STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett

I just finished another great book by Ann Patchett.  This time she returned to South America where BEL CANTO was set, but we were taken to the Amazonian jungle, down sinuous rivers choked with trees on both sides and filled with terrifying predators, insects and cannibals.

The main character was Dr. Marina Singh, a pharmacologist who came to that field after leaving a promising surgical obstetrics residency after a tragic accident in which she blinded a newborn during a C-section.  She worked for a large pharmaceuticals company, Vogel, in her home state of Minnesota.
Marina seemed apart from everything from the beginning.  She is a the daughter of a blond Minnesota mother and a professor from Calcutta, India.  She works with Dr. Anders Eckman in statins and is having a secret affair with the CEO of Vogel, Mr. Fox, who never shows her any affection, or even recognition in public.  Marina is coerced into a trip to the Brazillian laboratory after word comes that Anders has died of a fever on a trip to Brazil to judge the work of Dr. Swenson, brilliant but elusive head of the drug development lab in the jungle.  That Dr. Swenson was once Marina's teacher and mentor during her disgrace in surgery adds an element of suspense and tension to Marina's life.
This novel is Marina's journey from the comfortable, mundane life in Minnesota to the steamy, unknown life in the jungle.  The nearer she gets to the answers that she seeks, the more she is stripped bare of her former life.  And, as her former self falls away, her true character shines forth with her innate humanity and courage.

Meeting her nemesis and former mentor changes how Marina thinks about herself and her abilities to be a doctor.  She begins a journey of discovery about her priorities and her loves, and in the process, she finds a vein of iron in her personality that allows her to save one friend while sacrificing another.

The end of the book leaves the reader with a lot of questions.  I want to know where Marina goes from here, having been altered beyond imagination by her experiences in the jungle with the Lakashi tribe and their miraculous trees, moths and mushrooms that can both extend a hand to fertility and condemn a woman to a lifetime of childbearing.  Dr. Swenson was the tragic result of wanting too much and having too little to give.

I would recommend this book overwhelmingly to anyone who loves a good story and a puzzle to consider long after the last page has been turned.