05 June 2011

State Of Wonder ~ Ann Patchett

** OK **

Tournament of Books : 2012

Weak characters, weak ending let down the narrative.
Lack of believability in behaviours let down the narrative.

Have had her previous bestseller, “Bel Canto”, sitting on the shelf unread so downloaded her latest release “State of Wonder” onto the Kindle.
Good read? .... Well, yes with reservations. I will certainly read “Bel Canto” when we get home as I like her writing style.

Her writing is very descriptive so she established a good sense of place (the dense jungle of the Amazon) with the heat, humidity and bugs. There was an interesting array of characters thought sometimes I found them a little underwritten and their actions lacking believability.

I suppose my main reservation was the lack of believability in the ending. Don’t mind a book ending with questions still unanswered for your to ponder on but “State of Wonder” seemed to leave the story incomplete. (Can’t say more without spoilers).