After Marina’s colleague dies in the Amazon jungle, her employer sends the research scientist there to complete the mission he could not: to locate and bring back her former mentor, who has gone missing while researching a controversial drug. The novel explores science, responsibility and ethics through richly drawn characters and with vivid storytelling. (It also features a cinematic battle between scientists and anaconda.) LauraADPPL/WeAreSpartacus

Ann Patchett is a gifted writer - when she told about the protagonist's nightmares - I was rivieted. When she described the jungle I was enthralled. HOWEVER, the plot was a mess, she hurried it to a conclusion - no mother would have let a child have those nightmares without doing something, and Patchett's "explanation" was ridiculous - and I finished it still feeling she is a gifted writer - but, really, why all the fuss about her - the book was unsatisfying and clumsy.

Capitalism (in the form of Big Pharmo) meets indigenous rights (in the form of a very isolated Amazonian tribe) in a story that takes its time in developing, but springs at the reader like a submerged anaconda when (well past the halfway point of the novel) we least expect it. Ann Patchett's State of Wonder is as full of pleasant surprises as it is tediously cautious in its journey from Minnesota to the Brazilian interior. When we finally arrive, however, prepare yourself to be impaled on the horns of not one but many piercing ethical dilemmas. I salute it for its bravery and its avoidance of sermons, but in the end I am left unhappy that something less realistic, more hopeful, more earth-shaking wasn't attempted. In so many ways I think this is an important book to read because of the questions it raises. It's edifying. It's entertaining. It's exotic. It is so much more than a whine or a pot-boiler that I wish it was perfect.

This is a wonderful book, I give it 5 stars. The story is engaging and Patchett paints luminous descriptions of the Amazon basin. I thought the endiing was perfect ... just enough information to satisfy; I know all I need to know.

I love the mix of science and lush imagery in this book. I found it to be a great read and would recommend it highly. It's interesting to see comments about the ending, I agree it finished abruptly and you are left wondering what happens afterwards.

This created more of a state of panic in this menopausal reader. Who would ever be interested in perpetual fertility? Many authenticity issues spoiled it a bit including weekend trips to the Amazon, but overall I enjoyed her storytelling.

I would agree with Zzoe - completely engrossing book, abrupt unsatisfying ending. I enjoy Ann Patchett's writing style enormously but was also disappointed in the ending of Bel Canto. It seems she gets great ideas but doesn't know how to wrap them up satisfactorily. Still well worth reading, I would say.

Well recommended in July by Citizen - long list - i'm 558, 30 copies After all that wait, not that exciting. Have others on the go - returned this.

- suspence - very enjoyable, keeps you extremely interested - great senses from Africa - a very good read

I was completely engrossed in this book. Patchett is a masterful storyteller, and educates the readers on many different areas of interest, including the pharmaceutical industry, rainforest life, and the backwaters of Brazil. I could not put the book down. The protagonist is very engaging, and the doctor for whom she is searching is a very interesting and unpredictable character. My only critique concerns the ending - don't worry, no spoilers here - but I found it very sudden and unsatisfying in that it was quite abrupt.