunfree is working in the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, in a project funded by a foundation. Her job is to study a nest of harpy eagles, a rare species, and keep notes on their behavior and habits. Exhausted when she finally makes her way to Sugatupu in a canoe, she is immediately accosted by a young boy who drags her through the night-time forest to the village meeting house. There, she must list her genealogy for the village elders. They do not want her name, just that of her family. In fact, she is not allowed to tell her name, nor is anyone else allowed to ask it. "Without a name, do I have a soul? Am I a real person?" she wonders.

Jenny must appear at the village meeting house every Saturday evening, though she does not speak the Kuna language of her Indian hosts, and most of them speak little or no Spanish. Living as isolated as possible from the rest of Panama, the Kuna Indians have their own culture, thousands of years old, and the biggest influences (and some of their biggest problems) have come from missionaries who have wanted to change their beliefs about the world, impose a new system of morality, and redefine the nature of good and evil. The Kuna love nature and believe in a spirit world which includes all animals, plants, and even rocks, and they understandably resent the intrusions of those who would change their ways of life. Because Jenny obviously appreciates nature, she is watched over and somewhat protected by the Kuna, but as her research continues, she becomes convinced that the eagles that she is observing are not harpy eagles at all, a fact that could jeopardize the project.

Author Louise Young, herself an ecologist who began working in the San Blas islands in 1996, had intended this book to be a National Geographic-style travel piece, but she found that using fiction within an anthropological framework worked better. "Fiction became my tool to muscle stick-figure stereotypes into the array of personalities that inhabit all human communities," she says. The characters here are, in fact, often stereotypes, but she succeeds in creating a broad picture of the Kuna culture because the culture itself is so interesting. It is twenty-five-year-old Jenny who is the biggest stereotype, a woman with an advanced degree who is depicted, primarily, as a woman. Only peripherally is she an ecologist, anthropologist, and scientist. Jenny has romantic and unrealistic visions of her role at the outset, and she is often attracted to a number of the village men, disregarding any sense of detachment about her supposed role. She cries a lot, frequently uses the kind of profanity common among young students, and is "saved" on a regular basis by the men who want to protect her.

Eventually, Jenny connects with the village women, learns how to cook, observes their maturation ceremonies, experiences their healing practices, and learns about death and how they view it. The novel becomes deeper as it progresses, and the reader's fascination with the culture grows. Ultimately, Jenny's respect for the culture and beliefs make the novel work. Though it is clear that some aspects of the culture of these islands will inevitably change, the author's own work there as a "cultural guide" and "technical advisor to a women's cooperative" will help preserve the essence of their way of life. Mary Whipple

Seen through the eyes of a South American bird watcher, I was introduced to a tribal life that I didn't know existed.

Louise Young's novel Seducing the Spirits might provide a wise seduction for many spirits: The readers' spirits most certainly and delightfully; that tortured American scientist spirit that wants to believe in innocence despite the ravages of power; the legalistic religious spirit that paints the world black and white and fails to see its own shades of gray; the conquering spirit of supposedly civilized pride...

The novel starts somewhat confusingly, and perfectly so. The narrator has landed on the shore beside the jungle and is going to spend the next few months observing an eagle's nest. She's there because she's annoyed the program director. And she's there, seemingly, without help or backup or even any clear instructions on what she must do. The only rule is "don't piss off the natives," which apparently includes an injunction to go to their meeting every Saturday even though she feels like a tall white alien.

The story pulls the reader in quickly with musical words and birdsong, with the taste of corn and chocolate, and the sticky sweat of jungle heat on the skin. Natives change from a blur of strangers into recognizable characters with different cares and concerns and even names. But the protagonist seems to have lost her own name. Defining herself by work, mocking her own insufficiencies and failures and feeling scorned and unloved by all around, her spirit waits to be seduced. Then slowly, she learns from those she's been taught to believe are less than she.

The narrator's uncertain faith--a memory of the story of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' kindness to strangers--is contrasted first with the strident force of a travelling evangelist, and then with the loving touch of indigenous belief. Love indeed proves the stronger call. Meanwhile the identities of eagles are called into question, and their value proves greater to those who watch with love than it is to those who define with knowledge and power.

The author's ability to convey the spiritual experience of the Kuna without evangelizing, criticizing or even rationalizing is amazing, letting the reader share in something beautiful, filled with love. By the end of the novel, the narrator is empowered by that love. The reader has enjoyed a wondrous seduction. And the author, as I learn on the back flap of the book, has chosen to work with the indigenous Kuna people, bearing witness to all that she's told. Whatever our beliefs, if our eyes are closed to love then we're the ones who need seducing for our spirits to be healed.

I haven't read a novel in a long time and ended up choosing this one from my library's new book shelf. From the excerpt it sounded like an interesting combination of wilderness adventure, biological field work, and cultural exploration. It took me a full half of the book to really get into it for some reason, and finally toward the end I was feeling more a part of the scene. I'm not sure if this is a fault of the author or the editor, but there were several places in the book (mostly in the first half) where the writing jumps in a very jarring way. I don't have the book with me any longer so I can't give an example. It was like you were following one character doing and saying something, and then all of a sudden it's several hours or days later. Even a break in the text with some white space would have helped at a point like that. Overall, I'm glad I read the book and look forward to another work by Ms. Young.

Louise Young's book immediately pulled me in and didn't let me go, not once. This book was a breath of fresh air for me; having read a number of unsatisfying novels lately. I found myself reading deep into the night.

For once, indigenous people are treated like people. She describes all too well what it's like to be immersed in a culture whose language you can't understand.

Although the protagonist is a bit of an idiot sometimes, well, aren't we all? She was credible and young, and learned and succeeded.

I recommend this book.