Set in Mexico in the 1970s, Rainforest by Michelle Paver is an intoxicating mixture of unrequited love, tropical rainforest, Mayan culture, drugs and obsession. When Simon Corbett joins a scientific expedition in the South American jungle, he takes with him a strange talisman to remind him of a former love. Ostensibly, Simon joins the team as entomologist, a specialist in insects, keen to find new species of mantids. He wants to get his life back, get his career on track again, face up to his demons. Really, he is running way from guilt. He feels responsible for the death of Penelope, a woman with whom he formed an attachment, though she died in a car accident when Simon was miles away. Gradually his backstory is revealed as Simon writes a journal, explores the rainforest and gets to know his fellow explorers. They’re a strange bunch with odd habits and secrets, just like Simon himself. He sees the rainforest, and his mantids, as his saviours. ‘If only I too could believe that I can contact the dead. That I could see her, touch her one last time. If only, if only, if only. That’s why I can’t sleep. That’s why I need the jungle. If anything can save me, it’s my mantids. We’re in this together, my beauties. It’s you and me against the world.’ It takes a while for the full story of Simon’s relationship with Penelope to become clear and we only ever have his side of the story.
Paver’s description is beautiful, but always one step away, hidden by a leaf, a shadow, there is an unknown threat. Perhaps a snake, a nest of fire ants, a bullet ant, howler monkeys, a caiman, a Mayan shaman, the ghost of the shaman’s dead brother. The worst threats are in Simon’s mind, his dreams at night, his imagination. Paver has written an eerie tale encompassing unrequited love, stalking, paranoia, loneliness, social isolation and ineptness. Simon’s nightmares are so real the line begins to blur so that I question is it really happening or is he imagining everything. The rainforest is an unreal world, unsettling, easy to lose oneself in, even if you’re healthy. And Simon is definitely vulnerable. But decidedly stubborn.
Underlying it all is the how the way of life of indigenous peoples is being threatened by westerners invading their rainforest environment. At best it is a thoughtless, arrogant disregard for the native people, at worst an exploitative, abusive motivation that threatens not just the people who live in the deep jungle but the natural world, its fauna and flora, no matter how beautiful or strange. Trees are felled, habitat destroyed, artefacts stolen.
I loved the rainforest setting, the description is faultlessly fabulous. I found it more difficult to connect with Simon. At times I felt a little in despair of his self-destructive streak, a compulsion to indulge in his painful memories, always choosing the path of pain rather than the one towards recovery. Like poking a wound with a needle. Where is the threat? In the rainforest surrounding the camp on all sides, or inside Simon?
How far will a man go to avoid bad memories? The truth is wherever you go, the memories go with you and so does the danger. When you’re lost in the rainforest, something beautiful can kill you, or something invisible, or something inside your head. Michelle Paver writes brilliant ghost stories set in extreme physical conditions. The Arctic in Dark Matter and the Himalayas in Thin Air, both are 4* books for me; and the 5* Wakenhyrst set beside the bleak East Anglian fens. All of them play with the concept of what is real and what is imagined. If it’s not real, does that means it’s not dangerous?
Very good. Though I didn’t particularly like Simon, I was still thinking about him days after finishing the book.

And read my reviews of these other novels by Michelle Paver:-
THE OUTSIDERS #1GODS&WARRIORS
THIN AIR
VIPER’S DAUGHTER #7WOLFBROTHER
WAKENHYRST

If you like this, try:-
‘The Snakes’ by Sadie Jones
‘The Hoarder’ by Jess Kidd
‘The Ice’ by Laline Paull

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview RAINFOREST by Michelle Paver https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8uH via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-