Wish You Were Here (Jodi Picoult)

The first book I ever read by Jodi Picoult was The Pact. I made the mistake of reading that on vacation -- the mistake was that all I wanted to do was read. It was that engrossing. I read everything she's ever written up to 2020's The Book of Two Ways, which brought my streak to a screeching halt. It was so heavy and filled with ancient Egyptian history that I couldn't get through it. While I liked Wish You Were Here a little more, I didn't like it as much as other Jodi books.

The main character, Diana O'Toole, is positive that her boyfriend, Finn, will propose on their upcoming trip to the Galapagos. But as a surgical resident, Finn must cancel the trip because of "all hands on deck" at the hospital. At this point, no one knew exactly how bad Covid would get. Implausibly, he tells Diana she should still go, and she does. But, of course, she gets stranded and only has limited contact with Finn, who tells her that things are not going well. Since her hotel has closed, a local family puts her up, and she grows close with them. 

A warning that the majority of Wish You Were Here is about the pandemic, so if you're not ready to read about that yet, you might want to steer clear. I think what I found most frustrating is that Diana in the Galapagos really seems like a completely different book than what Finn is going through in the States. The mesh wasn't seamless. All in all, I would put this toward the bottom of the list of Picoult books, but that's because she has so many other ones I liked better.

MY RATING - 3

Available Nov. 30, 2021

Handle With Care (Jodi Picoult)

Well, now you will finally be introduced to my absolute obsession with Jodi Picoult's writing style. I started reading her books in the late '90s with "The Pact", and I eagerly look forward to her new title every March. Grisham and Picoult release their new books at about the same time every year. While Grisham used to write very, very thrilling material, he now seems to be following the unfortunate "write junk to make my deadline and more money quickly" protocol (like Patterson). Picoult, however, writes stories of quality every single year. What is so interesting about her is that she makes you have sympathy for characters who you can't believe you can have sympathy for. Picoult writes all of her stories from many different viewpoints. No character is 100% right and no character is 100% wrong.

"Handle With Care" is Picoult's newest. It is so difficult to determine her best, but I believe this is it. Willow is a child with osteogenesis imperfecta, a debilitating disease which makes bones break at the slightest strain. Normal childhood events like going to Disney World and the first day of Kindergarten are magnified 100 times with the possibility that a bone will break. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe are Willow's parents who desperately love their daughter. With mounting medical bills and the accusations of child abuse due to Willow's breaks, the O'Keefes are forced to confront some what-ifs. What if they had known about Willow's disease before she was born? What determines a valuable life?

I will be reviewing many of Picoult's books in this blog, but I wanted to do my favorite first. You will never regret reading one of her books. They will confront you with questions about your own beliefs and fears and will keep you up late into the night. There is a reason why she is on the bestseller lists every year.

MY RATING - 5