The White Mary

I really enjoyed this one, the descriptions of being in the wilds of PNG we’re almost too vivid to handle and took me from wonder to an almost claustrophobic need to escape.

Droning insects, screeching monkeys, and slithering snakes create the opening scene after you crack open the cover of The White Mary, Kira Salaks fictional debut. The fetid and uncanny stillness of the swampy atmosphere has the reader imagining they have been transported back into a Jurassic period of time. Devoid of human occupation with only the wildest of nature's creatures around you. The story begins with the heroine, gliding in a dugout canoe through the eerie, yet magical, mangrove infested waterways of Papua New Guinea. She is being led into the heart of the jungle by a native guide named Tobo, who thinks she is a white witch because of her red hair. The soundless environment is only occasionally broken by the buzz of a mosquito, or the sudden crackling ripple of water broken by a surfacing crocodile. Marika Vecera is an award winning Foreign Correspondent Journalist. Her newest mission is to write a biography about her own journalist hero, Robert Lewis. After returning from a harrowing escape from an attack in the African Congo that nearly killed her, she buries her post traumatic emotions by writing about Robert Lewis' life who was recently presumed dead from suicide. In researching his life, Marika finds a startling piece of information that may lead to her finding he is still alive, deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. This incredible and profound literary novel breaks ground and offers the reader a philosophical insight into Marika's upcoming travels. Both her journey into the interior of Papua New Guinea's dangerous country, and into the personal journey of her soul as she reveals an intimate portrait of her fears, heartaches, and journey of healing. The book alternates between chapters of Marika's death defying trek through the jungle, her flashbacks of her near death attack in Zaire, and of her tender but tumultous romance with Seb, her psychiatrist boyfriend whom she leaves behind in a trail of tears. An added bonus too are wonderful Papua New Guinea folklore tibits that insert a little fun and lightheartedness when at times the story is so emotionally exhausting the reader might feel drained. The reader encounters an inside view of Papua New Guinea's native village life with their throbbing drums, mosquitos that suck your blood incessantly like hungry vampires, and where witch doctors dance around ailing souls evoking spirit gods to keep them all from harm. Within this story I found so much power, passion and poignancy. There is great depth and beauty to this novel that a reader doesn't encounter too often. I loved this book and felt awe inspired that an author could have such incredible talent. Salek has the incredible ability to at one moment describe abominable graphic violence enough to make you cringe, yet in other moments write the most tender and precious, sweet and sexy love scenes that have you crying for the beauty of it all. It is soul-searching, sensual, and yes, scary too. I would highly recommend th

The main reason why I chose to read this book was the fact that I have just finished watching the last season of Lost which has rapidly turned into one of my favorite shows of all time and I needed a quick jungle fix to prolong the euphoria. Rather than just being a good read, "The White Mary" surpassed my expectations and was one of the best books I have ever read, I feel so lucky that I decided to read this! Intense, addictive and at some passages almost unreadable but in a good way, the world of young journalist who decides to find her inspirational favorite writer Robert Lewis is turned upside down as she dives into a life changing adventure. Marika Vecera has had enough of dangerous journalistic work overseas in war ridden countries where murder and thievery rule daily life, when her relationship suffers at her own decisions she decides to follow hear heart and seek out the one man who can give her answers. The problem is that he has been proclaimed dead due to a suicide possible by drowning in Malaysia, but rumors that reach Marika about his sighting in the most remote jungles of Papua New Guinea spark her interest at finding him, no matter how dangerous the journey. When she starts looking for him her outlook on life is weak, she is not afraid of death but the more her life is threatened with various occurrences she learns new things about herself that open the reader's eyes to deep corners of our own souls. The journey is fascinating but the future often bleak and the reader never knows when it will all suddenly end. I can't remember the last time I was so engrossed in such a rich, beautiful novel. Half way through reading this I looked up the author, Kira Salak and found her website. Her own journeys to almost all the continents are documented with stunning photos; I spend a whole afternoon browsing her site, looking at the scrapbook of her life, so enormous and exciting that her life looks like an adventure movie in comparison to someone like myself. Through her eyes and words I too feel that the world is large and remote but accessible for those who really want to see each nook and cranny. I can't wait to read more of her work; this is one strong and brilliant woman. - Kasia S.

I thoroughly enjoyed "White Mary," from front to back. What a wonderful accomplishment for Kira Salak. Salak is a veteran of world travel and a skilled writer of non-fiction. "White Mary" is an entertaining, complex, genuine, and meaningful first work of fiction. This is a book filled with some of the best and worst images the world has to offer, but ultimately, it delivers a hopeful, courageous, positive message. I don't think there is room for much criticism here. That would be like greeting the main character, Marika, as she crawls out of the woods, and making a remark about a tear in her pants. The prose is marvelously descriptive and powerful. I found myself resentful of the time I had to spend at work during the three days it took me to finish the book! The only time, perhaps, where the dialogue appears a little stiff, is whenever Marika is talking with Seb. But here, I imagined Salak was successfully conveying the differences in world experience and personal power existing between these two characters. Marika is attracted to Sebs kindness, but disinterested (without really being aware of why) by the narrower boundaries of his world. Salak gives Marika a harsh personal background that helped provide a reasonable explanation for her risk-indifferent, and even at times self-destructive behavior. It was difficult not to develop a strong affection for this character who is empathetic, courageous, feminine, intelligent, and most of all strong. Yet Marika is also believable in her imperfections and flaws. Other reviewers have described Marika as indifferent to love. Perhaps they were frustrated by her inability to return Seb's affections. But I felt Marika was very capable of love. As she started writing Lewis's biography, and most certainly as she began her trek into the jungle to find him, she was in love with the man. But Seb, despite all his generosity, wasn't able to follow Marika's heart everywhere it needed to go, emotinally and literally. With Marika's intense, yet imperfect relationships with the men who are important to her, Salak brings yet another perspective on a world that is both magnificent and flawed. I'll be thinking about "White Mary" for a long time, and I'll definitely keep my copy by my bedside along with other favorites, so I can take it out again whenever I want to rejoin Marika. I left out a plot summary because they are so plentiful in other reviews. I tried to phrase my comments so that I would not spoil one of the most important mysteries - what if anything, does Marika find on her trek into the jungles of Papau New Guinea? The message I want to leave you is that I found "White Mary" to be one of the finest reads I've had in a long time, and I am confident you will find it worthy of your time. P.S. Did this book inspire thoughts back to "Apocalypse Now" for any other readers?

This book was a very fast read. I got snared within the first few pages and although I took short breaks from the story it was still there in my head demanding me to come back to it - to continue the journey. The adventure of a single white woman traveling alone through such unforgiving lands awed me. I had no trouble understanding and believing Marika's actions. The motivations for those actions resonated truthfully with me - occasionally with glaring ugliness. She was different - most definitely - did not fit the comfortable role most of us would think of as being "normal". In that way, she rather reminded me of the Dr. Temperance Brennan character on the TV show, Bones. Her personal demons stalked her and gave her no peace but still she persevered - she had amazing resolve. This novel was also a tool - a pick - that chipped away incessantly at my conscience. It questioned God's existence in a world where such horrific things happen. I was swept along as a hapless passenger on the run-a-way train of poverty, war, disease, and misery; where happiness, love and contentment were feared and rejected because they had proved to be so fickle and fleeting. However, ultimately redemption and love does prevail and Marika was graced - as was I - with the understanding that life truly is a wondrous gift that should be cherished, shared and lived to the fullest. I thought the writing was brilliant. It conjured the scenes of the story in my mind with ease. I was transported along not merely reading the words but also experiencing the fear, the heartbreaks, the relief, and the joys as Marika, The White Mary, journeyed. The history of the story was told through a series of flashbacks as she made her long trek down streams and through the swampy jungles of Papua New Guinea. I found these chapters to be just as interesting as the actual trek through PNG in her quest to find the elusive Robert Lewis. Here, through glimpses of her past, we find the events that shaped her and made her into the self-contained, self-reliant individual who just simply cannot give-up, cannot give-in no matter what. The White Mary is a fast-paced tale with many outstanding and very believable characters. It's a novel of incredible courage and determination. Decide for yourself. Pick up the book and make the journey.