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A review by hsrudolph
Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik
3.0
In 2013, I spent 3 nights at a 5 star eco-lodge in the rain forest in Peru, an hour boat ride from Puerto Maldonado. I never imagined air could feel so oppressive (and I grew up in south Florida); the nighttime sounds from the surrounding jungle seemed like they were being pumped into our “hut” via top quality sound speakers. And the bugs. Ugh. Although this trip was way outside of my comfort zone (l am NOT outdoorsy; if only they had an air conditioned space you could go to repose, even briefly, but as it was there was only electricity for a short while in the morning and then again in the evening, so that you slept sweltering under your mosquito netting while your ceiling fan sat idle above you), it was an incredible, unforgettable adventure. However, I cannot even imagine enduring even one night of the absolute raw jungle experience depicted in this story.
Lily, a 19 year old American raised in a series of foster and group homes in Boston, seeks adventure and ends up in a small town in Bolivia, where she meets Omar, an Amazonian, and within a few short weeks they are madly in love and she decides to accompany him when he must return to his tiny jungle village after learning that his nephew was killed by a jaguar. The author did a wonderful job depicting the beauty and the perils of the jungle and portraying both the incredibly arduous life of the villagers and the beautiful sense of community and their love of and respect for the jungle. The loss of innocence of the natives and the threat to their way of life at the hands of the greedy white man was weaved Into the story as a sad reality. Parts of the story got a bit far fetched but for the most part, this was a satisfying telling of an adventure I would never want to have.
Lily, a 19 year old American raised in a series of foster and group homes in Boston, seeks adventure and ends up in a small town in Bolivia, where she meets Omar, an Amazonian, and within a few short weeks they are madly in love and she decides to accompany him when he must return to his tiny jungle village after learning that his nephew was killed by a jaguar. The author did a wonderful job depicting the beauty and the perils of the jungle and portraying both the incredibly arduous life of the villagers and the beautiful sense of community and their love of and respect for the jungle. The loss of innocence of the natives and the threat to their way of life at the hands of the greedy white man was weaved Into the story as a sad reality. Parts of the story got a bit far fetched but for the most part, this was a satisfying telling of an adventure I would never want to have.