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sprior's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
nerissassippi's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book. It is one I'd take with me to a deserted island because I know I would uncover different layers of meaning every time I read it. It's not a book for easily offended Christians, though.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
5.0
I've wanted to read this book since I saw the movie version, several years ago. In it, Peter Matthiessen tells the story of what happens when a group of American Protestant missionaries come to a remote outpost on a tributary of the Amazon river. There they clash with a pair of American mercenaries trying to get their passports back from the military leader and earn enough money to fill the tank of their airplane with gas so they can leave. The military leader is looking for an excuse to wipe out an unruly indigenous group, the Niaruna.
In At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Matthiessen demolishes the idea of the White Savior rescuing a minority group through selflessness and dedication. While there are several important characters, the two who are the most interesting are Martin Quarrier, a selfless and self-examining missionary who really wants to understand the Niaruna, and to protect them from the forces threatening them, from annihilation by the government to the missteps of missionaries who break-down tribal ties and encourage dependency, and Lewis Moon who, because he half Native American, has never found himself belonging anywhere. In the Niaruna he sees what might have been for his own culture and so is determined to join the Niaruna and to guide them in how to avoid assimilation.
Through the prism of the mist, the heat of the low jungle sky seemed to focus on this wretched spot, where tarantulas and scorpions and stinging ants accompanied the mosquito and the biting fly into the huts, where the vampire bats, defecating even as they fed, would fasten on exposed toes at night, where one could never be certain that a bushmaster or few-de-lance had not formed its cold coil in a dark corner. In the the river, piranhas swam among the stingrays and candirus and the large crocodilians called lagartos; in adjacent swamps and forests lived the anaconda and the jaguar. But at Remate de Males such creatures were but irritants; the true enemies were the heat and the biting insects, the mud and the nagging fear, more like an ague, of the silent hostile people of the rain forest.
While the Americans, despite bringing only harm, are portrayed with nuance and the Niaruna themselves with respect, the military commander, as well as the indians who support him and live in the town, are treated by Matthiessen with not much more than contempt. It would have been a stronger book had he been able to treat those living between the Americans and the Niaruna with the same complexity as the other characters. Still, At Play in the Fields of the Lord is a fascinating story of what happens when good intentions are not enough.
In At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Matthiessen demolishes the idea of the White Savior rescuing a minority group through selflessness and dedication. While there are several important characters, the two who are the most interesting are Martin Quarrier, a selfless and self-examining missionary who really wants to understand the Niaruna, and to protect them from the forces threatening them, from annihilation by the government to the missteps of missionaries who break-down tribal ties and encourage dependency, and Lewis Moon who, because he half Native American, has never found himself belonging anywhere. In the Niaruna he sees what might have been for his own culture and so is determined to join the Niaruna and to guide them in how to avoid assimilation.
Through the prism of the mist, the heat of the low jungle sky seemed to focus on this wretched spot, where tarantulas and scorpions and stinging ants accompanied the mosquito and the biting fly into the huts, where the vampire bats, defecating even as they fed, would fasten on exposed toes at night, where one could never be certain that a bushmaster or few-de-lance had not formed its cold coil in a dark corner. In the the river, piranhas swam among the stingrays and candirus and the large crocodilians called lagartos; in adjacent swamps and forests lived the anaconda and the jaguar. But at Remate de Males such creatures were but irritants; the true enemies were the heat and the biting insects, the mud and the nagging fear, more like an ague, of the silent hostile people of the rain forest.
While the Americans, despite bringing only harm, are portrayed with nuance and the Niaruna themselves with respect, the military commander, as well as the indians who support him and live in the town, are treated by Matthiessen with not much more than contempt. It would have been a stronger book had he been able to treat those living between the Americans and the Niaruna with the same complexity as the other characters. Still, At Play in the Fields of the Lord is a fascinating story of what happens when good intentions are not enough.
barbtrek's review against another edition
3.0
Well written but the characters were mostly awful & the setting pretty grungy.
mansirpetrie's review against another edition
3.0
Ah I really want to love this book but I have to agree with some of the more negative reviews.
I'm glad I read it has t it wasn't smooth sailing. One reviewer really nailed it for me - the writing style for me is confusing and amorphous. I also had a feeling that something was missing but at the same time or in pulses I had the feeling that I was reading a classic - that I was reading greatness if i could just let it be. I really loved his snow leopard book. This made me think about what good literature is- should it flow as well or be as easy to read?
I'm glad I read it has t it wasn't smooth sailing. One reviewer really nailed it for me - the writing style for me is confusing and amorphous. I also had a feeling that something was missing but at the same time or in pulses I had the feeling that I was reading a classic - that I was reading greatness if i could just let it be. I really loved his snow leopard book. This made me think about what good literature is- should it flow as well or be as easy to read?
djk2167's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Beautifully written. But extremely difficult to connect with the characters.
amypuckett's review against another edition
4.0
What happens when you question your faith? Just who are the “savages” and how much “help” do they need? These questions are central to Peter Matthiessen’s novel At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Martin Quarrier, a missionary from North Dakota, finds himself to be more of an ethnographer than a disciple. Meanwhile, Lewis Moon, a rugged expat with roots in a Native American tribe, finds himself at home with the Niaruna, a tribe of natives in South America. Originally recommended to me in an Anthropology class, I found the book to be an interesting look at culture, both that of the Niaruna and of North American missionaries and what can (and does!) happen when cultures clash.
kahale's review against another edition
2.0
A missionary and is wife go down to South American jungle and are thoroughly corrupted. Just not my kind of book.
bobbo49's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful contemplation of the ongoing struggle between native South Americans, missionaries and governments, through the story of a native North American trying to find his identity.