I have only read a couple books by this author and while this book was not what I expected, it was a wonderful story!

I’ll start out by saying: yes, this is a very Covid/pandemic-heavy book. It was difficult to read at some points because I found myself missing pre-Covid times, when I felt safe enough to leave my house, send my kiddo to school, and go out to dinner with my friends. But the story sucked me in and I read it in basically one sitting (had to fit dinner time in there somewhere!) I didn’t see the twist coming, and my heart ached for the entirety of the rest of the book. Times are weird and with this pandemic came a change where people found out more about themselves than they ever knew they could. I thought Jodi really captured that with Diana, the good and the bad.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars

Diana O’Tool and her boyfriend Finn are preparing for a romantic getaway to the Galapagos Islands. Diana has been working hard claiming the ranks in the cutthroat art auction world. Finn is a surgical resident whose future is promising. The night before they are set to leave on their dream trip where Diana, Finn tells Diana to go without him. There go her dreams of a proposal on their getaway. Finn just can't leave, there is a virus out there and everyone is needed at the hospital. So, Diana goes, she doesn't turn back when she is told that the island is quarantined for two weeks. She can't stay at the hotel they book but finds a room with a woman and quickly makes friends. While there she begins to question her choices, her life, and her relationships.

This book is set during the beginning of the pandemic and shows what doctors were up against. The character Finn writes to Dianna and tells her about the struggles and how hospitals are doing the best they can with what they know and how the treatment protocol changed constantly.

When I came to a certain section of the book I was stunned. Put it in the I did not see that coming camp. This book will hit close to home for many. Writing about something that we are all still experiencing was courageous. Some may find it difficult to read this book while others will devour it.

Jodi Picoult is a reliable and prolific writer. One can count on her to deliver and add the personal touch. She doesn't shy away from tough subjects and did her research in writing this book. She captured the uncertainty, the disbelief, and the shock of the beginning of the pandemic.

This is a great book for book clubs as there is a lot to discuss in this book. Not sure what I think of the ending but overall found this to be enjoyable and a worthwhile read.

Thank you to Random House Publishing group - Ballantine and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

I could not put this book down. The chapters were long but I just didn’t care I kept reading.
I crave a book with a WTF moment, the moment you did not see coming at all that makes you say WTF out loud. This book packed a big wtf for me. A Jodi Picoult staple.

This is a novel full of COVID, loss, and the survivor’s guilt. It def was depressing at times going back and reliving the beginning of the pandemic; those early days of not understanding what was going on, the isolation, the run on toilet paper, sanitizing your mail and visiting loved ones from outside a window. I think Jodi Picoult handled it very well. In her authors note, she says she asked those she interviewed, “how has this experience changed the way you think about the rest of your life.” In the novel we relive the pandemic through our main character, Diana and this question shapes the novel: how has her experience changed the way she thinks about the rest of her life. At first I didn’t like the ending, maybe because I just wanted more of the story. However after reading this question in the authors note I feel it was a fitting end to Diana’s story, her future and how she sees the rest of her life.

I don’t want to say much more because I want you to experience that WTF moment for yourself. I thought it was well written exciting and with that big jaw drop moment I give it 4.5 stars.

One good thing seems to be certain in the wake of every national or international crisis, whether manmade or in nature. Jodi Picoult will incorporate it into a gripping novel. The current pandemic sets the scene for Wish You Were Here. Following the pattern of other Picoult books, the crisis takes on the importance and feeling of an additional character in the book.

Protagonist Diana O’Toole has goals and a life plan that seems to be clicking along according to her schedule when the COVID epidemic appears. Almost engaged, Diana and Finn have a trip planned to the Galapagos just as COVID raises its ugly head in New York City. As a surgical resident, Finn has to stay and tend to the rising numbers of hospital patients but insists that she go on as planned since the trip money is nonrefundable. Diana’s life changes, because of the pandemic, ring true. She deals with a mother with dementia under a DNR order in a nursing home. She meets people she can’t speak with because she doesn’t know Spanish and has other difficulties in the Galapagos that include an inability to communicate with home because of no internet connections. Then there is the teenager cutter she meets who mirrors her own contentious mother/daughter relationship. Surprises and intriguing twists compel the reader through the darkness of the pandemic all the way to the unexpected conclusion.

In a letter from Jodi to her readers, published by Goodreads, she says, “I hope you’ll always remember to ask yourselves how this experience changed the way you think about the rest of your life.” I think it is probable that her hope will come true. If you are a longtime Picoult fan, you will be prepared for her to put a creative spin on this worldwide disaster. The author has out-Picoulted herself with this novel. Readers should be advised to have time, a good chair, and a blanket set aside since not much will be going on until the book is finished.

This one snuck up on me. I did not think I would like this book. I really enjoyed Picoult’s earlier works; however, her recent stuff just has not really clicked with me. Plus this book is set during Covid – it is just too soon to write/read about it since we are still in the thick of it. What I didn’t count on, was that this book would have that ole Jodi Picoult magic that carries you into the story and pretty soon you are halfway done with no idea how you got so far in such a short time. It is hard to say too much about the plot of the book without giving anything away. It is set during early pandemic in both New York City and the Galapagos Islands. It is a story about personal growth with the unusual backdrop of a pandemic. The hospital and Covid patient descriptions were chilling particularly as they were juxtaposed with the beauty and serenity of the deserted Galapagos Islands. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a chance to read and review this one!

Pros: I knew I was going to like this book as soon as I started reading because it contains two of my favorite things: a main character who is an art historian (and in this case works on a project for Sotheby's with a Yoko Ono-like character) and travel to a place I've been or want to go (i.e., the Galapagos Islands). I thought the author did a fantastic job accurately describing the Galapagos Islands, and it was obvious she has visited. I felt like I was there as I read, and I appreciate when an author creates such a strong sense of place.

What I thought was going to be a straightforward novel about a young woman who goes to another country to discover herself was not actually that predictable. (That's my fault for assuming--I know Picoult is a fantastic author, and I shouldn't have expected a predictable plot.). This book instead was a thoughtful examination of grief and resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. I was shocked by one turn the plot took, and I cannot wait for friends to read this book so we can compare our thoughts.

Cons: This is not a con but more of a note to potential readers--there is A LOT of Covid talk in this book. For some, it might be too soon to read something that we are still living through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this book!

I've shared this review on Goodreads, StoryGraph, and Amazon.

Jodi Picoult does it again. OMG this book was incredible. Even though we are still actively in the midst of the pandemic, Picoult so acutely captures those first few months and how scary all the unknowns were. This book turned out to be nothing like I expected in the best possible way.

Diana and her boyfriend Finn are on track. They have a great place in NYC, they have a plan, their careers are on the up and up, they are a rock short of an engagement, and they have a special trip to the Galapagos planned in March 2020 to celebrate her 30th birthday. Then the pandemic hits. Finn, a surgical resident, has to stay behind. He assures her she should still go - "by the time you get back this will all have washed over - 2 weeks max." So reluctantly, Diana goes. Immediately everything goes wrong - her luggage is lost, the service is spotty, wifi is nonexistent, and the hotel she was supposed to stay in has shut down.

Now, completely isolated without any of her belongings, very little Spanish, and 0 connection to the outside world, Diana is due for an unexpected re-examination of everything she thought she wanted in life. Meanwhile back in NYC, Finn is in the thick of COVID ICUs, surrounded by despair and death and desperately trying to find a way for them to be together again.

This book took some twists and turns I never expected, and I loved every minute of it! Jodi Picoult has this knack for capturing real life moments and showing the humanity between opposing POVs - there isn't always a clear enemy or right and wrong. It's something I have always LOVED about her books. And Wish You Were Here is no different. Absolutely 5/5 recommend. Thank you so much NetGalley and Random House / Ballantine books for the early copy. I will be buying this book when it comes out so I have a physical copy too :)

With 30 right around the corner, Diana O'Toole is pleased that she has accomplished almost everything she has set out to achieve both in her professional life, as an associate art specialist at Sotheby's and in her personal life with her boyfriend (soon to be Fiancé, she thinks) Finn Colson. Diana is positive that Finn, a surgical resident at the Presbyterian hospital is going to propose on their upcoming trip to Galapagos to celebrate her 30th birthday. When a medical emergency in the form of a virus keeps Finn from being able to fly to Galapagos with Diana, she starts to feel her perfectly planned life start to teeter into chaos. As she lands in Galapagos, Diana realizes that the medical emergency was bigger than she or even Finn could have predicted. As Galapagos goes into lockdown, Diana's dream vacation turns into a bit of a nightmare. She has no luggage and worse still, she cannot speak the language. Feeling the despair and loneliness creep in that inevitably follow lockdown in a foreign country, Diana finds herself reaching out to a local family for companionship and connection. Over the course of the pandemic, Diana is left with more time that she ever thought possible; time she uses to re-evaluate her life and every decision she has made that has led her to where she is now.
Wish You Were Here, while the newest release from author Jodi Picoult, just might be one of the author's best works. The story told in Picoult's lyrical style is multi-layered with complex, vulnerable and authentic characters that draw you into their world and help you experience the complicated emotions that stem from a global pandemic and subsequent lockdown. The story takes a compelling turn partway through that drew me deeper into the story. Diana grapples with some hard decisions, an unenviable task that Picoult handles with all of the frank honesty and clear insight that she is so well known and loved for. Wish You Were Here is an emotionally poignant novel centered around one individual's journey during a global pandemic; and while the tale is fictional, the emotions the character experiences over the course of the story are all too relatable and real to many of us. While I wouldn't categorize this as an easy read given the heavy subject matter, it is an important and thought provoking read that is relevant to the times. I highly recommend Wish You Were Here for readers looking for a deep but satisfying contemporary fiction story to add to their ever growing to be read stack.

Just finished a NetGalley ARC (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!) at 3:27 A.M. of Jodi Picoult's soon to be released pandemic bonus book! Will write a coherent review after some much needed sleep! But WOW! What an excellent reason to lose sleep!

🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱

In the masterful hands of Jodi Picoult, "Wish You Were Here" (her fictional 4 months in the writing literary effort aimed at making some semblance of sense of the insanity called the COVID-19 PANDEMIC) comes as close to capturing the fear, pain, uncertainty, craziness, and real-life realities of the pure hell this virus unleashed globally! And in this humbled reader's opinion, Miss Picoult did it far better than any work of non-fiction could ever have provided!

From Picoult's choice of characters, to splitting the novel's setting between NYC and the far distant Galapagos Islands, she perfectly captures the terror, urgency, and daily exhaustion within the medical first responders efforts to fight this unknown virus in New York City. Juxtapose that with the equally frightening isolation of Charles Darwin's source of inspiration for his groundbreaking work revolving around explaining and documenting the intricacies of adaptation and evolutionary development and her literary choices come full circle! Pure genius!

I will be forever grateful to Jodi Picoult for taking pen to paper and creating this chronicle of both the hopeLESSness and the hopeFULLness that the Global Village collectively experienced and continues to attempt to sort out!

My thanks to Picoult, her publishers at , and NetGalley, for gifting me with this early draft of one gem of a novel. In return, I have provided my most sincere and heartfelt review in the hopes that many, many others will find the thought-provoking comfort held within its pages.

#wishyouwerehere
#jodipicoult
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#netgalley
#literygenius
#covidpandemicnovels
#healingthroughliterature

Very thought provoking and has left me thinking about it days after. I don't even know how to describe it. Just read it. First from this author for me but won't be the last. It was so good.

Jodi Picoult is the reason that I love reading. I was never a reader growing up, until my mom helped me pick out a Jodi Picoult book when I was in middle school. I then proceeded to read all of her books and haven’t stopped reading since! I always look forward to reading her new book each year.

WISH YOU WERE HERE was the first book I read that takes place during COVID. Diana O’Toole is an associate assistant at Sotheby’s living with her boyfriend in NYC who is a surgical resident. They have a dream vacation planned where Diane is sure Finn will propose… but then COVID cases start to skyrocket and Finn can’t leave the hospital in such a time of need. Finn insists Diana should go by herself and enjoy the vacation they had planned.

Diana’s time in the Galapagos was heartbreaking and full of hope all at the same time. I adored her relationship with the locals that she met and grew to love. There was even a shocking reveal that I definitely didn’t see coming!

Jodi Picoult, as usual, beautifully crafted characters and a storyline that that tugged at my heartstrings. I thought she did an amazing job creating a story that took place in the height of the pandemic — a story that made the characters, and myself, reflect on what really matters.

Even if you think you don't want to read about Covid, read this! Yes, it's about Covid but really it's about so much more. It's heartbreaking as you immerse yourself in the world of what it must have been like for a healthcare professional, but then there's all the thoughts and feelings of being stranded on an island like Diana. Most of us likely weren't physically stranded on an island, but sometimes that's what the early days of the pandemic felt like. The busy, crazy lives that we were leading came to a grinding halt and with that we began experiencing a whole new range of emotions and experiences.

This story is captivating, emotional, and will leave you hopeful for the future!

Jodi Picoult managed to wow me once again with Wish You Were Here, an extraordinary story of love, healing and resilience. Just as other novels have captured historical events, Wish You Were Here takes place during this current pandemic, and Picoult is one of the first to record it in a way that future readers will understand the frustrations, the fears and the isolation we all have experienced over the last 20 months. Diana O'Toole is on track professionally in the art world, and personally with her soon to be fiance, Finn when she finds herself stranded on the Galapagos island as the world shuts down due to the virus. Trapped without luggage, money or a place to stay since the hotels are closed, Diana is befriended by an island family with whom she builds a relationship and deep connection to during the weeks she is there. Picoult documents so much of what the medical heroes were up against through medical resident Finn's emails to Diana while she is on the island. The very things that shook us as a world, Finn conveys with his words. Will Diana's ideas of what is truly important be changed after her time on the island? Will Finn be changed after the war zone he lived through? Will we?
Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Random House for the advance copy in exchange for my review. #NetGalley #WishYouWereHere

I'm not sure I can find the right words to write a proper review of this book. I LOVED it. First of all, a disclaimer: I'm a frontline healthcare provider living on a small, isolated island that completely shut down for several months during the peak of Covid. I found SO MUCH of this story relatable to my real life. Jodi Picoult did a fantastic job of capturing the fear, exhaustion, and sheer desperation of trying to provide care to Covid patients, not just in the beginning, but even today. I also greatly appreciated that she did such a great job of accurately describing the medical procedures, protocols, and general jargon correctly - this rarely happens in books / TV / movies and it is frustrating. She represented frontline providers with respect and her accuracy is important in conveying to the general public what was (and is) happening at different levels of care with these patients, especially in this time of rampant misinformation. I also appreciated her representation of life on a small island dependent on tourism - the love/hate relationship local residents have with tourists for various reasons. The way these places' ecosystems rebounded in the short time they were free from overtourism. This book is full of lessons we've had in front of us throughout Covid - many of us have faced this crisis and have been changed - by illness, by disillusionment, by trauma, by fear. This book examines what can happen when different people face the same crisis from different perspectives. Highly recommend to anyone whose life has been affected by this pandemic (so that means everyone!). Read this book.

I accepted this book for review without a second thought because I've been a long-time fan of Jodi Picoult and have read/loved many of her novels over the years. However, I have to admit that as we crept closer to its publication day and I reread the description, I procrastinated for months to pick this one up. I wasn't sure I was ready to read a book in which the premise is based on the recent pandemic.

Recently, as I've been catching up on favorite TV shows, I am finding myself stuck on their "covid seasons." I am finding that I am just not emotionally ready to relive it on-screen. For me, it's still very much a reality. I am still working from home and, while it feels like a lot has gone "back to normal," it's actually been in these past couple of months that my toddler has had not one or two, but four incidents of covid exposure, needing to get tested and/or stay home in quarantine.

I preface my review with this (and began writing it before actually starting the book) because I think that a lot about how we feel about a book has to do with our own personal circumstances and mindset. It's all about how we personally relate to the characters and our various mental and emotional dispositions play a big role in our experience with the story.

The novel revolves around main character Diana who finds herself stranded on an island off of the Galápagos while her boyfriend stays behind (a healthcare worker during the pandemic). Diana had her entire future mapped out and had expected to get engaged on the once-in-a-lifetime vacation, but as she learns to adapt to life on an isolated island, she wonders what it is she really wants out of her life.

Once I actually got into Diana's story, I was completely sucked into both her life and the multiple layers woven into the story. I suspect many of us can relate to planning (and maybe over-planning) our futures, setting our goals, but then feeling unsatisfied and at a loss once those goals are met. Living through this global pandemic, I think a lot of people (myself included) were forced to pause and take inventory. It allowed for a fresh perspective because we often get too busy going through the motions that we forget to consider if we're even happy with where we are or where we're going.

After nearly two years of working from home and watching the Covid numbers rise and fall, it sometimes feel like everything is going back to "normal." This was the perfect book at the perfect time to remind me to stop. We don't have to go back to "normal." We can redefine what normal looks like and live more purposefully.

There were a couple of twists that I won't get into, so as not to reveal any spoilers, but it left me speechless and completely surprised at a couple of points throughout the story - and especially the end! Overall, I related to Diana so thoroughly and remember exactly how eerie the city was in those first few months of lockdown that it was an altogether surreal experience reading this novel. While I was nervous to pick this one up, it actually felt a bit cathartic to relive the pandemic and reflect on everything that happened through Diana's eyes.

This was a tough read for me. I'm a nurse practitioner in a pulmonary clinic and COVID19 pandemic has been absolutely horrible. I requested this ARC because I love Jodi Picoult , I didn't realize what the content was. It took me a very long time to read because I just could not get used to the fact that we have fiction stories about this horrible thing that we are still living! I will say, I got through it and it is excellently written. Jodi Picoult is successful for a reason, but this book is HEAVY! Overall I enjoyed it.

Wow. Just wow. I was absolutely blown away by this book. There’s a hesitation when you hear about books you are warned mention Covid. It’s too soon. We’re not out of the woods yet. Why would we want to read about something so difficult while it’s still ongoing? The way this book started…I was so enthralled. I loved Diana’s reflection of time at her job, the history of the art. The strained relationship with her mother. I loved all that juxtaposed with her separation from everything, trapped on an island and forced to adapt. At first, I was so furious that she woke up with Covid and it all appeared unreal. But the journey that Diana went through to try to make sense of her multiple realities and to continue to grow and adapt. I learned so much. I felt so much. I highlighted so much. I cried so much. I will be thinking about this book for a long time and I will be recommending it as well.

Oh man, this book. It has me feeling so many feelings. It takes you back to the early days of the pandemic, when we didn’t know much about COVID- how to treat it, how it spread, what the symptoms might look like, and even what we didn’t know. JP does an amazing job of capturing that feeling of powerlessness.

The story takes place in New York and the Galapagos Islands - weird, right? But the main character has a trip to the Galapagos booked for March 2020 and decides to go, despite the uncertainty and the travel restrictions and the general state of the world. She can barely communicate with the outside world and is forced to become part of the islands’ small but self-sustaining ecosystem. JP writes about her time in the Galapagos so vividly that I felt I was there and am now desperate to visit!

The story takes a massive turn about halfway through. Without spoiling it, I can’t really share much about the plot, but I can share my reaction to it. At first, I felt like I’d been “bait and switched.” Reading on, I kind of got over that and started to appreciate the point JP was making with the plot twist. The characters’ responses to what happens felt authentic, and although I wished it ended differently for them, the ending did feel “right” for them (does that sentiment even make sense with how vague I’m being??).

If you can stomach reading a COVID centric story right now, I encourage you to pick this up. JP is known for her realistic portrayal of medical plot lines and for exposing both sides of ethical quandaries in the medical field, and WYWH is no exception.

Thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

Believe me when I tell you that I never wanted to read a book about Covid. We have heard and lived Covid for almost two years. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult was a pleasant surprise. I truly thought the book would be different than it was.

I enjoyed the part of the book where Diana goes to The Galopagose on her own because her boyfriend who is a doctor has to stay behind to fight the virus. She becomes stranded on the island when it and the world closes down due to Covid. She stays so long that she is no longer a tourist and is seen as a resident. Who wouldn't want to be stranded on such a beautiful place as Isabela Island?

The interesting part of the book is some of the research this author has done about the after effects of Covid especially those that have been put on ventilators and survived. I love the medical facts I learn along the way in my reading journey.

I know most of us want to shy away from a novel about Covid. I highly recommend reading this book. It takes us away to a dream vacation and provides some pretty interesting information. I even appreciated the author's notes at the end of the book. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book. I think you'll love it and at least appreciate it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #RandomHousePublishing-Ballentine, #Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.