The Amazon

[Alisha]

In talking about her experiences with the indigenous people, Annick explains, “the question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you; or if you choose to go on as if you had never arrived.” How were these choices presented throughout the novel? Which do you think would be the better choice?

[Carol]

The book was quite slow for me until she finally got on the river. Was tired of the gatekeepers, but they did a really good job of their role. I liked how the guy, was it Domingo who ran the store, knew what to keep on hand and maintained a good relationship with the scientists.

To disturb or not: It seems it took a fair amount of time to establish the relationship between the tribe and the scientists. It was interesting to read about the roles and situations they faced. I think they do a little of both. With the exception of the actual testing and swabbing, there was not a lot of interaction between them. But what relationship there was, became "friendly."

[Lauren]

But wasn't Annick a horrible hypocrite about that? Yes, it's a nice ideal, but it's impossible. Yes, they were trying to minimize the intrusion, but there was still an intrusion. You can walk across stones once and they appear undisturbed, but walk across them daily and, eventually, your footprints change the stone, no matter how careful you are. And, when it came right down to it, Annick was careful only when it suited her purposes.

[Ashley]

Right, Lauren. Annick didn't want to interfere with the so-called natural order of things by providing medical help, because she didn't have time for it. But intruding on a bunch of native women's most intimate processes? She was fine with that. Ditto for the deliberate malaria infecting.