I have been a little hesitant to pick up anything pandemic-related. However, Jodi Picoult's new book reads like a journal from the first few weeks of the pandemic. This might not be for everyone but I found it to be a good read. Will be fun to pick it up in a few years as well...

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, and this novel is the latest reason why. The plot could not be more topical or relevant to life today in 2022. The reader is quickly drawn into the plot, which has several plot twists, and the characters are engaging and real. While the story focuses on how life has changed due to Covid, that's really just a backdrop as the main character, Diana, explores her plans for life and ends up reassessing her goals and aspirations as she discovers what's really most important and meaningful to her. I raced through this book in just a few days. A great read!

I understood what Picoult was trying to do with book, however, a major part of the storyline included COVID. In my opinion it was too poignant. Picoult's books do a good job of taking your mind to places it wouldn't normally find itself. Picoult's books inspire hope, change, and love. Her characters are empathetic, inquisitive, and often have a lot of internal struggles that they need to overcome. During the time of COVID many people want to escape the fear, the uncertainty. I felt this book focused too much on all the things we want to escape from.

3.5 stars for this, my 18th book by Jodi Picoult. I received a comp copy from the publisher Penguin Random House through NetGalley.

Is it too soon to read about what the Covid pandemic was like at its onset in early 2020? Me thinks it is, at least for me.

Diana and Finn are a couple in love living their shared dreams in NYC, and about to embark on a trip to Galapagos where Diana is certain they're going to become engaged. When Covid hits and Finn's job as a hospital resident prevents him from leaving, he tells Diana to use her nonrefundable ticket without him. Her memories from this time are beautiful and life changing. Finn's long emailed descriptions of conditions at the hospital were so realistic, I could not bring myself to read them. None of them. This thing is still too real for me to absorb myself in it much further.

Then there's a huge twist, as is typical of Picoult, and I enjoyed the rest of the book much more. But still I kept thinking of getting back to the book as a bit of a chore and it took me weeks to finish. I mean I won't even read emails in my own mailbox about the ups and downs of local cases and deaths, why read a fictional account.

Again, it's too soon for me. But a very well written, imaginative account, to be sure.

This book was unlike many of Jodi Picoult’s other books…..while simultaneously being quite familiar in many ways. The author took a timely topic….Covid….and put a spin on it that makes the reader think twice. The characters in this book were human…..at times so utterly relatable and at other moments- not likable at all. Flawed yet wonderfully real. The twist in this story was a punch….you didn’t see it-until it was there. Jodi Picoult is a master at that. Another great read. Highly recommend!

I really didn't understand when people would say they didn't think they were ready to read a book about Covid...until I picked this one up. I felt anxiety instantly swell. This book was very well written. It takes a bit of a twist that I didn't see coming and I am still trying to decide how I feel about it. Jodi Picoult is an incredible writer and she adequately captured the fear and uncertainty of 2020.

Picoult knows how to write a story that is hard to put down. Diana works for Sotheby’s and lives with her boyfriend, Finn. As they are about to leave for a vacation to the Galapagos, Covid starts to appear on the hospital that Finn is doing his residency. Diana decides to go alone, but doesn’t realize until it’s too late that she will be stuck there. In messages from Finn, the seriousness of the pandemic and the hardships experienced by healthcare workers are expressed. There is a major twist, and much about the longer terms effects of Covid discussed, but at the heart of the book, exists a story of love, family and hopefulness. I highly recommend this book, and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

✨Book Review✨
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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Wow. What to say about this book? First of all, this is a book about the pandemic, which made it both captivating and horrifying. It sort of felt like the equivalent of watching a car crash and not being able to look away. There were times where it was VERY hard to read, so trigger warning for Covid and all of the things that come up with that. This book brings you right back to the pandemic's early days.
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That being said, this was an extremely good book. I read it so fast and really couldn't put it down. Wish You Were Here tells the story of a couple, Diana and Finn who have a trip to the Galapagos planned for March 14th, 2020. Finn is a doctor and Diana is an artist, and as soon as lockdown begins, Finn realizes that he can't leave. He asks Diana to go on their trip alone so that he won't have to worry about getting her sick when he comes home from the hospital after his sometimes 30 hour shifts. She goes, but when she arrives, she realizes that this island is starting their lockdown, too and there is no where for her to stay, no food for her to eat. When a very kind local who goes by the name Abuela takes her in, Diana starts to live life as a local on the island of Isabela.
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Y'all. The twist in this book was everything. I knew there was a twist from previous reviews, but it still shocked the hell out of me. I thought it was extremely well done, and I really loved the ambiguous ending. This book definitely will not be for everyone, but if you are intrigued after reading the synopsis and this review, I say go for it!

How to even review this book.. I have such mixed feelings on it. It was good but then it wasnt. I have been putting this one off for awhile just because of what I have heard about it but I knew I had to read it for myself. I have always liked Jodi's work but this one fell short for me. Maybe it just was too much on the whole COVID situation. We all have been through it, we all are over it and maybe I just didnt want to hear anymore about it so I was kinda just wanting to get this one out of the way. Dont get me wrong the story was interesting in some parts and there was a huge twist I was not expecting so I give that a thumbs up on that part and what came after that but overall it was just okay for me. Unpopular opinion. Like I said, if you can deal with reading a lot about COVID and are okay with that then I think you will be fine but if not, then this one might not be for you. Definitely a slow burn read.

I'm a huge Jodi Picoult fan- i've read all her stuff, and what I love most is how she tells a story from both or all perspectives. Which is why this book was such a let down. It was a good read, But as a healthcare worker working through Covid I did not appreciate the portrayal of healthcare worker. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc

⚠️trigger warning: mention of suicide, death, drowning, and the pandemic⚠️
Diana o'Toole was on the path to success. She had amazing job in the art world that she loved with a promotion so close she could almost taste it. She was about to close a very important deal with well known client and a very prestigious piece of art, an great boyfriend that was a surgical resident, and was about to go on an amazing vacation to the Galápagos. Everything was all lining up with her life plans and she couldn't be happier. That is, until the pandemic hit. It was suddenly all hands on deck and the hospital, and Finn, her boyfriend, decided it would be best for Diana to go ahead and go on the vacation. However, the second she stepped off the plane, nothing seemed to go right. The airline lost her luggage, the island was closing down, and she couldn't even stay at the hotel she had booked, because that had been shut down as well. Fortunately she met a kind hearted local that took her in. Diana comes to the realization that she's basically trapped on the island. All flights out have been canceled. She has almost no means of communication with anyone off the island, so she can't even talk to Finn. As time moves on, she begins to feel like one of the locals and has even gotten close to the family she's been staying with. So close, the teenage girl opens up to Diana, sharing her deepest secret. While on the island, Diana is able to do a lot of thinking and starts to truly find herself. What does all of this mean? Will she be able to return to the life she left behind and still be the same Diana with the same goals in life?
A heartfelt thank you to Netgalley, Jodi Picoult, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book. Where do I start? I have been a Jodi Picoult fan for years. I've read and loved so many of her books, so imagine how psyched I was to be given such amazing opportunity to receive an arc with her newest book. Due to the nature of the book, it did take me a while longer to get through it. The pandemic has been so hard on everyone, and being in healthcare, this book just hit very close to home. The attention to detail and laying it all out was just amazing. As hard of a book as it was at times to read, I enjoyed every second of it. As always, Jodi Picoult knocked it out of the park. I rate this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I agree that talking about this book too much can spoil it, so I’m not going to do that. The funny thing is I enjoyed the first half of the book so much more than the second, which is the opposite of the reviews I’ve read so far! If the Covid pandemic has been too much for you or too traumatic, or if you’ve lost someone, I wouldn’t read this one quite yet. But it is well written, and I definitely learned something! Thank you Netgalley!

I don’t gunk Jodi Piccoult can write a bad book.

This one sets you right back into March 2020. Beginning of the pandemic we are still living through. I really enjoyed the look into island life during these first days and also the dr perspective as well.

But may was I blown away around the middle of the book!

Piccoult did a great job of having you feel all the emotions.

You know how certain authors, particular writing styles or even just certain subjects resonate within you, hit that sweet spot in your soul or bring on those unicorn moments? Well this one combined all three and this was a rainbow unicorn throwing cupcakes and shooting glitter all over my world. I love nothing more than moments of grace and serendipity and surprise. When all those come together, it is pure bliss for me and I wrap myself up in a warm hug when I turn the last page. Even when my heart hurts, it just feels right.

I don't know if it was because the pandemic is still so close to home and we are all still living with trying to find our new normal and navigate things we haven't had to deal with, but this one is going to stay with me for a long time.

What's it about? Well, there's really no way to even share a little bit without ruining the reading experience. Suffice it to say I was swept away, and I was sad, and I was hopeful. Just grab this one, lean into it, and enjoy the ride.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. This book was a fantastic read as the we approach the other side of the pandemic. It was raw with fear as the characters tried to navigate through the early days of COVID. I enjoyed the first half as it combined hospital drama with tropical romance....and then the plot twist! LOVED it. Went from predictable to up in the air and I couldn't stop reading until I learned how all the characters landed! Once again, Picoult doesn't disappoint!

Love everything that Picoult writes - and this was no exception. The timing of this read was great while personally and "trying to find the light and the positive under challenger circumstances - was just what I needed

Jodi Picoult always finds relevant topics to write about that nail honest feeling and realistic interactions between characters, and Wish You Were Here was no exception. Diana and Finn were a team that knew what they wanted and were working towards it. Everything was planned out until COVID hit, and their lives were turned upside down.

I can't even write more because I don't want to ruin the novel, but I couldn't read the pages fast enough. This was a one sitting kind of book where you couldn't have predicted what was going on. The author researched the illness and the aftermath for healthcare workers and patience. It really gave me new insight that I hadn't heard or read about.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

I loved this book. What an interesting journey it took me on. I felt like I was floating in the world Dianna was in during the height of the pandemic. Her whole life plan was completely thrown upside down in a way that probably never would have happened if not for COVID. Picoult wrote a heartfelt story centered in the very real 2020 pandemic with raw emotion that reflects what everyone was feeling.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult is one of the first major novels written about the Covid-19 pandemic during the pandemic. I found it to be full of buzzwords and important popular culture touchpoints but low on depth. The main conflict did not seem realistic or even based-in the reality of the subject matter. It just rang hollow on a topic that could have been rich.

Well, of course no surprise, Jodi Picoult is ripping my heart out, again. This is my first foray into a novel with the theme of covid running through it and so many times I could feel the characters' reactions on a visceral level.

At one point Diana’s boyfriend, Finn tells the story of an emergency surgery he does on a man that is dying of covid and I am sitting in the car pick up line for my kids school just bawling my eyes out, because he points out that the nurse is the real hero as she comforts the dying man.

Imagine being in the Galapagos Islands as the world shuts down due to Covid.
Imagine being a surgeon and your specialty shifts to treating Covid patients and scrub in/scrub out protocols day in and day out with a tsunami wave of cases headed towards you.

Picoult choses a beautiful way to tell the story- a young couple, Diana and Finn, on the “right trajectory” for their life plan, ready to go on vacation just as covid hits New York. Of course he has to stay behind because all hands are on deck at the hospital, and he sends her anyway so they don’t lose their vacation money and because she deserves it.

I also love the art history/Sotheby’s flashback storyline, woven with a Yoko Ono-esque modern storyline. It was just done SO DANG WELL!

As only Picoult does, she does intensive research- research that makes this novel eerily realistic. Read the author’s note at the end. You can viscerally feel the characters’ emotions as your own.

I loved the short, choppy chapters that came at intense moments in the storyline- it’s almost as if you are gasping for breath as the characters might be. Grasping for solidity in the landscape of a pandemic.

Kudos to Picoult, and this novel. Read it if you can. Don’t if you can’t. I won’t push this on you, but I will be here to talk about it, because it brings those very real Station Eleven vibes and I am still talking about that novel and recommending it to everyone that will listen to a good book recommendation.

Obviously covid has been hard for many people, this is a content warning for that reason. If you think you can handle the storyline, then by all means read it. This one will stay with me for a long time, but I was ready to read it. Be gentle on yourself if you aren’t, and that is okay.

I also listened on audiobook and the narrator, Marin Ireland is a phenomenal narrator. Highly recommend it for that reason as well!