Maybe the fact that I read State of Wonder right after Deja Dead colored my opinion on this book’s main character or maybe she really is just another one-dimensional weak woman? Sorry folks I think it’s the latter.
I’m really tired of these weak woman protagonists who have no common sense, do stupid things and bend to the will of the men in their lives. Sorry. And because Marina, our main character, fell into that group until the last pages of the story, I could never really relate. I also found her antagonist, Dr. Swenson to be one dimensional (until near the very end) in her strong-feminist way. Can we all be pigeon-holed so easily? I will tell you, the one character I would have liked to spend more time with was Karen, I bet she could have kicked both Marina and Dr. Swenson’s butts! But we get so little time with her, who knows…
That said, I didn’t hate the book. The first 50% (yes, I’m a Kindle reader so no page numbers) moved very quickly. Patchet definitely has an ability to create scenery. Whether the scenery, insects, heat, rain, snow, etc., was accurate for the environments she described, I do not know. I do know, I now have no desire to be anywhere near the Amazon – that’s for sure.
I think the the next 30-40% bogged down a bit and became somewhat muddled – maybe because I couldn’t relate to Marina, through her time in the jungle, I never got a good feel for where her head was at.
**** SPOILER ALERT *****
The ending, once there was the great “reveal” zipped along of course.
I won’t go around recommending this book but I won’t tell you not to read it either. I think (hope) next month it will make for some interesting book club discussion.