The reader first meets producer Michael Burns as he is traveling through the mountains of Belize with his film crew to shoot of documentary on the last living Maya healer. While Burns' crew complains about the weather and their accommodations, Burns is completely in his element. From the very start, the motley team meets some quirky natives who help guide them to the house where two Americans live. Frank and Kelly, are a married couple who moved to Belize years ago for work. Kelly works for a pharmaceutical company, trying to find new herbs that can be used in medicines. While Frank, is caught up in the violent war that is spilling into Belize from Guatemala. When Burns arrives with his cameras and lights, Kelly is more than willing to help while Frank is suspicious of the crew's intentions. Problems arise when the crew arrives at Kelly and Frank's only to find that they lost their film somewhere along the way. One of Burns' crew members breaks off from the group to go find the footage only to discover that the country is riddled with much more violence than anyone thought. It is not long before Burns and his remaining crew members find themselves at odds with the people and the unforgiving jungle. Suddenly, what began as a five day film shoot for a documentary becomes a fit for their lives.
There are several things with which I think Petrick did an excellent job. The first was how at the beginning of each chapter, there was a sketch of an herb, its name, and its healing power. I found this to be fascinating and found myself looking forward to this short passages. Second, I loved Petrick's description of the jungle and overall landscape. I felt as if it was its own character that had a back story, feelings, desires, and complicated relationships. There are few novels that I have read that have made me feel so connected to the jungle. Lastly, I thought that Petrick did a very good job in establishing these characters. I am usually leery of any novel that has more than two main characters, mainly because I can never keep more than five characters straight. However, Petrick has SEVEN main characters all of whom were wonderfully developed and very distinct from each other (even I could keep keep track).
Though I thought that Petrick did a very good job, I did have some concerns about the novel. At times, I felt as if the book was pulling me in too many directions. In one chapter, I would be introduced to a possible love triangle between Burns, Frank, and Kelly only to be thrown into a violent confrontation between a boy soldier and one of Burns' crew members. When I had come to grips with that situation, I would be hurled into the mind of the Maya healer and his loneliness only to be shot into Burns' struggle with commitment to his current girlfriend. Each of these stories were interesting, but at times they distracted me and I completed the book without really knowing what the purpose was. Sometimes it seems like a book about the hardships of producing a film, only to shift and be about the atrocities of war or how a marriage can change over a period of time without anyone noticing. Yet, my major concern was over the ending of the novel and the fact that it didn't have one. All of these great plot points keep barreling at the reader only to have the novel just stop without truly ending. I hope this is because Petrick is writing a sequel, but if not...maybe he should think about it because he has enough good material here for a series!
-DLP
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