Mother of God

Starred review from January 27, 2014
A young explorer finds his soul amid the trackless jungle in this rousing eco-adventure. Rosolie, a naturalist who runs (and subtly plugs) an eco-tourism outfit, recounts his exploits from the age of 18 when he escaped New Jersey and lit out for the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon basin, a paradise of primeval forest and riotous wildlife. Mentored by an Indian family, then graduating to solo treks to remote uninhabited areas, he wrestles with giant anacondas, faces down crocodiles, tenderly parents an orphaned anteater, feels the presence of jaguars panting over him in the night, and edges towards an encounter with possibly murderous tribesmen. Along the way he battles poachers and sounds the alarm against civilized encroachments that are obliterating the world’s wildernesses. This is old-school nature writing, unabashedly romantic and free of alienation; the author foregrounds his drama of elemental self-discovery—“along the river-bank I ran, screaming at the storm to give me its worst, in adrenaline-induced madness”—and is forever gazing into the gorgeous eyes, and tragic spirits, of the critters he meets. Rosolie’s powers of description are so vivid and engrossing that readers will be swept along in his passion. Photos.

June 15, 2014

The Madre de Dios, or Mother of God, is a vast, largely unexplored region of the Amazon rain forest in southeastern Peru and one of the most untamed places left on earth. As a biological research station volunteer there, 21-year-old Rosolie explored this hostile and exhilarating area armed only with machete, headlamp, compass, and pack raft. His adventures in the remotest reaches of the Amazon include catching anacondas (extremely large snakes), surviving a nasty outbreak of MRSA (flesh-eating bacteria), mothering an orphaned giant anteater, and encountering jaguars, river otters, and black caimans (crocodiles) up close. Eventually, he channels his adventure lust into conservation efforts to protect the forest from inevitable degradation by farmers, poachers, and loggers. Vivid descriptions of exotic rain forest flora and fauna abound but, oddly, not a single photograph. Maps would have been helpful also, as this region is unfamiliar to most people. VERDICT While trekking solo in the uncharted Amazon is ill-advised for many reasons, this gripping adventure narrative will appeal to fans of Ed Stafford's Walking the Amazon and David Grann's The Lost City of Z. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/13.]--Cynthia Lee Knight, formerly with Hunterdon Cty. Lib., Flemington, NJ

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014

Describing lost tribes, poachers, giant snakes, and jaguars. Rosolie proffers a spirited account of his teenage adventures traveling through the remotest regions of Peru. His journey through Eden is filled with "unfathomable beauty and brutality" and rich, action-packed scenes ranging from fistfights to stickups and even beheadings. (LJ 6/15/14)

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2014
In his first book, naturalist and explorer Rosolie chronicles his many thrilling experiences since 2006, when he first traveled to a research center located in a primordial jungle region of the Amazon basin, now threatened with unregulated development. Now running Tamandua Expeditions to support conservation initiatives, the author was then an 18-year-old college student searching for volunteer opportunities to work with a conservation organization. During a college break, the author seized on an opportunity to spend a month at a jungle research center in southeast Peru, serving as an assistant in recording observations of the species inhabiting the area: spider monkeys, jaguars, crocodiles, a wide variety of snakes and more. This was the first of many trips to the center, which became his spiritual home. During his college years, he commuted back and forth from New Jersey to the Amazon; over time, he became an accomplished guide. Back home again, he worked to raise donations for the research center, which was a hand-to-mouth venture, and he also arranged ecotourism expeditions and volunteer groups to work at the center. Rosolie describes his deepening understanding of conservation and the issues involved in protecting natural ecosystems against would-be developers, loggers, mining interests and poachers. First and foremost, however, this is a gripping adventure story packed with plenty of adrenaline-filled encounters with massive snakes, intimidating jaguars and other creatures. On one occasion, the author was carried downriver while grasping the back of a gigantic anaconda "as thick as a small cow and easily well over twenty-five feet long...the mega-snake of legends." As the author writes, "[a]dventure in its purest form is raw discovery. The draw to see what's around the next bend becomes hypnotizing; I was drawn forward by the powerful tide of the forest." A vividly written narrative of an amazingly diverse world still to be explored, whose destruction, as Rosolie wisely notes, would be a devastating loss for humanity.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2014
Enthralled with animals and nature from childhood, Rosolie fixated on the Amazon forest and adventured there as a teenager in 2005. From that and subsequent sojourns, he has synthesized this account of experiencing the environment and wildlife of, specifically, the Madre de Dios region of Peru. Coursed by rivers, carpeted with trees, soaked by rain, it is the stage for Rosolie's quests to find large predators, such as jaguars, anacondas, and crocodiles. The peril in such searching tensely builds in Rosolie's accounts of his encounters, which relax as he returns safely to his base of civilization, a combination ecotourism-and-biology-research station. Its operation and orbiting personalities connect to Rosolie's critical observations about threats to the tropical habitat, such as poachers and loggers, with whom he has wary interactions in the course of his treks. They aren't the only human hazard. In Rosolie's culminating tale, he enters reputedly unexplored territory, is spotted by indigenous people, and flees for his life. Writing with intrepid curiosity and a passion for ecological preservation, Rosolie will rally readers of Ed Stafford's Walking the Amazon (2012).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)