Euphoria

A powerful opening, and it just kept getting better. It was exquisite from the first page, and upon finishing I wanted to start right back on it to enjoy the writing without the suspense and to spend more time with the characters.

Smart, competent characters; a loathsome villain; believable relationships among them. Sex positivity. Thoughtful exploration of cultural norms (maybe a tad heavyhanded, but forgivably so). Constant addressing of the difficulty of communicating. Strong female roles. Frank no-BS treatment of grief, suicide, loneliness. Science positivity, with genuine-feeling depiction of the euphoria of learning. Basically, a lot of my hot buttons in one tidy package.

Masterful writing: King uses dialog effectively, with the shortcuts, collisions, topic shifts that make up realistic conversations. She gives us sensitive insights into the characters' head spaces. There's one narrative element I found brilliant: after the first (third-person omniscient) chapter, the story shifts to first-person. The smitten male narrator describes glances and unspoken subtexts that suggest his attraction is mutual, and the reader becomes increasingly uncomfortable about the narrator's reliability—we men do have an unsettling tendency to misinterpret attention from women. King eventually addresses this tension, but read for yourself to learn how.

One of the few times I wished a book was longer, not because it was well-written, but because it seemed like it ended just as I was starting to get into the story and the characters. It's said to be loosely based on Margaret Mead, but I don't know enough about her to compare the events in this book to those in her life.

This was excellent. My only real quibble is that I wanted more of Nell's voice and less of Bateson's. We have enough male voices in this world. I want more female. Still I loved reading it and dragged the last 50 or so pages out, so I could stay with it longer.

I really liked this, but didn't realize it was based on Margaret Mead's life until I finished.

I really liked this book, while all the while wishing it was double the length, filled with more details, and possibly written by someone like W. Somerset Maugham, just so I could love it more. It's the story of 3 anthropologists, re-imaging the time of Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson in New Guinea in the early 1930ies. Part love story, part anthropology adventures.

The basis is all there - charming interesting characters, united in their passion for anthropology, pulling the reader into their fascination for uncovering unknown cultures... and then there's the jungle and its humidity and bugs and dangers, plus a love triangle to spice it all up. All of these things are great, I just needed more of it. So I would know the characters better and could appreciate all the emotional moments deeper. Hear more of Nell's methods for getting the tribes to trust her, understand more of Fen's charm and jealousy, and spend more time with Bankson despair and longing. Dig deeper into those polyamorous notes that emerged mid-way and then disappeared.

Topic held no interest for me but after a few chapters I was captivated by the beauty of the writing and the characters that had become real for me. Wonderful book about three anthropologists' love triangle.

I feel like I was there with these three maddening and devoted anthropologists. As a few others mentioned, it conjured State of Wonder for me. It definitely made me want to learn more about Margaret Meade.

Did not finish. An exciting premise but just got too rambling through chapter 5/6. Wanted to push through but did not find this warranted more of my time.

I won this book though a Goodreads giveaway and am so pleased that I did because I really enjoyed it. I felt as if I were living in a remote village in New Guinea with the characters. Definitely recommended.