Henry Shukman's The Lost City

The Lost City is a great adventure tale, but it is not, though the opening would attest to the contrary, rife with great meaning. Unfortunately, Jackson Small, the protagonist, is too uni-dimensional for his journey to be anything more significant than one man's hunt for meaning in a forest. Jackon's relationship with Connelly scars him, and he desires only to find that kind of relationship again. When he does, with Sarah, the beautiful grad student and Ignacio, the young boy with an uncanny knack for navigating the jungle, the tale is basicly over. What comes after is the adventure part, which is the strongest aspect of the story. Shukman's poetical abilities show up in beautiful descriptions of wind, sky, and desert. Jackson's hunt for La Joya and the descriptions of the scenary keep this novel interesting. Jackson's character development does not.

The Lost City came out last week.