Wish You Were Here: a story of personal evolutions

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult is a story about the unexpectedness of life and finding what you didn’t know you wanted. Diana O’Toole was the track to her perfect life. She would be married by 30 and have her children by 35, then they would move to the New York suburbs. Of course, she will climb the professional ladder in the cutthroat world of art auctions. She is an associate specialist at Sotheby’s and certainly on her way to a promotion, if she could just close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged yet but she’s certain that her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is close to proposing. Probably on their vacation getaway to the Galapagos. But when the COVID-19 hits New York City and on the eve of their departure, Finn announces that it's all hands on deck at the hospital. He can’t leave but there’s no reason Diana can’t go. Why waste their non refundable trip? So, she goes. Immediately, the trip goes south and she finds herself on lockdown on the island. Slowly, she connects with a local family. As Darwin formed his theory of evolution by natural selection in the Galapagos Islands, Diana finds herself examining herself and wonders if she will be the same person when she gets home? 

After I read Ms. Picoult’s latest release, The Book of Two Ways, I was hesitant to read Wish You Were Here. But I decided to give her another chance as she is usually good for an emotional, thought provoking story. Unfortunately, Wish You Were Here fell flat for me. There was no emotional impact. I understand where the author was going with the thought provoking idea of personal evolutions. I didn’t feel any connection to Diana and her story development was predictable. I didn’t care for her high profile client, Kitomi Ito and her husband Sam, which was a very barely-disguised copy of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. I didn’t enjoy the political digs and while the author makes no effort to hide her political stance in any of her books, I felt the political digs were overly done. Overall, Wish You Were Here isn’t the Jodi Picoult story I am used to or expected. Although I should have listened to my hesitation after my experience with The Book of Two Ways. As with most of her books, there is a twist that “you shouldn’t see coming” but this one really angered me and soured the book even more for me. I feel writing about COVID while we are still living in the pandemic was a bad move. 

Wish You Were Here will be available November 30, 2021 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. 

Nineteen Minutes: a lot can happen in nineteen minutes

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a grim and startling story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy. Think of what can happen in nineteen simple minutes. Could you mow the lawn? Bake cookies? Fold laundry? Maybe seek revenge? Sterling, New Hampshire is an ordinary town where nothing ever happens. In nineteen minutes, Peter Houghton will shatter the town’s quiet haven. As the residents seek the answers to their question, they must come to terms about their possible role in the tragedy and seek justice from those who would turn their world upside down. Jose Cormier is the daughter of a local judge and one of the students injured in the tragedy. She would be the best witness to figure out what exactly happened; unfortunately, she doesn’t remember any details...or does she? As the trial progresses, the bonds between friends and family begin to crack. Who is at fault? Will the town recover? 

Nineteen Minutes takes a hard look at bullying and how we, as a society, respond to it. Ms. Picoult is an amazing storyteller as she writes a raw and honest look at every parents’ and community’s nightmare. Told in the straightforward manner that I have some to expect from her, she asks the simplest questions with the most complex answers. How well do you truly know your children? What does it mean to be an outsider in the social world of high school and society at large? Is there anything that could have been done to prevent such tragedies?  Nineteen Minutes was a very difficult book to get through. Ms. Picoult does not shy away from the difficult subject and offers an in-depth look into the hows and whys that are often asked. Even though it was not an easy read, it is a topic that we need to think about and be prepared to respond.  I highly recommend Nineteen Minutes. 

Nineteen Minutes is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook. 

The Book of Two Ways: not a typical Jodi Picoult story

 The Book of Two Ways is the newest book by bestselling author, Jodi Picoult. It is the story of Dawn Edelstein who survives a plane crash. In a single moment everything changes that as she prepares for the crash landing, her thoughts are not about her husband or daughter of a man she hasn’t seen in fifteen years. After the crash, she is given the option to be taken anywhere she wants to go. She knows she should go home to her husband and daughter but instead she hops on a plane to Cairo, Egypt where Wyatt Armstrong is an archaeologist studying the ancient burial sites. She wants to continue the work she left behind in Egypt as she was studying the Book of Two Ways, the first known map of the afterlife. It also means confronting her and Wyatt’s unresolved history. As the story unfolds, Dawn has two possible futures ahead of her and she confronts questions of what a life well-lived looks like, what do we leave behind when we leave this earth, and do we make choices or do our choices make us?

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult’s for many years and I eagerly delved into The Book of Two Ways. Unfortunately, after the excitement of the opening chapter, I was quickly bored as the story gets bogged down with so much detailed information of hieroglyphs, Egyptian cultures, and quantum physics. It is a book about love and loss, life and death, and Egypt. Lots and lots of Egypt. The overload of information caused me to lose track of where I was in the story and how the information even fits into the story. This overload overpowers the emotional, human aspects that is usually characteristic of her books. It was hard to care for Dawn and her journey. At one point, she has sex with her husband after an argument and her husband thinks everything is fine, she proclaims that just because she had sex with him, everything was not fine. So why have sex with him? It is just one example of eyerolling moments. As a fan of Ms. Picoult, I say give The Book of Two Ways a pass.

 

The Book of Two Ways is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook.

Small Great Things: a story about modern racism and prejudice

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult is dramatic and thought provoking story about racism and how we interact with each other as members of different races. The story is told from the perspectives of a dedicated labor and delivery nurse, a White Supremacist man, and a lawyer who tries to defend her client. The story opens with Ruth, who decided to become a labor and deliver nurse after watching her mother deliver her employer’s son after she went in to labor. She is raising her son, Edison, 17, after her husband was killed in Afghanistan. Ruth comes on her shift as just another day and she is assigned to a new mother, Brittany Bauer and her new son. As she goes about her job, checking the baby, talking with the parents, she doesn’t notice that the father, Turk, is getting really tense. Soon, he has had a enough and demands to talk with Ruth’s supervisor. Turk Bauer was Ruth removed from the care of his wife and son. Why? Ruth is black. Ruth is reassigned and never sees baby Bauer again. Until one fate day when she is left alone in the nursery with the baby while another nurse sees to an emergency. Ruth notices something is wrong with baby Bauer but she hesitates. She isn’t supposed to touch this baby. After a code is called and a team works on the baby, the baby is pronounced dead. Her decision wither or not help the baby will lead to the fight for her freedom and her life. Enter Kennedy, a lawyer with the public defender’s office, who decides to take Ruth’s case. Can Kennedy disprove that Ruth’s inaction or actions caused the death of the baby? Will Ruth ever get her life back and the job she loves?

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult’s books since I was introduced to The Storyteller. All her books cover issues and events which have no clear cut solution or resolution. And Small Great Things is no different. I was offered a pre-release copy of this book, I jumped at the chance. I chose this story in particular because it is a black nurse up against the hatred of a white supremacist. As I read this story, I was reminded of the nurse who took care of me when I had my four year old daughter. Yes, she was black and she was the sweetest person in the world. She sat and talked with me as we waited. She encouraged me as I was in active labor and she brought my new miracle in my arms. My only regret is that I do not remember her name but her kindness to me is engraved in my memory. As I read, I burned with anger at the actions and words of the white supremacist. In true Jodi Picoult fashion, Small Great Things will challenge your own thoughts on prejudice and racism and may even make you face your own that you may not even know that you had. I highly, highly recommend Small Great Things.

Small Great Things

will be available on

October 11, 2016

in hardback $28.99

and

Kindle/Nook $14.99