“I’ll tell you what the locals do have a real genius for, and that’s poison. Is it possible to live amongst indigenous peoples and do no harm?ĭr Swenson lightened for a moment.And what of women in medicine, what is it like for them?.What if women could maintain fertility throughout their lifespan?.It is a book which asks some difficult questions: Patchett tackles the issues of ethics in research, the role of women in medicine, the impact of the western world on the Amazon.

State of Wonder is carefully plotted, the characters are believable, their conflicts understandable and relatable, and it has a satisfying enough resolution. In the Amazon Marina must confront Dr Swenson, the very specialist whose instructions she ignored all those years ago. Mr Fox does provide Marina with anti-malarial drugs and a phone, neither of which prove to be much help to her, but they do assuage his guilt. With the coldness of Minnesota snow he sends her to the Amazon jungle to find out what has happened to her colleague Anders Eckman. Her relationship with her boss, Mr Fox, is going nowhere. When the novel opens she is working as a research scientist for a large pharmacological company and lives alone. This event results in Marina abandoning her medical career and, in many ways, she retreats from the world. Until I came to the scene where Marina Singh makes a critical obstetric error, then it all came flooding back. I’d forgotten most of the details, or so I thought. State of Wonder was my bookclub choice for September and although I’d read it before I was looking forward to rereading it.

State of wonder review