In Ann Patchett’s most recent work, “State of Wonder,” she guides readers into a picturesque setting, chockfull of vibrant characters following a mysterious death. For us, the death seems inconsequential, but for protagonist Marina Singh, the loss of her colleague means that the research her company has been conducting throughout the years has come seemingly to a halt.
When the reader lens focuses in on Marina, we find a middle-aged pharmaceutical researcher who has spent most her life studying fertility treatment. Following the death of her coworker, Marina leaves behind her secure life in rural Eden Prairie, Minn., and embarks on a trip to Brazil to search out the details of the mysterious death without being fully aware of the research her corporation has actually performed throughout the years.
Once Marina reaches Brazil, she finds herself a stranger in an even stranger land attempting to solve the mystery behind not only her colleague’s death, but also the whereabouts of her mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson.
Within the jungle, “(s)he managed to forget the smells, the traffic, the sticky pools of blood. The doors sealed them in with the music and sealed the world out and suddenly it was clear that building an opera house was a basic act of human survival. It kept them from rotting in the unendurable heat. It saved their souls in ways those murdering Christian missionaries could never have envisioned.”
It is not until much later in Marina’s travels that she eventually finds her mentor, at which point Dr. Swenson is now in her ’70s, having spent what seems to be the entirety of her life in the Amazon.
Throughout her research, Dr. Swenson attempted to understand fertility among the natives in the jungle and all the while, protecting them from Western influences. Through the natives, her research sought to mimic or at least translate their high rates of fertility with the Western world, which has now grown dependent on scientific means of life.
While the two strongest themes throughout the novel are symbolism and ethics, Patchett also employs identity as a way to progress the development of her characters. Specifically, Marina, who is an American Indian, has always been set apart from others around her. Yet, despite her physical differences, Marina is forced to question not only her identity, but also her life choices including the path she chose as a researcher rather than her true calling as an obstetrician. By the end of the novel, Patchett has weaved readers a story about life, and for Marina, a chance for reincarnation.
Rating: W W W W 1/2
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