BOOK GROUP REVIEWS: The Lost City

"South American Adventure...a great pick!"

THE LOST CITY
by Henry Shukman
(Vintage Books/Random House, 2007)

[Paperback, 321 pages, $15.95 U.S. - Buy for less at Amazon.com]

Midtown Atlanta Book Group Rating: ★★★☆☆
Fiction: Adventure
(June selection in honor of Father's Day)

Jackson Small, a 21 year-old British ex-soldier, amateur artist/adventurer, wanders down to Peru to search out lost civilizations, and somehow find himself, in the jungles of South America. The Lost City is a contemporary adventure set in the very remote mountainous regions of Peru, where drug lords and shady government/military operatives vie for power and economic control. Jackson has suffered tragedy and breakdown in his young life, but manages to find romance and unexpected, even surprising, success in his quest. Supported by a cast of unusual characters, aided by covert, and often ambiguous, forces of good and evil, very little is as it seems -- or as it is represented -- in The Lost City.

In general, Midtown Atlanta Book Group enjoyed The Lost City, particularly the lush descriptive writing and skillful use of words that offers an almost-poetic portrait of a country and culture we have not read about before. The characters are colorful, if at times the action and sequence of events is implausible. Overall, The Lost City is characterized by flashes of brilliance -- descriptions, characters, message -- muddled in ambiguity and a lack of story architecture.

As a book group selection, The Lost City led to great discussion and offered something different for a very diverse group -- a great pick!

Next Month: THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
with THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton for extra credit!
[July is the annual Month of The Classic for Midtown Atlanta Book Group]