4.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published November 30, 2021.

NO SPOILERS in my review but be careful in reading other reviews. Something big happens halfway through the book and you don’t want to know ahead of time.

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult’s books for a long time. She is definitely on my short list of favorite authors. Each of her books is well-researched and vastly different from one another.

This book focuses on a perfect young couple who have their future mapped out. But then Covid happens. Finn is a resident in NYC so we hear first hand about his experiences on the front line. Diana works in art auctions at Sotheby’s and her mom is a famous photographer. She ends up going on their dream vacation to the Galápagos Islands by herself and learns a lot about herself and her life choices.

Another great book!
#wishyouwerehere
#jodipicoult
#netgalley

Review also posted on GoodReads

I am a huge Picoult fan, and am thrilled every year for a new book. Was really thrilled to get this one, as I have been to the Galapagos……but I must admit, something missed fir me here. I felt like the characters were t real, they all seemed cliched, and I also felt like it was to early to read a Covid novel. I appreciate the risk, but I much prefer her usual ethical dilemmas.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an advanced copy of this new novel.

Wish You Were Here, the new novel by Jodi Picoult has nothing to do with the Pink Floyd album of the same name, but more to do with COVID, love and what we want for our lives, and what live and reality can do to change those dreams. Like the last year, it is a lot to take in.

A book written by an author in self-isolation, about a woman with high expectations for her life, being forced to change those expectations, her occupation put on hold, possible marriage in doubt. This is a book that speaks to many about the things that were faced, and that continue to resonate around the world.

There is of course a twist. As it is a Jodi Picoult novel I am not spoiling any plot lines. How we get there is an interesting journey. Ms. Picoult as usual has done the research, on infectious diseases, medicine and even the Galapagos islands which feature in the plot. I won't say why.

Isolation is the theme of this story. Diane, our character, finds the things she thought she knew would be forever are not permanent. Well maybe hope. This is one of the first of the pandemic books to be released. It is very goods and raises many questions, some answered, many not. All we can do is to live life like another Pink Floyd song title, "Shine on You Crazy Diamond".

The first (of likely MANY!) books where the Covid-19 pandemic plays a significant role in the plot. Finn & Diana have their lives all planned out. Work in the city (NYC) for a few years, get timely promotions, marry, move to the 'burbs, have kids. Diana suspects Fill will finally propose on their trip to the Galapagos, but everything changes once the pandemic hits. Dr. Finn is slammed, Diana's job has a hiccup, and the trip is postponed for Finn, but Diana goes on alone, only to be trapped on the island.

There's a LOT of medical detail about coronavirus, a LOT of information about the Galapagos, and frankly I got a bit bored for a while. THEN (at about halfway in) everything changed. I'm glad I didn't give up since this turned into the novel I expected from Jodi Picoult -- situations ripped from the headlines, believable characters, moments of joy and heartbreak. I did not enjoy the last two books of hers I read because so much of them were just "data dumps" -- way too much information about elephants (Leaving Time) and archeology (Book of Two ways). I was afraid this one might be the same. Yes, there's a lot of medical information and jargon, but most of the book is about how Finn and Diana react to the pandemic. It's the human aspect that makes this book special. It might be too soon for some who are still suffering from the effects of Covid, but this is definitely a timely book and is a must read for those of us who are Picoult fans.

Jodi Picoult does not disappoint! She was bold and brave in tackling the themes in this book as they deal with controversial topics in our current events today. Here is a quick overview of some of these items she weaves into this story: COVID-19 & the 2020 pandemic, LGBTQ issues, mental health issues (suicide, cutting, abandonment), aging & dementia, interactions with other cultures (language barriers), losing loved ones (grief), DMT & near death experiences.

I know we’re all tired and exhausted from the pandemic and thinking of reading a book about it might not be of interest for many, BUT Jodi addresses this topic in a way that is necessary, needed, and interesting. Without giving too much of the story line away, I’ll just say that she focuses on giving a voice and viewpoint to the storyline of the Covid patient, which we don’t often hear about. There are very interesting twists and turns in this book that will make you stop and go “Wow!” It made me re-evaluate the way I thought about life and how Covid really does change things more than we realize.

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story about the life we plan and finding ourselves in the chaos of the unplanned. Impossible truths and unbearable reality. Hope and strength in the face of uncertainty and loss.

I was absolutely skeptical about reading a book about COVID right now, but I have the utmost trust in Jodi Picoult as an author. Ultimately, Wish You Were Here was, for me, a 5 star read. I used to take several days to read Picoult’s books–especially the court room ones–but I finished this in a day! That is a compliment from me, even if now I’m itching for her next book, LOL.
Diana O’Toole is a specialist at Sotheby’s about to close a major deal and then go on a Galopogean vacation with her doctor boyfriend, but there’s a looming issue: the coronavirus. Diana decides to go on her own, and ultimately finds herself stranded on the island of Isabel, becoming a local, swimming with biting penguins, and ingratiating herself with a former tour guide and his family. In being stranded, Diana begins to understand herself even more and question life’s plan, but of course, this is a Jodi Picoult novel so you know she’s going to hit you with a twist that will leave you gasping for air.
This book has a lot of heart, and is kind of what we’ve come to suspect from Picoult–a really well researched piece that pulls at your heart, gives you a good twist, and leaves you staring at the end contemplating life. No court room drama here–just drama of the real world!
While this is a COVID book through and through, it’s about the very early pandemic, and therefore, as a reader, I found it almost soothing to read now, in the summer of 2021, thinking about how far we’ve come.
Wish You Were Here is on sale wherever books are sold November 30, 2021. Perfect for a Christmas gift, TBH.

Picoult asks in the Author's Note: "How are we going to chronicle the pandemic? Who will do it? How do we tell the tale of how the world shut down, and why, and what we learned?" And she sets out to try to give readers a glimpse into what we might not have seen on the news or read in the paper or even heard from friends and family.
Diana's well-thought-out plan for life goes awry when she takes a dream vacation alone while her boyfriend, a surgical resident, stays in NYC to work at the hospital as a virus overtakes the city. While on vacation, Diana meets a teenager in need of a mentor and her father . . . and the novel starts to read like a typical romance. Until it doesn't. (Sidebar: Picoult says escaping into romance novels helped her get through the early days of the pandemic.) When Diana returns to NYC, life has dramatically changed. She has to confront her plan and decide who she is and what she does now.

This novel takes the reader on vacation to the Galapagos to see turtles and sea lions and iguanas and volcanoes. It discusses art and how it can transform and heal. It examines relationships in many forms. And it shows the human spirit in the face of adversity. Yes, it's set during the recent pandemic, but it's so much more than a "COVID story."

I requested to read and review this book for free from Ballantine Books. The author Jodi Picoult did a great creating another great read. This book makes you stop and think what would you truly do. Do you truly know someone ? Can your life plan change? This is a realistic view of what life was like for some during the pandemic. It's real and raw. But it's a story that needs to be told. Many emotions in this book happiness, betrayal, sadness and anger. In this book you will have romance, disbelief, mystery, drama and so much more. This book is for a mature reader and can be ready anywhere!

Diana had the perfect life: her dream job, almost engaged to a handsome surgical resident and an opportunity to snag an important piece of art for sale from a famous client. This all fit into the plan she had for her life. Then Covid struck and her boyfriend Finn was transferred from the empty surgical ward to the ICU where he treated only Covid patients.
The couple had planned on taking a prepaid trip to the Galápagos Islands right before Diana’s 30th birthday. She expected that Finn would propose on the trip. However Finn was unable to travel and so he suggested that Diana go alone. When she got to the island everything went wrong. Her luggage was lost. She discovered that the island was in lockdown and the resort was closed. Cell phone and WiFi service was unreliable and so she had little contact with family and friends. Even though she spoke no Spanish, she was able to communicate with locals who spoke English and were helpful.
Then the story takes an incredible turn and everything changes.
There is a great deal of medical information about Covid and the treatment of patients who catch it. The pandemic is not over so I did not enjoy reading the many pages filled with medical information. Even though I have been fully vaccinated and am in good health, I can still get Covid. Maybe I would feel differently if I read this after the pandemic was a memory. I actually preferred the author’s last book, The Book of Two Ways, to this one but that may be because I have visited Egypt and the antiquities there.
I received this ARC from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know how Picoult did it, but she wrote a really good novel on the pandemic. She is surely a blazing writer. As usual she gives a different way to look at things.

It's been a long time since I couldn't put down a book. I was a little nervous that a book about COVID, quarantine, lock-down, would be too soon and feel exploitative and cheap. But "Wish you were here" was a heartfelt book that tugs at what so many of us experience(d) and brings the humanity back into the trauma and tragedy of the pandemic.

Imagine if at the beginning of the pandemic you found yourself stranded on an island where all of the tourist had fled, your soon to be fiance stayed behind in NYC as an essential worker, your luggage is lost, and cell phone service is rare (but bits of the "real world" are filled in through messages from your boyfriend). Your basic needs are met, you are in a gorgeous environment, and develop some relationships with a local family who struggle with some of the same dynamics you have experienced in your own life.

We get to know Diana, a young woman with a love of art who has her whole life mapped out. The story is told through her first person narrative of the pandemic, memories about her childhood, and the history of some famous pieces of art mixed in with the messages from her boyfriend. Like many of us, the COVID crisis gives her an opportunity to evaluate her life, prioritize her values, and perhaps even have a second chance.

My biggest criticism is that while Diana's bff is a black man, the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter uprising was strangely absent. There are some low key references, but I felt like Picoult played it way too safe. and the book lost a star from me because of it.

I love Jodi Picoult's books and this was one of my favorite and brought me to tears several times, while including some of her trademark jaw dropping moments.

This is the first COVID-19 fiction I’ve read by a major novelist and it rang so true that I felt as if I were living through the early days of the virus in America. But there’s so much more to this addictive story!

Picoult had a near miss with COVID herself; all guests at the same wedding table contracted it except her. Her children and their partners later became ill, fortunately with mild symptoms. She also did in-depth research that adds layers of convincing authenticity to the electric narrative.

Now to the story. What if you were a nearly betrothed couple with a trip planned to Galápagos just as Covid-19 engulfs NYC?

Diana is an associate specialist at Sotheby’s. When she visits the home of a Yoko Ono-based character who wants to sell a fantastic Toulouse-Lautrec painting, we see it as thrillingly as she does:

“I couldn’t tear my eyes from it …. The smudges of color at the edges of the frame became crisper in the middle, where the lovers were depicted. Clearest of all were their eyes, riveted on each other. Suddenly I was there, in the way that art can make you time-travel: I could imagine the painter, mixing his palette; could smell the attar of roses on the bedsheets; could hear the thumps of the prostitutes entertaining their clients in the rooms on either side.”

Lush descriptions such as these are the reason I read and review. Just as a master painter created this art, a masterful writer brings it to us in full glory. Oh, how I felt I was right beside her, transported as she was!

Diana’s vacation with partner Finn is scheduled right after this when Covid strikes. He’s a surgical resident who must stay in the city for work, and sends Diana alone on their planned vacation, thinking it would be safer away.

And with the same painterly details, Picoult shows us Galápagos and the islands soon on lockdown. We feel Diana’s angst at being so alone (all businesses were closed) and her fear when she can’t get cell service to Finn. We feel her relief at finally connecting with other islanders, especially one gorgeous man, and experience her sense of being in tropical Heaven, more herself than ever.

When she is whooshed back to NYC, I literally gasped. I won’t add spoilers; just know it’s a plot twist that really works.

I haven’t written a review this long in ages. It reflects my absolute love for this story and this writer. With nearly 30 books under her belt, she keeps getting better. How? Genius!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 30 Nov 2021
#WishYouWereHere #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

When I began reading this book I had actually thought about putting it down - seemed like it was just a waste of my time - not something I would enjoy. But I'm glad I stuck with it! I felt it was different from Jodi's writing - her past books. This one will probably hit home with many people since it is based on Covid. The island in the story sounds amazing, someplace I would love to visit along with the characters. But I wish the story ended different since I felt there was more for the main character to experience in her Covid recovery.

Once again, an excellent book by Jodi Picoult. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it considering it focused on Covid, but as always it was so well written that I couldn't put it down. I recommend almost every book I read of hers, and this one is no exception. Pick this one up.

Expletives were definitely said about halfway through this book (but in a good way!). I admit, I was hesitant to return to the dark days of the beginning of the pandemic that is the main plot of "Wish You Were Here" but if anyone can capture recent history it is Jodi Picoult. She takes a story that we all lived through and puts a new twist on it, making her book a real page turner. As the pandemic ends, I think her story will continue to live on and give an accurate description of what when on during the early months of the pandemic and how hope can be kept alive.

Thank you Random House publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult. Jodi Picoult has been and will always be one of my favorite authors. Not only do her books grab me from the beginning and keep me interested all the way through, I always finish the book learning something new. She does amazing research on the subject of the book. Wish You Were here is no different.

Diana has her life perfectly mapped out. She seems to be following that map on schedule. Until COVID changes things in March of 2020. A trip to the Galapagos throws a wrench in her plans and everything she thinks she wanted in life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 4
Plot development: 5
Characters: 5
Enjoyability: 5
Ease of Reading: 5

Overall rating: 5 out of 5

Diana O’Toole is right on track in her life. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the art auction world. She’s not engaged yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galapagos—days before her thirtieth birthday.

But then Covid begins to appear in the city. On the night before their trip, Finn breaks the news that he can't go. He must stay behind to work in the hospital. Their trip is nonrefundable, so Finn convinces Diana to go without him.

Diana is in shock when she gets there, and the island is evacuating. She decides to continue anyway and discovers that her luggage is lost, the hotel is closed, and the WIFI doesn't work. The island is under quarantine until the borders open again. She makes friends with a family on the island and begins to question her life's plan.

I read this book in one day. This is my first Covid Pandemic story, and it is well-written. Picoult's description of Finn's work in the hospital and the toll the pandemic took on the doctors and nurses was heart-wrenching. Communication between Diana and Finn is inconsistent and sporadic. Neither one can understand and empathize with the other's experience. Picoult's books force me to look inward, what would I do in a similar situation? There are so many people who probably have similar stories and experiences in the last year. In her last two books, she focuses on life's choices and a "what if?" experience. I highly recommend Wish You Were Here and I am already looking forward to her next one.

Another classic Jodi Picoult read. Fans of Picoult will find this book to be another important read after the pandemic as this book follows the life of someone trapped abroad during a pandemic. Pacing was a little off throughout but our protagonist is well developed!