Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman - BOOK REVIEW

Title:  Three Weeks in December
Author:  Audrey Schulman
Publisher:   Europa Editions
Release Date:  February, 2012
Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN 10:    1609450647
ISBN 13:  9781609450649
The Book Depository / Amazon

January, 2012 Indie Next List

Goodreads description:

In 1899 Jeremy, a young engineer, leaves a small town in Maine to oversee the construction of a railroad across British East Africa. In charge of hundreds of Indian laborers, he becomes the reluctant hunter of two lions that are killing his men in nightly attacks on their camp. Plagued by fear, wracked with malaria, and alienated by a secret he can tell no one, he takes increasing solace in the company of an African man who scouts for him.

In 2000 Max, an American ethnobotonist, travels to Rwanda in search of an obscure vine that could become a lifesaving pharmaceutical. Stationed in the mountains, she shadows a family of gorillas—the last of their group to survive the merciless assault of local poachers. Max bears a striking gift for communicating with the apes. But soon the precarious freedom of both is threatened as a violent rebel group from the nearby Congo draws close.

Told in alternating perspectives that interweave the two characters and their fates, Audrey Schulman’s newest novel deftly confronts the struggle between progress and preservation, idiosyncrasy and acceptance. Evoking both Barbara Kingsolver and Andrea Barrett, this enthralling fiction, wise and generous, explores some of the crucial social and cultural challenges that, over the years, have come to shape our world.

The engaging story and memorable characters make this fine novel an ideal book club selection

My Take: 

In 1899, Jeremy Turnkey travels to British East Africa as an engineer in charge of helping to build a railroad.  He knows himself to be different in a time when being different is not accepted and is a partial outcast from his family and "polite" society.  Faced with the dizzying task of overseeing Indian workers in a hostile African environment, he has enough on his plate already.  When two lions begin killing the men in his camp and people in surrounding villages in the dead of night, he now has the unenviable task of trying to hunt and kill them in a malaria-induced haze.  With the help of Otombe, an African raised by missionaries until he was six, when they had their own child and returned him to his village, Jeremy attempts to prove himself.

In 2006, Max Tombay, an ethnobotanist, travels to Rwanda in search of an unknown vine that contains five times the beta blockers of any other known plant.  She joins a group of scientists and animal behaviorists in the mountains on her quest to find the vine, shadowing a group of gorillas in the hope that they will lead her to the plant.  As she observes them, she notices similarities between her Asperger's Syndrome and their behavior, giving her a particular affinity and insight with the gorilla family.  What her employers DIDN'T tell her is that there is a roaming band of thousands of Kutu (child soldiers) right over the border killing both natives and foreigners.  As the group of scientists becomes increasingly isolated, conserving electricity and with their food stores diminishing significantly, Max faces her own moral dilemma.

On the surface, these two narratives have nothing in common except their locations in Africa, however, the deeper meaning of these stories has a lot to do with true coming of age and the deeper realization of inner strength that each of the main characters finds within.  The thread of lurking danger that is woven into each narrative makes for a nail-biter, especially with Max's story.

Gorgeously written and evocative, Three Weeks in December is a feast for the senses.  If you like literary adventure, this is definitely one for your shelves. 

QUOTES (from an ARC; may be different in final copy):

When people met Max, she passed as normal, at least at first.  More than passed.  In Maine, she was exotic.  Men's heads tended to track her on the street, until at times she worried she might be dressed or moving inappropriately.  Even women refocused as she walked by, their bodies going still.
Of course once the men or women actualy interacted with her, talked with her, their reaction changed.  The flatness of her voice, the way she didn't look at them.  The subtle social signals she missed.  After a while the men stopped leaning in as close, their voices got less warm and confiding.  It gook differing amounts of time. depending on how much each had hoped.  The women caught on more quickly.  Their words would drag a bit as they puzzled it out.  Then they'd spot the final clue.  There'd be this pause.  A silent adjustment.

The overriding thought was that this was his fault, each fever here, each missing limb, any deaths.  He was the one responsible - as much as if he had injected each infection of malaria or started each cut - him and the British, this railroad.

"My tribe," Otombe said, "has a myth of a giant metal snake.  Like the story of how the world started, it is one of common knowledge shared among the tribes.  It is said, in a time of hunger, drought and disease, the metal snake will arrive.  It will stretch itself across the land to strangle the life from our tribes."

Max imagined returning with the vine she searched for. It would be a blockbuster drug, saving the lives of thousands of people.  The vine's discovery would allow her mom to talk to her sister in something other than that small voice.
It would help make up for how Max had sat rocking in a corner while her dad's brain - a major vein to it blocked off - suffocated and then died.

Writing:  5 out of 5 stars

Plot:   4.5 out of 5 stars

Characters:  4 out of 5 stars

Reading Immersion:   4.5 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING:   4.5 out of 5 stars

BLOGGERS:  Have you reviewed this book? If so, please feel free to leave a link to your review in the comments section; I will also add your link to the body of my review.

BUY IT:  At Amazon, The Book Depository, through the publisher's website,  and through other on-and-off-line booksellers.

One of my listed titles for the 2012 150+ Reading Challenge

One of my listed titles for the 2012 ARC Reading Challenge (Eclectic Bookshelf)

One of my listed titles for the 2012 ARC Reading Challenge (So Many Books)

One of my listed titles for the Around the Stack in How Many Ways Reading Challenge

 Disclosure:  I  received a  complimentary ARC of this title from the publisher to facilitate my review.  No other compensation was received and I was not required to post a positive review.