An interesting change for Jodi Picoult. Maybe a little too close to the pandemic thatn I needed to truly enjoy it.

This book is well written but very sad and somewhat triggering. It’s a good book but it’s not one to read if you are feeling the least bit down and out!

I'll admit I wasn't sure that I was ready for a pandemic based book when I started reading this, and to be honest I really wasn't even thinking that direction. I just love Picoult...
but this book drew me in and kept me reading. I honestly had no idea where it was headed. The scenes in the islands made me wish I was there, even if it was pretty much stranded. The characters were believable and I wasn't sure how I wanted it to end... and was sad that it did. A great read!

One the basis of the description alone, I wondered if this was a case of "too soon." With the emerging Covid-19 pandemic as an emerging event, I was definitely wondering if I'd be traumatized by the memories alone. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a thoughtful read on the relationships we forge by happenstance. Piccoult is a wonderful storyteller; she never disappoints. I also recently read Mad Honey--another interesting read.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the first Jodi Picoult book that I've ever read. And it is the best book that I have read in 2023!!

I thought I was mentally prepared to read Covid literature. But this story is so well written that I was mentally transported right back to my own life during quarantine, Reliving the anxiety, the depression, and the hopefulness along with all the characters of the book. Just when I thought I couldn't read anymore, the plot twist came along and sucked me back into the storyline for the remainder of the book.

This is what good storytelling does. Makes you reflect back on what hurt you and what has healed you. Enabling you to see the joy on the other side of life.

One of my favorite books of 2021! I can't spoil it but the twist was incredible. Never saw it coming! I love Jodi Picoult and this was my favorite of hers.

I stand by my theory that Jodi Picoult is the Queen of Plot Twist. I remember getting to *that point* and actively saying "Holy shit!" in front of my mother and stepfather.
As someone whose sister is a nurse, and was a nurse during COVID, I appreciated how Picoult realistically portrayed medical workers surviving a pandemic. While it was a bit soon for me to read about the pandemic (it still throws me off when fiction books casually drop references to elearning, or social distancing, or make handwashing jokes), I'm glad Jodi was my first serious dive into pandemic fiction. IS that a real genre? Can we MAKE it a real genre?

“The world that my mother inhabits, it’s not this one. But that’s not to say that it isn’t real to her.”

Jodi Picoult does a great job bringing us back to the panic of the 2020 pandemic world in Wish You Were Here. She really captured the harsh realities and feeling of being in the unknown. Be sure you are ready to go there before picking up this read. The book has an unpredictable midway twist, an interesting exploration of the concept of consciousness and other realities, and a reminder to live life in the moment, and evaluate what’s really important in how we enjoy our time. It did move slow and there were too many important topics covered (covid, dementia, mother-daughter, cutting, LGBTQ, abandonment, multiple complicated relationships, and a random John Lennon/Yoko Ono-esque storyline)…I personally would have preferred less but more focused themes.

“My mother, I realize, mapped out her life literally. I did mine figuratively. But it was for the same reason—to make sure I didn’t get trapped someplace I didn’t want to be.”

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Jodi Picoult shines once more with "Wish You Were Here."

This book had me guessing til the end and the twist in the middle had me throw my book across the room. While I had to put this book away a year ago when I first read it becuase I felt it was too early to read about COVID, I am happy I was able to pick this book back up and enjoy.

I will always read everything Jodi Picoult writes. The way she captured the feeling of fear and desperation we all felt during the pandemic was authentic and visceral. And that twist! I usually figure things out before the big reveal, but I never saw that one coming.

I tried to read this book a year ago, but I felt like I still needed more time before reading a book where the struggles of COVID patients and those treating them was front and center. Reading the summary, you know it is set during the time of the COVID epidemic, but I hadn’t realized the virus was going to be SO front and center. Be aware, if you are not quite ready to read a book about COVID.

That being said, I feel like the author did a great job of chronicling some of the aspects of what healthcare workers were experiencing. Although there is a twist that makes me wonder about those letters, but I am not going to spoil it for others in a review.

This is a well written book, though I didn’t find it particularly entertaining due to being such a heavy subject, it was definitely thought-provoking.

“𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚.”

Diana and Finn are a committed couple in their twenties, living in New York City in 2020. Diana works in art auctioning, while Finn is a surgical resident. It is March and the pair about to leave on a much anticipated vacation to the Galapagos. Then Covid happens and plans change.

The medical profession inundated overnight, Finn and Diana begin to see their dream vacation slipping away. With their tickets being non refundable, Finn convinces Diana to go on their vacation alone. Once she arrives, however, Diana immediately feels out of her depth. Covid lockdowns are now the norm throughout the world, further hampering Diana’s plans. With no place to stay, little money, and a rudimentary knowledge of the language, the planner in Diana panics.

Then kind locals take her in and things turn around. Instead of feeling like a fish out of water, she starts to feel more at home…away from home. Still, another part of her feels guilty that she’s enjoying herself. She tries to communicate with the overworked Finn who is giving her the blow by blow of what’s happening back at home, but it’s hard to stay in touch. As her starkly different realities collide, Diana is forced to face things head on. But what do you do when you reality is so skewed that you don’t know what to believe anymore?

Wish You Were Here is a fictional account that takes place during the height of Covid. Still a sore spot for many, this book won’t be for everyone. While in large part this is a book that examines relationships, its detailed recall of the not so distant pandemic laced past still feels raw. That being said, I struggled with empathizing with the main character, Diana. There were many moments where I found her hard to relate to as she came across selfish and self centered- particularly in her relationship with Finn and with her ailing mother. The parts of the story that address Covid, however, felt more like non fiction. Interspersed were bits about Diana’s job as well, but somehow this just felt like filler.

Without giving too much away, Wish You Were Here is a mixed bag. I enjoyed the “twist” in the second half, but felt underwhelmed by its conclusion.

I was very unsure if I wanted to read this book since it takes place during COVID and talks a lot about it. I am So glad I finally decided to read it. It was very well done and has an amazing twist that I did Not see coming at all.

This one takes place during COVID which is an interesting new idea since this virus took over people’s life. I tend to shy away from stuff like this because i just don’t care to read about it when everyone is living it. The book was a good one though and even though i was a little iffy about it initially it turned out to be a truly good read.

Diana works at Sothebys and her boyfriend is a surgical resident. They are supposed to leave for the Galapagos but coronavirus is just starting and Finn can’t go. Diana goes alone only to get stuck on the island of Isabel with no hotel, food, or clothes. ARC from NetGalley.

Very well written. It kinda still hurts for me to read a book written about the pandemic but it was handled well in the book.

Wow, this was a completely Covid immersive experience! Maybe it was too soon for this historical fiction. It was certainly triggering. But it was also healing on so many levels. Picoult took us on a journey through the pandemic of 2020, including quarantine, the fear of the unknown, the polarizing of our nation, the anxiety about how we all would get to the other side…and what does the other side look like after all this?

Diana lives a very successful, orderly, and planned out life; she is an art dealer for Sotheby’s, her boyfriend is a doctor, they shop for their future home on real estate sites for fun, they talk about their future children, it’s all so safe and well thought out. But the night before they are to leave for a vacation in the Galápagos Islands, Diana’s boyfriend, Finn, reveals that the hospital is getting over run by Covid patients and he can’t get away but she should go anyway. Diana sets off for Isabela Island and immediately finds herself trapped when borders and transportation is shut down. While there, she is taken in by a small family including a grandmother, a troubled teen girl and her father. They show her all the secrets of Isabela and strengthen their bonds of friendship. Diana’s life is forever altered by the new way of life she experiences on this island; how will she go back and resume her old life? Will she even want to?

I really expected to hate a book about Covid. I have never read a full book by this author because her stories seem to lean toward heavy topics. But I was BLOWN AWAY! And I will certainly be exploring Picoult’s back list because heavy topics or not, this woman can write in a way that takes me out of the here and now like very few authors effectively can. Bravo, Jodi, this is a masterpiece. Thank you for fictionally recording a very real event we all went through, I learned so much from your research.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. Available now

I normally love Jodi Picoult books but I did not like this one at all!! I probably should have read an overview before I started it. I do not want to read about going through a pandemic after I just went through one!!! The first half of the book was very slow. The descriptions of the Galápagos Islands were interesting. Lots of descriptions of the pandemic from a medical point of view. The 2nd half of the book was a little far fetched and not believable.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Amazingly written once again by an author that never disappoints. This was especially relevant story after the last few years in our world with what we are going though. Great characters and dialogue flowed smoothly.

5 Stars


I love the way the novel opens by way of a flashback memory of Diana’s as she reflects on a moment as a child with her father, who is working as a conservator restoring the zodiac ceiling of Grand Central Terminal, and she says, “When I was six years old, I painted a corner of the sky.”’

WISH YOU WERE HERE, by Jodi Picoult, was published on November 30, 2021; a story that opened March 13 of the previous year in New York City and centered around twenty-nine-year-old Diana O’Toole, an associate specialist at Sotheby’s, and her boyfriend Finn who is a surgical resident at anyway New York Presbyterian.

The couple made plans to celebrate Diana’s thirtieth on the Galápagos Islands. On the day before departure Finn is told, along with the entire staff of the hospital, everyone is needed—the virus in the City.

On an expensive trip and non-refundable tickets, Finn convinces Diana to go without him, and she does, unaware upon arrival that everything is shut down for two weeks due to the pandemic. With no immediate place to stay and spotty Wi-Fi, though she is unable to send messages to Finn, she receives intermittent emails from him…

‘Sometimes I sit and listen to the whir of the ECMO machine, and I think, This person’s heart is outside his body, and I understand completely. Because so is mine.’

WISH YOU WERE HERE is a touching, heartfelt, heartbreakingly relatable novel that I Highly Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books (Random House), for providing me with an eBook of WISH YOU WERE HERE at the request of an honest review.

‘I can no longer tell the sky from the sea, but I can hear the waves. A loss of sight; a gain of insight. When Finn and I booked a trip to the Galápagos, the travel agent told us it would be life-changing. Little did she know.’