SlowRain reviewed The story of wonder by Ann Patchett
Review of 'The story of wonder' on Goodreads
2 stars
A research doctor is asked by the pharmaceutical company she works for to go to the Amazon to discover what happened to a recently deceased colleague.
There is very little to say about this book as it offers very little for the reader. The Amazon is a diverse and rich region that faces many challenges, but you wouldn't know it from the author's portrayal. According to the author, it consists of one city, one river, one tribe, one kind of tree, one kind of mushroom; and there are only superficial external forces exerting pressure on them. Also, people who work for pharmaceutical companies are one-dimensional, and any experiences they have in the Amazon will be flat, dreary, and lack all sense of verisimilitude or danger.
(That last one may seem unfair, because not all books need to be thrillers, but this one does try--and fails miserably.)
It seems the author …
A research doctor is asked by the pharmaceutical company she works for to go to the Amazon to discover what happened to a recently deceased colleague.
There is very little to say about this book as it offers very little for the reader. The Amazon is a diverse and rich region that faces many challenges, but you wouldn't know it from the author's portrayal. According to the author, it consists of one city, one river, one tribe, one kind of tree, one kind of mushroom; and there are only superficial external forces exerting pressure on them. Also, people who work for pharmaceutical companies are one-dimensional, and any experiences they have in the Amazon will be flat, dreary, and lack all sense of verisimilitude or danger.
(That last one may seem unfair, because not all books need to be thrillers, but this one does try--and fails miserably.)
It seems the author watched the Sean Connery movie "Medicine Man" and thought she could do something similar. She did not succeed. The only positive things to say about this novel are the food-poisoning in Manaus and the eccentric doctor in the Amazon were at least interesting.
This book is such a disappointment for me because Ann Patchett wrote the brilliant and wonderful "Bel Canto", also set in South America. However, what that novel had for language, beauty, character, and humanity are not present at all in this one. That's the novel people should be reading, not this one.
"Bel Canto" on Good Reads --> http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5826.Bel_Canto
