2022 Book Review #5:Wish You Were Here

 

Wow.  Just...wow.

This is a long anticipated novel.  When I first heard that my very fave female author was writing a book based on the Covid-19 Pandemic, I was excited. She is such a phenomenal writer as those of you who love her books know.  This one did NOT disappoint. I have truly loved all of her novels except for 2.  (and even those had some excellent spots). 

STORY SUMMARY

Diana O'Toole is almost engaged to Finn.  Finn is a surgical resident in a Brooklyn hospital and they live in an apartment in Manhattan where Diana works for Sotheby's as an art associate specialist.  She has a bucket list and goals.  She is right on track.  She wants to be married by age 30, have children by the time she's 35, and move out of NYC to the suburbs.  She also wants to continue to climb the career ladder in the art auction world.  Her boss has hinted that she might get a promotion if she can close the deal of a Toulous-Lautrec original from a high profile client. 

Finn and Diana are about to leave for a romantic week away on the Galapagos Islands. Diana is certain that Finn is going to propose to her....just days before she turns 30.  He is right on time.

And then...the virus that felt like it was worlds away, hits New York City.  On the evening they are to leave the country, Finn tells her he has some bad news.  He has to stay to work at the hospital because it's "all hands on deck". He assures her that she should go anyways....it would be awful to miss the opportunity, especially since the trip is nonrefundable. He doesn't want their money to go to waste.

So...Diana leaves the United States. And almost immediately everything goes wrong. Her luggage never makes it to Isabella Island. The Wi-Fi is basically non-existant and the hotel where they were supposed to be staying as shut down due to the pandemic.  In fact, the entire island is under quarantine and yet no one is sick! In fact, there are NO other tourists as they all left on the last ferry and there are hardly any residents on this particular island. Diana is now stranded until the borders open up again. She is now completely isolated and this is way past her comfort zone. 

She begins to develop a friendship with a local family when a teenage girl opens up to her with a secret......and her father, although suspicious of outsiders, begins to also develop a relationship with Diana. Diana begins to explore her relationships, her choices, and her self.  Will she ever get home? Will she be different from this experience?  

MY THOUGHTS

Wow.  This is a fantastic read.  I was hooked mainly because we are still living with this virus and life has definitely changed the world in many different ways.

My emotions were all over the place with this story and its  development. Some parts were difficult for me to read and I still haven't known anyone to be super sick or dead because of Covid.  Hardly any of my relatives got it (our youngest daughter had a super mild case..more like a head cold) and my unvaccinated relatives didn't get it either. Dave's parents did and were quite ill but not to the point where they needed a ventilator.  I had one friend who tested positive but again, it was a super mild case.  Several work colleagues tested positive but I have not. The ones in the book that she describes are very intense.  She really gets into what the doctors and nurses faced and says in her author's notes that she interviewed many medical professionals and many people who were patients of severe Covid/on ventilators.

I learned alot about our minds while under sedation and that part was fascinating to me.  

This book is about resilience in the face of a world-wide crisis. She touches on friendships, romantic relationships, work relationships, the meaning of love, the mother-daughter relationship.  There's a spiritual quality to this  story that is exquisitely described.  Some of the other themes in the book are cutting/self-injury and suicide. 

She doesn't spend a lot of time on the politics of this pandemic and for that I am thankful.  She does mention our whacky former president though and it's very well done. 

I felt myself begin to have that panicky feeling when she described what the world was like, particulary NY, in the first month of the pandemic.....the first month of the lockdown, specifically.  I literally felt myself feeling that sadness and heaviness come over me and I had to put the book down for an evening. 

There is an unexpected surprise in this story.  I was stunned.  It was brilliant writing.  I honestly couldn't put this book down and lost some sleep this week because I just had to find out what was going to happen. I love that in a book.

This book has trials and triumphs.  It shows us what the medical professionals really felt and saw. It shows us how crises can change us for the better.  It's really hard to put into words how this book made me feel. It's quite intense. 

There are many good quotes from this book.  Here are my faves:

"Busy is just an euphemism for being so focused on what you don't have that you never notice what you do.  It's a defense mechanism.  Because if you stop hustling.....if you pause..you start wondering why you even thought you wanted all those things." (pg 172, Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult, c. 2021)

 

 "It's not having the adventures or crossing off the line items of the bucket list. It's who you were with, who will help you recall it when your memory fails." (pg 291)

"The problem is that anchors don't just keep you from floating away.  Sometimes, they drag you down." (pg 304). 

and from the author's notes:

"It's having no expectations but taking nothing for granted.......it's knowing that at the very end of life, no matter what your net worth is and the length of your CV, the only thing you want is someone beside you, holding your hand." (pg 316) 

Read this book.  Read the author's note.  And then read the acknowledgements.  

You'll be grateful you did.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. (note: could be a trigger for people who cut)

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.