A compelling adventure story is marred by some overblown romantic passages. The journalist's quest for her mentor/idol through the jungles of Papua New Guinea is riveting; her romantic life in Canada, not so much. There is additional romance in the jungle, as well (caution: slight spoiler). ( )

Marika Vecera is a reporter who is known for taking the dangerous assignments. Stylizing herself on her hero, journalist, Robert Lewis, she takes jobs in war-ton countries and has been in extreme danger more than once.

She decides to write a biography of her idol after learning of his suicide. Part of her research involves a trip through the jungles of Papua New Guinea because of vague rumors that Robert Lewis is alive and can be found there. Known as the White Mary by the natives, she embarks on a symbolic journey where she learns as much about herself and her relationships as she does about Robert Lewis.

The details of her trip through these jungles makes the book worthwhile reading. The author has travelled extensively in Papua New Guinea and her descriptions really places you there. The rest unfortunately left me rather disappointed The writing just didn’t captivate me, I found the characters quite flat, and even the most intense scenes did not connect with me emotionally. Disappointing as there is an excellent story here that just needed a more dynamic writer. ( )

This is a compelling story about a young woman's search for a journalist who has supposedly died, but instead has hidden himself away from the world in the deepest recesses of the vast jungle of Papua New Guinea. It is very authentic in that the author, Kira Salak, has made such journeys herself in Papua New Guinea and the Congo as described in her two nonfiction books about them. She has turned her experiences into this well paced and believeable story about one woman's search for a missing man and for her own missing identity. A great read. ( )

I got this book as an advance reader's edition through the amazon Vine program. Not normally the type of book I read, but it sounded interesting.

Kira Salak herself has a very interesting background. If you go to this book on amazon, she has posted some links to photos she took both in the Congo and Papua New Guinea.

The book itself deals with Marika Vecera; a journalist who covers stories in war torn countries. At a talk she meets a psychologist named Seb; who introduces her to happiness and a different world where Marika isn't constantly under threat of death. After a particularly dangerous assignment in the Congo, Marika hears of the death of Robert Lewis, a man whose journalism she has long admired. When rumors surface of him having been seen in Papau New Guina she decides to check it out. Will her trip to Papau New Guinea destroy Marika's relationship with Seb? Will she find Robert Lewis? Will she live through her trip through the dense jungle? These are all questions the book answers.

The book was very well written and very gripping. It bounces from the past that lead to her trip to Papau New Guinea (PNG) to the present where she is fighting her way through the jungle. I really found the subject intriguing and had a lot of trouble putting this book down. The characters were interesting and the setting very unique. You could really tell that Salak had experienced these places and been here before.

This book was not for the faint of heart. The descriptions of war scenes are vivid as is the the gruesome trip through the jungle. The part of this book I found most interesting were the justifications that war journalists had for why they do this work. It was neat to see into the mind of a war journalist and try to understand what those people get out of doing such a crazily dangerous job.

Of course Marika's journey of learning how to live through happiness versus sadness in also interesting. As is some of her contemplation on why she has such a hard time living a normal day to day live. At one point she explains that listening to Seb in the kitchen seems so unimportant and trivial considering that a day ago she was struggling to survive shootings, bombings and kidnapping in the Congo. It made me grateful for the life I live.

Salak is a great writer and this was an awesome, eye-opening book. ( )

Marika is a hard hitting journalist who prides herself on telling the stories of the victims of the world's most ravaged places. while being pulled to tell their tragedies she avoids her own painful history that threatens to destroy any chance of normalcy or intimacy. it takes a journey into the heaaart of Papua New Guinea before she begins to see examine what matters most to her.
Marika is head strong, proud and self-sabotaging. there were many points in the story where she sounded like an acting out 13 year old rather than a battle weary journalist.
the intertwining of her story with that of the jouranlist she is seeking was at times hard to follow, I would have loved for the story to have delved more deeply into her own story.
good overall read. ( )