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State of Wonder Hardcover – Deckle Edge, June 7, 2011

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Ann Patchett (Author)
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Ann Patchett (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 1,597 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (June 7, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0062049801
  • ISBN-13: 978-0062049803
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,597 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsNot Wondrous Enough
By Jill I. Shtulman TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on June 7, 2011
Format: Hardcover
When one leading publication says to "expect miracles", a book has a lot to live up to. And indeed, in many areas, State of Wonder does meet its hype. Its vivid sense of place, for example, is truly magnificent. One can almost feel hear the buzzing and ravenous mosquitoes, feel the oppressive heat, recoil from the floating snake heads, and feel the power of the storms.

But at the end of the day, I was torn between one crucial question: is a book that is realistic also authentic? How do the two concepts merge...and how do they differ?

Ann Patchett, in State of Wonder, revisits the contemporary adventure story genre, with a provocative tale of an emotionally crippled doctor - Marina Singh - who embarks on an odyssey to the Amazon after learning that her pharma colleague Anders died there. His wife doesn't believe it...and her boss and love interest, Mr. Fox, entreats her to go there to find out what is going on.

He is, after all, invested in the outcome of the research that is going on there. Dr. Annick Swenson - formidable and inscrutable - has been there for years, reportedly working on a new drug that will have a massive effect on female fertility, with the prospect of making his company very rich. Dr. Swenson was Marina's former mentor and her associations with her are fearsome. As a result, the journey to the heart of darkness for Marina is also a plunge into her own emotional terrors.

The exploration of these terrors - along with the world of the Amazon and the Lakisha tribe - are masterfully done. But for me, in the end, the characters became sacrificed to the plot, pacing, and setting.

I did not believe in the relationship between Marina and her widowed older boss, Mr. Fox; neither seemed capable of sustaining it.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsAnn Patchett is a goddess
By EJ on April 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
I am amazed by Ann Patchett's ability to write such riveting books about such a breadth of topics. Bel Canto (P.S.) is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and I never thought she'd be able to match that. With this book, I think she has come close.

State of Wonder is the tale of an epic journey. After an employee of a pharmaceutical company dies in the Amazon, a fellow researcher is sent to find out exactly what happened to him. She is also tasked with clarifying on the company's behalf exactly how much progress has been made on the drug being studied there. The visual picture of the Amazon painted by Patchett is vivid and captivating and the characters are very well-defined and sharply rendered. The plot moves along at a nice pace, though admittedly it does slow a bit in the middle.

As for criticism, the science in the book is a little vague and seems slightly "off". However, the experiments are a sort of backdrop and not the main focus so it's not that big a deal. And Patchett does manage to cover an awful lot of political and ethical issues related to drug development and reproduction that are so nuanced as to appear to occur using sleight-of-hand.

Overall, another very strong book from Patchett and a definite recommend.
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2.0 out of 5 starsStrange and unbelievable
By A Reader on June 10, 2011
Format: Hardcover
I can't be the only reader completely astonished by the gushing reviews for this book. The lead character, Marina, is frustratingly, irritatingly passive. If you really examine her scenes she almost never makes full statements, while other people talk in long long passages at her. She does things because people tell her to, she has no spine until the last moments. She is haunted by nightmares that add nothing to the story. On top of all that, the natives (named, I learned on NPR, after Patchett's favorite breakfast cereal) are not humanized at all. We don't get to know any one of them -- not a one -- as a real human being. Basing them on a breakfast cereal is almost offensive. Lastly, the medical aspect of this is just absurd. Chewing on trees?! Really?? And if this wasn't enough, Patchett has added a further discovery besides life-long fertility, an anti-malarial component, that results from all the bark-chewing. How many miraculously implausible medical discoveries can one book take? The ending is bewildering, giving us no clue as to what to make of Marina by the end. Did Patchett mean this story to be comic? (She speaks often in interviews of thinking herself funny, although no one seems to get her humor.) A very frustrating read, perhaps more satisfying to critics than to a regular reader.
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2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing
By SherriLee on July 3, 2011
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I try not to judge Patchett by Patchett and hold her to a higher standard but I dont think I am. I loved "Bel Canto" with its beautiful language, mesmerizing plot and lovely, wonderful characters. "Run" also pulled me in and touched me. I wanted the same from "State of Wonder" but it is a much, much lesser book. Marina, the protagonist, is weak, the plot full of holes and other characters are little more than stereotypes. This book has been done before, better. Dedicated, maverick doctor off in the back of beyond, spurning corporate medicine, has discoverd something extraordinary. Young relative/colleague/mercenary is sent in to effect a withdrawel but won over by the doc or the goal or the indigenous people. Then some tragedy happens and the game changes. Without giving more away--this is the story here. (I kept thinking of an old Sean Connery movie)
"State of Wonder" doesnt do even this old plot justice. The characters are flat, except for maybe Easter and Milton, and often stupid. The plot/premise full of holes-- A scientist sent into the Amazon, alone, after the previous one dies? No corporate investigation? No legal inquiry? No backup? The freaking phone? The trees? A tribe that wears sal-army clothes but no one can locate? A pharmco that sends money and pays bills with no progress reports? Didnt they think to gps her boat? Barbara Bovender's vision? Swenson's complete obliviousness to the effects of pregnancy on the body? Ander's inability to swipe a canoe and leave? Much maneuvering has to be done to make it even appear to hold together. I fought through it, thinking the next chapter would be 'the one' and never got there.
SPOILER--the end, as little sense as it made, really ticked me off. Patchett betrayed the one character, Easter, that I cared about at all and Marina was shown to be not just naive and easy to manipulate but shallow and stupid.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsUtterly Engaging.

I really loved this book. A great story. Magical. You understand the foreignness. Comes together well in the end.

Published 13 hours ago by Whales
4.0 out of 5 starsA very unusual book and she is a very good writer.

A very unusual book and she is a very good writer.

Published 1 day ago by jude
1.0 out of 5 starsTerrible Read

The plot is disjointed, the characters undeveloped, and the ending absolutely terrible. This book is also poorly researched. Read more

Published 1 day ago by BL
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

No

Published 7 days ago by Zhuangwei Zheng
4.0 out of 5 starsWonderful

This was well written and one that I could hardly put down. I think it would make a great movie

Published 9 days ago by Joyce in NM
5.0 out of 5 starsRead this twice and loved every minute Ann Patchett's writing keeps me...

Read this twice and loved every minute
Ann Patchett's writing keeps me glued and I don't want to do anything but read and resd

Published 9 days ago by Donna from Texas
5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating read

This book had interesting characters and there was a great deal of mystery in it. I couldn't put it down.

Published 12 days ago by Allison K. Fistere
5.0 out of 5 starsA very different story, but a must read

The title fits the book as I was in a state of wonder as I read it. The story deals with science professors and doctors/pharmacologists giving up their lives at home to work on a... Read more

Published 13 days ago by Mrs. Edythe Newman
4.0 out of 5 starsA must read

The characters are complex and compelling. An enjoyable read for the summer days at the beach or pool. Enjoyable and vivid

Published 13 days ago by CandC
5.0 out of 5 starsLoved it!

Another good read from Ann Patchett. She never disappoints. I marvel at the amount of research that was required to write this book.

Published 17 days ago by D. Ballard

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