State of Wonder tells the story of Miranda, a scientist who works for a big pharmaceutical company. After her colleague Anders has died in the Amazonian rain forest, the company sends her to find out what has happened to Anders and how advanced the research of Dr. Swenson, the former mentor of Miranda and employee of the same pharmaceutical company, is.
It´s been a week since I finished this book and I feel the same amount of bewilderment and annoyance that I felt immediately upon finishing the novel. Ann Patchett sure can write a compelling story, but there are so many factual errors in this book, especially when it comes to the medicinal facts, I had a hard time enjoying this book and at some point I couldn´t read these passages from a humoristic point of view anymore. And the notion that Miranda is supposed to have been a medical doctor at some point in her life is utterly laughable, because she is incredibly stupid throughout the whole book.
In the beginning of the book Ann Patchett manages to write Dr. Swenson as that incredibly mysterious and enigmatic character and the oppressive atmosphere of the rain forest is excellent. This is were the book shines. But other than that I haven´t been impressed by this novel.
State of Wonder has been publisched in 2011 and fits the square Carsland 18
Page count: 384 pages
Money earned: $3.00
8
4
