State of Wonder
Marina Singh works at a pharmaceutical company in Minnesota when she is sent to the Amazon to investigate the death of a colleague and to track down Dr. Annick Swenson, a former mentor who has gone quiet while running a drug development project in the rainforest. Ann Patchett gives Marina a slow, disorienting journey into a world where jungle time and jungle logic replace corporate ones. Swenson is one of Patchett's most memorable characters, a formidable woman whose obsession with a native tribe's fertility patterns has left the ethics of her work unclear. State of Wonder is at once a literary novel about mentorship, motherhood, and betrayal and a taut adventure with echoes of Heart of Darkness. Elizabeth Gilbert has repeatedly recommended it as one of her favorite contemporary novels and one of Patchett's finest.
Also by Ann Patchett
What you might want to know about State of Wonder
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A pharmaceutical researcher travels deep into the Amazon to find her missing former mentor and confront what the mentor's secretive work has become.
Gilbert and Patchett are close friends, and Gilbert has repeatedly cited State of Wonder as one of her favorite contemporary novels. She points to Dr. Swenson as one of the most memorable characters in recent fiction and often recommends the book as a starting point for readers new to Patchett.
No. State of Wonder stands entirely on its own, though readers who loved Bel Canto's mix of moral tension and lush setting often find this book equally rewarding.
State of Wonder was written by Ann Patchett, published in 2011 by Harper Perennial.
State of Wonder is 368 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, State of Wonder takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
State of Wonder is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
