At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
In a malarial outpost in the South American rain forest, two misplaced gringos converge and clash in this novel from the National Book Award-winning author. Martin Quarrier has come to convert the elusive Niaruna Indians to his brand of Christianity. Lewis Moon, a stateless mercenary who is himself part Indian, has come to kill them on the behalf of the local comandante. Out of this struggle Peter Matthiessen creates an electrifying moral thriller—adapted into a movie starring John Lithgow, Kathy Bates, and Tom Waits. A novel of Conradian richness, At Play in the Fields of the Lord explores both the varieties of spiritual experience and the politics of cultural genocide.
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This is the first of Peter Matthiessen's fiction books I have read, having read a couple of his non-fiction books and enjoyed them.
I wasn't sure whether I would like this - but Matthiessen's characters, so flawed and so realistic, in the setting of the jungles of the Amazon amongst savage native Indians - fantastic stuff.
The infantile feuding between Protestant and Catholic missionaries, all either corrupt, fooling themselves, blinded to their own ambition, or miserable in themselves. A couple of mercenaries, trapped in the town with their passports confiscated. Mind altering ayahuasca, the native hallucinogenic drug. The local el comandante, wielding power over whoever he can, and an array of Indians - from the wild to the tame.
The writing is vivid, the scenery is atmospheric, and the native way of life comes across as accurate and realistic.
Four stars.
