state of wonder book reviews

state of wonder book reviews

Analyzing the Critical Reception of ‘State of Wonder’ by Ann Patchett

1. Introduction to ‘State of Wonder’

Novels, much like the humans who write and read them, thrive on connections and the experiences of the relationships between them. By analyzing the connections critical arguments make between State of Wonder and other familiar novels, we can see how all the novels involved in the conversation benefit from these connections. Furthermore, questions of female authorship, female readership, and the pursuit of common human themes in literature are important both for the respect of critical analysis and to the analysis of the qualities of texts themselves. State of Wonder asks readers to make a leap of faith on a number of levels. Marina Singh, the protagonist, must leap from her comfortable but small life to the unknown of the Amazon rainforest in order to find out what happened to her friend and coworker. The novel asks the readers to move away from the familiar but well-charted shores of the world that is Ann Patchett as an author to the unknown of State of Wonder and to experience a novel that is at once fresh and surprising but also as solidly built as the author’s reputation promises.

2. Literary Themes and Symbolism

2. Literary Themes and Symbolism The State of Wonder makes many references to Joseph already (Marina says, “The timing is off. Joseph is my ovulation,” and mRNA is said to “choose ribosome, over aristotle-tryptophan”). I mentioned these specifics only to note that they set us up to think about Joseph, and then to underscore how significant the unexplained, abandoned reference to Joseph is. Later, Easter stands. Easter believes in righteousness alone and seeks to propagate the human species, broadly, by doing away with any individuals incapable of contributing creatively to the species’ progress (and requiring a few in particular to contribute via contribution to the infertile geniuses). Marina seems pretty on board with both of these ideas, to some degree, in her reflections on the betrayal of innocence.

Unlike the literary setting, the real backdrop of the novel is the rainforest of the Amazon, and the novel offers an intricate relation with the Virgin Mother of the 1950s. It aims to establish the feminist connection between her work and her own experience of giving birth to a daughter. The scenario and the use of a female scientist as the protagonist raise important ethical questions. The novel has been into the deeper mysteries of creation and seemed to the idea that the birthing women might be calling upon in a study of a “baby-murder” of a civilization in which women are used to serve men, and babies are riots of flowers wait to be born. The Wonder is a novel that explores the themes of mothering, creative work, and nurturance. The novel leaves us praising and resounding in our inner hearts, hums and clicks in wave that envelop everything in sight. The novel incites us to let it be as it will.

3. Character Analysis and Development

Dr. Annick Swenson is a brilliant research doctor investigating fertility in the Amazon and is the character that the protagonist, Marina Singh, is sent to find by her company, Vogel. Patchett characterizes her as a strong woman who will give her life’s work her absolute best. Swenson is so devoted to her work that when her research partner and the man she was sleeping with, Dr. Fox, dies in Brazil, she is so committed to her research that she cremates him illegally and continues her work. The ruthless Dr. Swenson will always choose science and research over men, family, grief, and relationships. However, Dr. Swenson seems to value herself over others just as much as she values her work. This is best symbolized by Dr. Swenson being more concerned with the leech dying at her feet than the patient at her hospital being in need of her help. When Marina confronts her, Dr. Swenson defends herself by explaining that it is “No problem. There’s a spare. She didn’t need me all that much in the first place. You’ll see.”

4. Critics’ Perspectives and Reviews

Characters in State of Wonder continue to draw such attention, a circumstance that may account for the muted attention to the novel’s plot and structure. With the exception of Janet Maslin, critics seem to be less gripped by this narrative than by the characters. Sharon Dilworth, in her Tint Journal review, observed that “a compendium of ethnographer and plant biologist…would usually reveal more detailed characters; Patchett has developed her characters without overwhelming the narrative.” Similarly, Laura Miller’s Science Magazine complained that “The story saps along at an uneven pace, meeting a number of abrupt shifts…. But the strengths of this mesmerizing novel are primarily its richly detailed characters.”

In State of Wonder, as befitting Patchett’s work, critics found much to admire. They especially appreciated the novel’s rich ecosystem of ethnographically diverse characters and compared it favorably with novels by both Henry James and John le Carre. On the latter point, Jon Michaud of The New Yorker observed that “Patchett’s narrative puts me in mind of nothing so much as one of John le Carre’s paranoid cold-war thrillers.” Choire Sicha of The New York Times noted that State of Wonder was a very impressive novel, with detailed and substantive character interests. The novel featured deep and carefully drawn characters and marked the author’s fourth very good, long full-length novel of art.

5. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

I do not claim that this analysis alone can answer the reviewer’s call for specific nuanced examinations of social or economic issues within a novel like State of Wonder. Creating a new and important dialogue through literature and narrative can reflect many different things, with different levels of interaction and depth, and these interactions are deeply shaped by the audience and cultural environment. However, to generate a more informed conversation, it is useful to look more closely at what exactly is being critiqued and collectively desired. As Pinka Mazumdar writes, “as with any cultural pursuit, the impact of literature is embedded within the dynamic interplay of social, cultural, and power relations. Such relations, in turn, are highly contingent upon the specific context in which they occur, and hence my understanding of it will also be trimmed by the same frame.” Understanding context can help us see what is being called for in an analysis like this, and whether it is truly necessary.

In conclusion, reviews of State of Wonder are generally quite positive and reflect a work that is well crafted but that falls short of creating a truly meaningful dialogue. In this text, I’ve had an opportunity to present an analysis that I hope critically looks at the demands of some of the key reviewers. Individually, many of the demands for deeper social engagement have merit, but it is as though the reviewers want every novel set in a “real” place to be an Inner Hunger novel. Here I have listed a few key texts that might be drawn upon for understanding some of the political and social concerns which are foremost in these reviewers’ minds. These works represent just the tip of the iceberg, and further work is needed to fully understand what reviewers collectively are seeking when defining a work as “relevant” to the present cultural conversation.