Received from the Early Readers Program of LibraryThing.

In an earlier phase of life, I was involved enough in cultural anthropology to earn a bachelors degree in it from a very prestigious university. The intricacies of various societies and cultures still hold great fascination. And, as I have loved several books by Robert Hellenga, there was great anticipation in reading this novel. After all, it involved and anthropologist and references to not one, but two cultures (Mbuti and snake-handlers), a young woman recently released from prison after shooting her husband, biology research in Herpetology, culture and ideology, all at the turn of the millennium (or the year before, depending on who you believe.)

While the novel was interesting, it didn't grab in in quite the same way other novels of Hellenga's have (The Sixteen Pleasures being one of my all-time favorites.) I found myself a bit distracted, piecing together relationships and references to previous novels (remember Norma Jean, the elephant, in Philosophy Made Simple?), and not becoming fully immersed in Sunny and Jackson's world or them as characters. (I probably learned more than I ever wanted to about snakes and snake handling. Not my thing, but still fascinating.) Of the two main characters, Sunny perhaps reached out to me a bit more; Jackson being more of a sad-sack who came back to life when she entered his. Some of the science I learned/refreshed in her studies was a definite plus for me. Another odd aside: I just spent a few hours last Sunday wondering about timpani and how music was written for them etc. Thanks to Mr HEllega, I now actually understand a bit more.

Many thanks to LibraryThing and the Early Reviewers program, and to the publisher, who sent this book. And many thanks to Mr Hellenga for writing yet another book which took me to another place and taught me something in the reading.

This book was one of 187 books that made up our Christmas tree this year, which entirely made from books by as many authors as I could find quickly that we personally know/knew. All the rest of the books were BookCrossing books that were ready to be released, or were already read. Nothing was taken from a shelf, which is REALLY scary! ). Click here for a larger version or here for the aftermath.

Released for the 2012 March Oh, the Places We Can Go Release Challenge.

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