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The Naturalist
1867, Philadelphia. Amateur naturalist Walter Ash is on the brink of setting off to travel up his beloved Amazon when fate intervenes, obliging his only son to take his place. More at ease among his books than in the field, Paul Ash takes a reluctant leave of absence from Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology to accompany his grieving stepmother and her young companion to the fabled River Sea. Paul holds no memory of the place, though he was born there; he was still an infant when his father carried him out of the jungle and away from the mixed-blood family he might have known. As it transpires, however, neither the region nor its people have forgotten Paul. The Amazon lays claim to him in no uncertain terms, but it also works a peculiar magic on both his father's lovely widow and her friend--a quiet little Quaker named Rachel Weaver who proves strangely at home in the wild.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2016
10 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
About the author
Alissa York
14 books71 followersBorn in 1970, Alissa York has lived all over Canada and now makes her home in Toronto with her husband, writer/filmmaker Clive Holden.
York's award-winning short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies, and in the collection, Any Given Power, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing in 1999. Her first novel, Mercy, published by Random House Canada in 2003, was a Canadian bestseller. Dutch, French and US editions have appeared since.
York's novel Effigy was published by Random House Canada in April, 2007, and was short-listed for the Giller Prize. International rights to the book have sold in Holland, Italy, France and the US.
York's award-winning short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies, and in the collection, Any Given Power, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing in 1999. Her first novel, Mercy, published by Random House Canada in 2003, was a Canadian bestseller. Dutch, French and US editions have appeared since.
York's novel Effigy was published by Random House Canada in April, 2007, and was short-listed for the Giller Prize. International rights to the book have sold in Holland, Italy, France and the US.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
January 6, 2018
RATING: 4 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)
This novel had the feeling of W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. I really liked this novel more than I thought I would. I found the characters interesting, though not hugely likeable, but I found I still cared enough to keep reading.
(Review Not on Blog)
This novel had the feeling of W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. I really liked this novel more than I thought I would. I found the characters interesting, though not hugely likeable, but I found I still cared enough to keep reading.
October 22, 2016
I have very much liked a couple of York's earlier books: Effigy and Mercy. If she had actually finished writing this book, I would have given it a 2 or 3. The writing is okay, there isn't much to the plot, there's a lot of descriptions of settings, and Portuguese. When I got to abut 30 pages from the end, I thought how is she going to bring this tale to some sort of conclusion in the remaining pages? She didn't. The story just ended. It's one thing to leave a complicated story with an ambiguous or unresolved ending. But nothing much happens in this story, the plot (such as it is) isn't complex. There potentially is some issue for each of the 3 main characters (Paul, Iris, Rachel) to resolve, but they don't. The story just ends, literally (deep in the Amazon jungle), and figuratively nowhere.
June 26, 2016
Like her last book "Fauna," Alissa York's excellent new novel "The Naturalist" could be read as a beautifully evocative description of the natural world, in this case focused on the Amazon and the rich variety of wildlife found there -- particularly reptiles in this case, ranging from anaconda snakes to giant turtles. For a reader who is moved by nature and its grand variety, like myself, the texture and habitat of the many animals portrayed can almost overwhelm the subtle human relationships that are the real core of this book.
It took reading the novel a second time, as soon as I finished a first read, to appreciate fully the ways in which York ever so quietly and carefully traces the ties amongst Rachel, Paul, Iris, Walter and the family with which he became linked on the Amazon deep within Brazil.
Walter was an American naturalist who worked in the Amazon, met and married a local part-Indian women named Zuleica, committing to stay there with her and her family. Her death in childbirth leaves him a son, Paul, and pushes him to leave, returning to the U.S. where he eventually meets and marries a wealthy widow, Iris, who shares his love of nature and reptiles. Just as they are planning a return to the Amazon, he is killed in a ghastly freak accident. But Paul and Iris resolve to carry on his expedition, accompanied by the young friend/assistant of Iris, Rachel.
The trip then becomes an entry into a wonderfully beautiful but often dangerous Amazon world -- but also a complicated reconnection with the family that Walter had left behind.
York captures the contrasts and social dislocations that such a nineteenth century collision involves between life in a U.S. city and the raw frontier of the Amazon. Iris and Rachel shed their layers of skirts for bloomers and become used to naked villagers as the book proceeds. But even more powerful emotionally, Paul sheds his US upbringing and discovers the strength of the family from which he was taken. These social and cultural adjustments are all handled effectively by York, without defining quite what is happening, yet showing the power of indigenous life reshaping the assumptions and values of the US "explorers" who come instead to explore themselves.
At the same time, barely acknowledged passions and human longings play out with the same force as the drive noted in the book that brings the thousands of sea turtles back to nest on Ilha das Tartarugas. No spoilers here, but the reader will be moved by the way York hints at and develops the emotions involved.
This is a very fine book. There is no grand and obvious plot, no declarative lessons being preached. But the power of nature and the strength of human ties flow beautifully together to capture the reader.
It took reading the novel a second time, as soon as I finished a first read, to appreciate fully the ways in which York ever so quietly and carefully traces the ties amongst Rachel, Paul, Iris, Walter and the family with which he became linked on the Amazon deep within Brazil.
Walter was an American naturalist who worked in the Amazon, met and married a local part-Indian women named Zuleica, committing to stay there with her and her family. Her death in childbirth leaves him a son, Paul, and pushes him to leave, returning to the U.S. where he eventually meets and marries a wealthy widow, Iris, who shares his love of nature and reptiles. Just as they are planning a return to the Amazon, he is killed in a ghastly freak accident. But Paul and Iris resolve to carry on his expedition, accompanied by the young friend/assistant of Iris, Rachel.
The trip then becomes an entry into a wonderfully beautiful but often dangerous Amazon world -- but also a complicated reconnection with the family that Walter had left behind.
York captures the contrasts and social dislocations that such a nineteenth century collision involves between life in a U.S. city and the raw frontier of the Amazon. Iris and Rachel shed their layers of skirts for bloomers and become used to naked villagers as the book proceeds. But even more powerful emotionally, Paul sheds his US upbringing and discovers the strength of the family from which he was taken. These social and cultural adjustments are all handled effectively by York, without defining quite what is happening, yet showing the power of indigenous life reshaping the assumptions and values of the US "explorers" who come instead to explore themselves.
At the same time, barely acknowledged passions and human longings play out with the same force as the drive noted in the book that brings the thousands of sea turtles back to nest on Ilha das Tartarugas. No spoilers here, but the reader will be moved by the way York hints at and develops the emotions involved.
This is a very fine book. There is no grand and obvious plot, no declarative lessons being preached. But the power of nature and the strength of human ties flow beautifully together to capture the reader.
August 13, 2017
There are many excellent reviews of this book which list the same major reasons as I have for giving this book a low review:
1) too too much Portugese (a more skilled author could have conveyed the communication problems with much less Portugese),
2) much too much detail about the species in the Amazon, many of whom are creatures with whom the average reader would have little experience (fascinating if you are a naturalist and especially love reptiles, otherwise, not...), and
3) very little and very inconsistent character development with a "make-up-your-own-ending" finish to the story, which ends abruptly...
My review would be redundant. Read the other reviews. I tried to be fair. I endured this book to the end although other reviewers posted reviews saying that they had put down the book before completing reading it. I didn't believe the book could be as bad as the reviewers said.
I was wrong. It was worse. Much worse.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be BORING.
However, if you have a fascination with the Amazon environment and an historical glimpse of it in the 19th century, you might love this book because there are probably few other books around written like this.
If you like travelogues, you might like this book.
If you like flowery description, you might like this book.
Just because I don't like it does not mean that you wouldn't enjoy it...
But I will probably never pick up another book by this author.
1) too too much Portugese (a more skilled author could have conveyed the communication problems with much less Portugese),
2) much too much detail about the species in the Amazon, many of whom are creatures with whom the average reader would have little experience (fascinating if you are a naturalist and especially love reptiles, otherwise, not...), and
3) very little and very inconsistent character development with a "make-up-your-own-ending" finish to the story, which ends abruptly...
My review would be redundant. Read the other reviews. I tried to be fair. I endured this book to the end although other reviewers posted reviews saying that they had put down the book before completing reading it. I didn't believe the book could be as bad as the reviewers said.
I was wrong. It was worse. Much worse.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be BORING.
However, if you have a fascination with the Amazon environment and an historical glimpse of it in the 19th century, you might love this book because there are probably few other books around written like this.
If you like travelogues, you might like this book.
If you like flowery description, you might like this book.
Just because I don't like it does not mean that you wouldn't enjoy it...
But I will probably never pick up another book by this author.
June 2, 2016
I would love to see more community comments on this book, but maybe it's too recently published to expect that. I really liked York's books, 'Effigy' and 'Fauna', but I had a less than stellar time with this one. The subject matter is of interest to me -- the natural world, the exploration of the Amazon and Rio Negro, the extremely interesting animals found there, the attitude of many explorers and scientists towards the sanctity of animal life in those days (compared to most these days), and the charming and highly intelligent, sensitive, Quaker girl who boldly abandoned her conservative environment to join her mistress and mistress's family in their exploration.
Unfortunately, the writing annoyed and distracted me. I felt the nature parts were not smoothly integrated with the story, putting too much emphasis on facts. York attempted (and perhaps for many, succeeded) a smooth flow, it just didn't work for me. Her references were often obscure, requiring pauses on my part to 'get them', so that I often found myself going back to reread descriptions that interested me, such as the movement of the anaconda under the boat, or the waviness of the beach caused by the movement of river turtles coming to shore. These images were descriptive and beautiful, but not always readily apparent. Perhaps I was not fully engaged, but it was the writing that caused it. Another distraction was all the Portuguese used. I understand this was needed to give the book an authentic setting, and I honestly don't know how York could have changed it, but it was a major distraction.
The characters were interesting on a intellectual level but not compelling as they have been in York's other books, so I didn't much care about them and the story. My feeling is that the author focussed too much on scientific and environmental detail to the detriment of the story. 'Effigy' was a difficult book but, for me, fully engaging. 'Fauna' was far easier but also engaging, so I hope this is just a blip in my interest in York's books.
Unfortunately, the writing annoyed and distracted me. I felt the nature parts were not smoothly integrated with the story, putting too much emphasis on facts. York attempted (and perhaps for many, succeeded) a smooth flow, it just didn't work for me. Her references were often obscure, requiring pauses on my part to 'get them', so that I often found myself going back to reread descriptions that interested me, such as the movement of the anaconda under the boat, or the waviness of the beach caused by the movement of river turtles coming to shore. These images were descriptive and beautiful, but not always readily apparent. Perhaps I was not fully engaged, but it was the writing that caused it. Another distraction was all the Portuguese used. I understand this was needed to give the book an authentic setting, and I honestly don't know how York could have changed it, but it was a major distraction.
The characters were interesting on a intellectual level but not compelling as they have been in York's other books, so I didn't much care about them and the story. My feeling is that the author focussed too much on scientific and environmental detail to the detriment of the story. 'Effigy' was a difficult book but, for me, fully engaging. 'Fauna' was far easier but also engaging, so I hope this is just a blip in my interest in York's books.
October 6, 2016
Some beautiful imagery, exotic setting, intriguing characters. However, I found there was a bit too much untranslated Portuguese. Frustrating not to know if I had the gist of it, or if I needed more precision.
December 26, 2016
Really lovely descriptions of the fauna and flora of South America.
August 17, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I love the wonderful descriptions of the natural world, and the creatures they encounter. It's an escape to somewhere exotic, and thrilling.
January 30, 2024
This book was a lush, evocative portrait of the flora and fauna of the Amazon. When I was little, I used to pretend I was on a boat floating this great river, and this story takes me there. While not heavy on plot, (I keot waiting for something big to happen), it raises many interesting thoughts regarding family, nature, belonging, legacy and more. A good read!
September 14, 2018
Well, this checks all the boxes for literary fiction. 1. Not propelled by plot. 2. No surprising twists. 3. Lack of conclusive ending. As a bonus, you get to wade through a lot of untranslated Portuguese.
May 31, 2016
The story is mainly set on the Amazon reflecting on Walter's love of 'nature' and of his wife's exploration of her husband Walter's past. Walter has died and his wife sets out to finish the journey that her husband had planned to take. Walter was said to love nature yet in actuality he pillaged it, killing snakes, tortoises and birds left and right in order to display the skins, shells and feathers. His wife was no different although her pillaging was also to draw the carcasses. I find this repulsive much like those who call imprisoning/torturing animals in zoos 'conservation'.
I like to think the author York was weaving this subtle message throughout as the redeeming character was Rachel. Rachel was the companion/servant of Walter and his wife. Rachel wishes that they could stay and observe the animals, at one point she also silently urges a tortoise to escape as it is about to be bludgeoned for the showcase.
I do hope Rachel has a brighter future.
I like to think the author York was weaving this subtle message throughout as the redeeming character was Rachel. Rachel was the companion/servant of Walter and his wife. Rachel wishes that they could stay and observe the animals, at one point she also silently urges a tortoise to escape as it is about to be bludgeoned for the showcase.
I do hope Rachel has a brighter future.
June 13, 2016
A brilliant adventure that transported me to another time and place. It felt like non-fiction except for its huge heart.
1867 -- Amateur naturalist Walter Ash's death shatters plans for an Amazon expedition. Stunned by grief his lovely lovely widow Iris, his fearful son Paul and Rachel, a young Quaker woman who acts as Iris's companion are determined to go ahead with the collecting mission to honour Walter. Their goal is to collect snakes and lizards. The jungle transforms them all.
Alissa York writes like a dream. Profoundly moving on many many levels, this tale mesmerized me.
1867 -- Amateur naturalist Walter Ash's death shatters plans for an Amazon expedition. Stunned by grief his lovely lovely widow Iris, his fearful son Paul and Rachel, a young Quaker woman who acts as Iris's companion are determined to go ahead with the collecting mission to honour Walter. Their goal is to collect snakes and lizards. The jungle transforms them all.
Alissa York writes like a dream. Profoundly moving on many many levels, this tale mesmerized me.
February 8, 2017
On the plus side, this book is one of the most beautifully descriptive books I have ever read - the author's descriptions are incredibly evocative, allowing the reader to picture the every scene. On the minus side, the story isn't much. So, a two and a half star book - the half star gained because of the beautiful descriptions
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December 28, 2016Very well written, although the collection of live creatures is hard to handle....it was the practice of the times, though.
February 12, 2017
After the death of the titular naturalist, his wife, her companion, and his half-Brazilian son from a previous marriage decide to complete the planned expedition to Brazil. As they travel, all three must work through their grief - their grief at the naturalist's death, as well as the long ignored griefs of their past.
Reading the set up, it's hard to imagine a book more perfectly tailored to me. We have a Canadian author writing about a 19th century Quaker exploring the Amazon. It's like York specifically set out to write a novel just for me!
And, for the most part, it delivers. I loved the sprinkling of Portuguese dialogue (and was surprised by just how much I could understand, thanks to my background of French and two years of Spanish classes in high school!), and the descriptions of the jungle were really interesting.
Where it fell a little short was in the characters themselves. Rachel is set up to be torn between her very conservative religious background and the freedom offered her by her bold mistress, but the conflict seems largely resolved by the time the story starts. We get a bit of it in flash backs, but that's about it.
Paul should be a very interesting character. He is mixed-race, and severed from his mother's culture through her death in childbirth. In addition to this, he is the son of a passionate naturalist but not being particularly into biology himself (a conflict that becomes even more interesting when we discover that his father's passions had put him in opposition to his own parents as well). It all should be very compelling. And there are glimpses, but he ends up spending so much of his time passively reading his father's journal while we get too little of how he is processing what he learns.
Iris is mostly kept at arm's length, but I'm okay with this. It would have been nice to see her journey more intimately, but we only ever see her through the eyes of others. Still, given her importance to Rachel's character arc, this does somewhat work - especially since evidences of Iris's own arc are present in how she is described. She's left up to the reader to translate, just as she is translated by Paul and Rachel. She could easily have been the main character of this book, but I'm okay with the way she is distanced and, to an extent, objectified by the others. It works.
This isn't a book with a big climax or epiphany. It's a journey, characters grow in the course of it, and then it ends. My only complaint is that, while the journey part was interesting, it overwhelmed the character parts. We saw too little of our main characters, too little of how they react to experiences and discoveries, and we don't get to see much of their growth. While some of that is because York chooses to imply their feelings through descriptions of their physical actions, a lot of it is because it just doesn't happen. Too much of their development happened off-screen, before the plot began, and we only learn about it after the fact. That, combined with an over-reliance on flashbacks near the beginning of the book, holds it back from shining.
Reading the set up, it's hard to imagine a book more perfectly tailored to me. We have a Canadian author writing about a 19th century Quaker exploring the Amazon. It's like York specifically set out to write a novel just for me!
And, for the most part, it delivers. I loved the sprinkling of Portuguese dialogue (and was surprised by just how much I could understand, thanks to my background of French and two years of Spanish classes in high school!), and the descriptions of the jungle were really interesting.
Where it fell a little short was in the characters themselves. Rachel is set up to be torn between her very conservative religious background and the freedom offered her by her bold mistress, but the conflict seems largely resolved by the time the story starts. We get a bit of it in flash backs, but that's about it.
Paul should be a very interesting character. He is mixed-race, and severed from his mother's culture through her death in childbirth. In addition to this, he is the son of a passionate naturalist but not being particularly into biology himself (a conflict that becomes even more interesting when we discover that his father's passions had put him in opposition to his own parents as well). It all should be very compelling. And there are glimpses, but he ends up spending so much of his time passively reading his father's journal while we get too little of how he is processing what he learns.
Iris is mostly kept at arm's length, but I'm okay with this. It would have been nice to see her journey more intimately, but we only ever see her through the eyes of others. Still, given her importance to Rachel's character arc, this does somewhat work - especially since evidences of Iris's own arc are present in how she is described. She's left up to the reader to translate, just as she is translated by Paul and Rachel. She could easily have been the main character of this book, but I'm okay with the way she is distanced and, to an extent, objectified by the others. It works.
This isn't a book with a big climax or epiphany. It's a journey, characters grow in the course of it, and then it ends. My only complaint is that, while the journey part was interesting, it overwhelmed the character parts. We saw too little of our main characters, too little of how they react to experiences and discoveries, and we don't get to see much of their growth. While some of that is because York chooses to imply their feelings through descriptions of their physical actions, a lot of it is because it just doesn't happen. Too much of their development happened off-screen, before the plot began, and we only learn about it after the fact. That, combined with an over-reliance on flashbacks near the beginning of the book, holds it back from shining.
November 9, 2019
I had just finished a second reading of Alissa York’s Effigy when I dug into her latest novel The Naturalist. In retrospect, it was not the best timing. Effigy is an intense novel with raw emotions. The Naturalist is an entirely different kind of novel – more understated and somewhat ponderous in the story it tells.
I was impatient with The Naturalist until I adjusted my expectations and settled into its more measured pace. The premise is intriguing. Amateur naturalist and specimen collector Walter Ash is about to set out on his second expedition up the Amazon when he dies in a freak accident. His grieving wife, her young servant and Ash’s son decide to go ahead with the journey in his memory. The journey transforms each of them in ways they could never have imagined.
In The Naturalist, York captures and vividly portrays the abundant life and grandeur of the Amazon. She pairs this with layered characters molded by their past and the relationships in them. The result is an engaging and thought-provoking novel that I will mark for a second reading somewhere down the line.
I was impatient with The Naturalist until I adjusted my expectations and settled into its more measured pace. The premise is intriguing. Amateur naturalist and specimen collector Walter Ash is about to set out on his second expedition up the Amazon when he dies in a freak accident. His grieving wife, her young servant and Ash’s son decide to go ahead with the journey in his memory. The journey transforms each of them in ways they could never have imagined.
In The Naturalist, York captures and vividly portrays the abundant life and grandeur of the Amazon. She pairs this with layered characters molded by their past and the relationships in them. The result is an engaging and thought-provoking novel that I will mark for a second reading somewhere down the line.
August 2, 2017
Sit back and be prepared to take a languid journey up the Amazon river; a place where time stands still, where nature retains the upper hand, quick to reclaim what man tries to tame. Journey along with Iris, Rachel and Paul as they penetrate this alien landscape in an attempt to acquire a collection of reptiles, only to find themselves unnerved by troops of screeching monkeys, marveling at pink dolphins and trying to avoid being eaten alive by swarms of insects. Light on plot, The Naturalist is more of a travelogue into the Amazon, a beautifully written exploration of the flora and fauna of the mighty river and its banks, including the Europeans who tried to bend the jungle to their will, the native people who lived in harmony with their surroundings and the crossbreeds who had the difficult job of trying to steer a course between two worlds.
October 31, 2020
I don't understand all the comments that fault this book for having so much Portuguese in the dialogue. I thought it was the best use of a foreign language I have ever read. If you pay attention to the context and the surrounding text, you understand everything you are supposed to. But most of all, it really puts you in the mind of the main characters who are learning the basics of the language. I found it quite brilliant!
This book is really for people who enjoy character-driven stories and literary fiction. There is very little plot and the emotional life of the characters is explored only in very subtle ways. But I really enjoyed watching Paul connect with his origins in the world where he should have grown up, and Rachel embracing her own nature and potential in a space where she is allowed to.
This book is really for people who enjoy character-driven stories and literary fiction. There is very little plot and the emotional life of the characters is explored only in very subtle ways. But I really enjoyed watching Paul connect with his origins in the world where he should have grown up, and Rachel embracing her own nature and potential in a space where she is allowed to.
April 13, 2021
I loved Fauna, Alissa York’s previous novel which found wilderness in Toronto.
This one, though, takes us truly into the wild-ness of nature at a time when places were still unexplored, and when very few women in particular had the opportunity to go there. Reading along had me with a wistful smile on my face, wishing I could explore the Amazon like the character Rebecca. Her delight and wonder easily found their way into my heart. The lush descriptions of the river and jungle made me feel like I was there... and made me hanker to travel more (you know, once we can travel again).
On a personal note, the multilingualism- English, Portuguese, and the native languages had my brain working to find the corresponding French or Spanish phrasing in a way that also brought a smile knowing it’s still in there somewhere.
Loved it. It’s a book that was made for me.
This one, though, takes us truly into the wild-ness of nature at a time when places were still unexplored, and when very few women in particular had the opportunity to go there. Reading along had me with a wistful smile on my face, wishing I could explore the Amazon like the character Rebecca. Her delight and wonder easily found their way into my heart. The lush descriptions of the river and jungle made me feel like I was there... and made me hanker to travel more (you know, once we can travel again).
On a personal note, the multilingualism- English, Portuguese, and the native languages had my brain working to find the corresponding French or Spanish phrasing in a way that also brought a smile knowing it’s still in there somewhere.
Loved it. It’s a book that was made for me.
February 24, 2017
I read this 3/4 through at one sitting, then it was 2 am. So I finished it the next morning.
A fascinating story, set in the jungles of the Amazon. Very detailed in its description of the flora and fauna, and I assume accurate, from the long list of reference books in the back.
Not a lot of plot, just a subtle yet well crafted story of several people's search for their identity, their roots, their future.
My only quibble would be the frequent Portuguese (?) phrases, but they were usually shown in context.
A fascinating story, set in the jungles of the Amazon. Very detailed in its description of the flora and fauna, and I assume accurate, from the long list of reference books in the back.
Not a lot of plot, just a subtle yet well crafted story of several people's search for their identity, their roots, their future.
My only quibble would be the frequent Portuguese (?) phrases, but they were usually shown in context.
May 8, 2017
Such a strong start to this story, and a narrative that was so full of promise. But there are loose ends that are never tied up, secondary characters whose stories are never quite told, and the primary characters feel far from finished and far far far from fleshed out. The ending, also, is disappointing, one of those choose-your-own-idea jobs, and after a book that seemingly builds slowly to what should be a form of a crescendo, this feels like a cop-out. This story was a good idea, in theory, but poorly executed.
August 28, 2020
There is no question that Alissa York can write, and write well. That alone carried me through the 300 or so pages. Atmospheric settings, lyrical descriptions, characters that start out engaging enough, all check the boxes. Unlike other reviewers I had no problem with the Portugese, though I had no prior knowledge of the language, I learned as I read. But... there is no story- no woven threads, no layers of meaning, no character development, and that makes it a poor novel indeed. Even as a herpetological memoir or a borderline travelogue, i believe it would leave readers unsatisfied.
December 31, 2017
I started out not being too sure what I thought about the characters and their life. The story drew me in however and I loved the descriptions of jungle and wildlife and how each character viewed them through both through their own eyes and those of Walter, the naturalist. The ending might not be tidy enough for some but I felt it was satisfying and I could imagine where each character's life would take them at the end of their journey.
November 1, 2021
The premise is tantalizing - a naturalist in the late 1800's dies in an accident, and his widow decides to tale the trip they were planning to the Amazon to gather new live specimens. A modern day naturalist might love this story filled with dangerous waters, huge snakes, and every kind of reptile imaginable. But for me the story never really dug deeply enough into the lives of the characters. Too much of their stories were left unfinished, and in the end it was strangely unsatisfying.
July 26, 2017
I throughly enjoyed this book, especially the descriptions of the flora and fauna that the 3 travellers experience in their journey up the Amazon. Readers who have little interest in biology, taxonomy, adaptations or evolutionary processes may find the setting detracts from the characters' stories. Yorks' descriptions of the natural world are both accurate and lovely.
May 2, 2018
I agree with Publishers Weekly's review. In addition to that, it just didn't really seem to progress with the character points . There really wasn't much of an ending, either.
March 7, 2021
This book ebbed and flowed gracefully, I enjoyed the pace and especially enjoyed the history and vast amount of species they encounter. I wish it didn't end the way that it did, but what a wonderful experience to read something so real. Plus, I love reading books written by Canadians.
June 25, 2023
Snakes! And other interesting Amazonia flora and fauna. I rather enjoyed the Indigenous and Portuguese words woven throughout. The colonial attitude towards animal collection is distasteful. A solid 3.
November 13, 2025
Slow paced. I was convalescing in bed and never once felt compelled to pick up this book. It was an ordeal to get through it. The characters are undeveloped. This book is lacking in so many ways. Do yourself a favour and don’t waste your time on it
March 22, 2018
I loved this quiet book and it’s description on the Amazon jungle. Character development was well handled. It was an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews