Euphoria

"I thought we had time. Despite everything, I believed somehow there was time. Loves first mistake. Perhaps loves only mistake."

Lily King

Euphoria

I loved this book. Euphoria, by Lily King, follows the story of three anthropologists in New Guinea in the 1930's, and the story is charming, heartfelt, and wonderful. I fell in love with one of the characters, while thoroughly hating another. It was wonderful.

The book follows the story of Nell, Fen, and Bankson: three anthropologists studying the tribes in New Guinea. Nell and Fen are married and share the work, but there are tensions in their marriage that stem from the inability to bear a child, their different styles of research, and Nell's success that Fen feels he lives in the shadow of. They meet Bankson after hastily fleeing the tribe they were studying, and the lonely Englishman gets to know them and gets drawn into their lives as they study new cultures.

I loved this book. I didn't think I would at first because I don't generally like books with love triangles, but this one was pulled off so well. I loved that it touched on several big issues. Death is talked about a lot, and King seems to contrast the ritual homicides that the tribes of New Guinea practice with the mass deaths of World War I. In one scene Bankson describes the war to a native man who can't wrap his head around the number or the reason for all the death, and Bankson struggles with the meaninglessness and brutality of the number. It also examines the idea of suicide, containing the most well done suicide scene that I have ever read. 

Nell was a fascinating character. Based loosely on the life of Margaret Mead, she examined some of the most fascinating ideas in the book. Kind, hardworking, and passionate about people, she examines the issues of people belonging to other people and the control we exert on them. This ideas she teases out while working with Bankson, while living with Fin and his efforts to control her life. She states "my loves remain wine to me, yet I become too quickly bread to them." She is referring to how new relationships are exciting and new, but how they eventually become a staple like bread. I fell in love with Nell, she was so fascinating and brilliant and kind.

The twist at the end of the book took me completely by surprise. It was the perfect ending to the story. I loved it. I highly recommend this book, to everyone.