I just love it when you come across a writer whose books you just can’t put down, books that have a great story and memorable characters.
Ann Patchett, an award-winning American author, is one such writer. She is able to create a group of interesting characters, puts them into difficult circumstances and then takes them to places they — or the reader — would not have imagined.
I first read and reviewed Bel Canto years ago — it’s just brilliant and won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize. It will be in a theatre soon, starring Julianne Moore and Sebastian Koch. Nothing else needs saying except read the book first.
State of Wonder is the story of scientist Marina Singh, who goes to the Amazon to discover what has happened to a colleague but, in doing so, comes across a new miraculous medical discovery. She is put into an environment (by her lover and boss) that is completely foreign — a kind of Heart of Darkness meets the Amazon. She must make decisions that involve medical research and its consequences for indigenous populations. Patchett describes the Amazon so vividly, you almost have to swat the bugs away. And the discovery… well, you need to read it to even imagine it.
What would you do if your recently deceased gay magician husband left part of his estate to family members whom he told you had all died in an accident? This is what Sabine faces in The Magician’s Assistant. Her marriage is unconventional and she comes to terms with her lot and his death, but how do you contend with the seemingly endless grieving and this huge lie? Well, after his mother and sister come to L.A. to meet her, she goes to small-town Nebraska and visits them. This is when Sabine learns what really happened and it changes her life. It’s what Patchett does so well: She gets into a character’s head and makes them see what lies underneath what has been their reality.
The last Patchett book I consumed was Run and it, too, is a satisfying read. It starts out in Ireland, with a statue of the Virgin Mary. We make our way to Boston, where the statue now resides, in the home of Bernard Doyle. He’s a widower who raises three boys: his biological son, Sullivan, and two African American children he and his wife adopted, Tip and Teddy. Sullivan is messed up and the other two are brilliant. And what happens on one snowy evening puts in motion a set of events based on a mystery from the past. The family must make decisions that will affect all their lives. ”
Patchett has been nominated and won various literary prizes, and she deserves them all. Her books are fascinating, well-researched and beautifully written. You can’t ask for much more between two covers.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Silvana Harwood works at Coquitlam Public Library.
