Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik

Like most things in the world today, I was encouraged to read Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik via social media, though once finding it at my local library, the book jacket synopsis had me sold.

Lily is a 19-year old girl who spent her life in the foster care system, too young for her old experience, cynical, bitter, and used to being abandoned more than anything else. Lying, cheating, and stealing in order to survive, Lily meets Omar in a crowded Bolivian bar and, in what is quite possibly the most tumultuous way to begin a new relationship, is swept away to his home village in the jungle so that he can help his family hunt the jaguar that killed his nephew. Lily's next 10-months in the jungle are fast-paced, gritty, horrifying, but also heartwarming and extremely educational; a lot can be learned from this book, aside from just how to live and love in the jungle.

A lot had to have gone into writing this book, the imagery alone is lyrical and beautiful and haunting, a true talent given that the jungle is a place constantly on a quest to kill you. Ferencik's inclusion of political and industrial policy, weaving it into the delicate lives of those who remain in the jungle, is genius and poignant and does a great honor to a land so taken for granted. Ferencik expertly, though heartbreakingly, articulates the sad truth that the issues that face this land and these people are shouted into the wind and carried away forever, like the brown river water. "...it's not over, this bad story no one can get away from. There will be other poachers. This is not the end of those bad men, of these terrible times..."

Into the Jungle is gripping and powerful, scary and romantic, tough and fragile, and the writing is truly above par, which is why I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads. It is a very entertaining, engrossing story that is not only interesting to read, but has a fair amount to teach us about our own capabilities and limits and how both might be just figments of our imagination.