This month's book was selected by Sharon--"The Mapmaker's Wife" by Robert Whitaker. Here's a description from Alibris.com:
In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. This is the story of Isabel Grames, who became stranded in the Amazon--an epic love story that unfolds against the backdrop of the greatest expedition the world has ever known.
In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. This is the story of Isabel Grames, who became stranded in the Amazon--an epic love story that unfolds against the backdrop of the greatest expedition the world has ever known.
5 comments:
I'm not going to be able to finish this by the end of the month--it's not exactly light reading--but I will finish it! I'm fascinated by this book. I've always loved history, though my grasp of time has always been poor (meaning I'm lousy with dates, I never remember what happened in the such-and-such period in Generic Country, even though I've studied it 18 times, and I can't satisfactorily reconcile geography with time--Jane Austen's England existed at the same time as...um, what was going on in America?).
Anyway, reading this--especially the beginning--was wonderful as far as helping me put some old school learning into better context. (Of course, I'll forget everything I've learned by the time I get to the last page.) One thing that struck me was how passionate people were about learning about the world around them, and the things they were willing to do to learn. Like face years of separation from your family, face hardship, disease, all the dangers of the New World, etc. Just to get to know more about your world. I could be wrong, but it seems society nowadays is a lot more complacent about learning--I suppose we take for granted all that we have? How could we not?
Oh, and the concept of "triangulation" is way beyond me. And I had no idea you had to be an artist to be a scientist (see La Comadine's sketches in the book)! It never occured to me.
Okay, I just finished this book five minutes ago. Literally. What a worthwhile read! There are absolutely too many things to discuss about it (Sharon already got a few) I hardly know where to start.
I have a new appreciation for the Amazonian rainforest. Before, while watching shows on the Discovery channel, where they skip all over the world to introduce you to animals--you know, a whole special on ants, or devoted to different species of primates--you don't get a clear idea of what any one place is like. (e.g., just a few months ago I learned that penguins only exist at the South Pole and polar bears at the North--so anytime you see the two of them together--oops.) It was good to nail down a few species in their proper geographical place. But I had no idea that the rain forest was so...cruel. Poisonous plants, nothing to eat if you can't fly into the canopy, chiggers, ants, botflies (ewww...), and the candiru!!!! (see pg 249--too gross to imagine such a creature exists). It seems as though the rain forest is an immense torture chamber...ewwww.
Which just adds strength to Isabel's story of her survival, and poignancy to her belief that it was the "Almighty [who] had preserved her." The bit about prayer being the common thread that helps people in extreme conditions survive--that's somewhere in the pg 270's, I think--was pretty cool, too. I am so glad I read this!
I just wanted to update, that I am almost finished. So far, GREAT book!!
I just finished the book. Wow! What an amazing ride. The book seemed a little disappointing at the beginning, because I was under the assumption the whole book would be about Isabel and Jean. It started off with Isabel leaving, and then it explained where Jean was and why. And then the author went into great detail about the expedition, not touching on the two main characters as much as I had thought he would. But before I was actually annoyed by it, I was sucked into the Amazon, and the silly squabbles between Louis Godin, La Condamine, and Bouguer. Their passion for mapmaking exceeds anything that I have felt passionate about. I don't think I would be willing to crochet blankets while being eaten alive by ants, mosquitos, and botflies. I would not venture into a jungle full of venomous snakes, jaguars and such for a great pair of shoes. But then again, none of my interests are going to better humanity and the world we live in. Isabel's love for her husband is amazing. I wish more people had that zest and passion in their lives. Me included.
He he...I don't flatter myself that anyone will read this comment FOUR MONTHS after we were supposed to be done with this book, but sad little illiterate Marie needs to pat herself on the back for finishing this book (and have something to show for some bigtime library fines). I love this book, despite what my slow reading speed would indicate. (I'm still struggling with my leisure reading guilt issues.) In fact, I enjoyed the tales of obsessive and death-defying scientific endeavor as much or more than Isabel's ordeal and love story, and I'm usually a sucker for the romance. The politics and maneuvering to learn something first when (it seems) the acquisition of pure knowledge was a great prize, whether or not that knowledge helped a given government develop a better, say, navagation system. Pure scholarship was considered one of the great jewels of a strong nation. It's fascinating and exciting to consider a world that was slightly less mercenary about science. (Then again, to digress, I'm not sure I'm behind billions of dollars being spent to find out if there's ice under the surface of the moon -- it's a delicate balance between curiosity and irresponsible use of resources).
As far as the love story, it doesn't get much better than that. I loved the beautiful letter that survived written by Jean about Isabel's ordeals and iron resolve. It was remarkable how much detailed information there was about these characters and incidents and it made for riveting historical fiction. I hope there are many other such true stories out there waiting to be told! Thanks for a great read!
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