Jungle of Ashes
1928, Fordlandia, Amazonia, Brazil. One evening, seventeen-year-old Joanna, a keen botanist, sets out alone from the American camp, without a flashlight, to explore the jungle. She is the daughter of the assistant manager of the rubber plantation, who is brought to Brazil from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula by Henry Ford to fulfill his dream of growing rubber and making tires free of British control, having acquired over two million acres. Joanna meets Rafael, a Brazilian mechanic, fixing a Ford. He warns her about snakes in the tall grass and, after some sociable banter, agrees to teach her Portuguese; their friendship develops. Both explore their helpful ideas and journalize their interests: Joanna’s passion for plants, and Rafael’s for machines and inventions. Their love defies class and cultural differences, as well as company regulations. Ultimately, they must choose between what their hearts desire and social expectations in the harsh environment.
Brynn Barineau, who has lived in Brazil, has vividly penned this engaging novel about Henry Ford’s somewhat obscure Brazilian project. It realistically transports us into the Amazon rainforest. The characters are well chosen to present the varied political, social, and cultural interests and differences prevalent at that time. Furthermore, the alternating points of view between Joanna and Rafael make the narrative flow smoothly. Their interracial and class-difference romance is so captivating that it makes us cheer them on. True to that period, both Joanna’s and Rafael’s ideas of how to improve plants’ propagation and machines, respectively, are disregarded—hers because she is a woman and his because he is Brazilian. The conflict between man and nature in attempting to create an industrial enterprise in the middle of a dense forest, resulting in a jungle of ashes, is presented superbly. A page-turner and an informative novel. Highly recommended.
