Wish You Were Here Paperback

Ms Picoult perfectly captured the fears, challenges and real dangers of the pandemic. My wife had a Zars type of pneumonia in 2014, and spent 28 days in a medically induced coma, intubated the entire time. She spent another 5 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital and required a small army of home care specialists for many months. Near death she was proned after the first week and then many times throughout her induced coma. There is no question that proning was the key to her survival ! Which her doctors described as a miracle !Her dreams throughout her nightmare were many and as real and vivid as Ms Picoult so expertly described. For years, during and after her recovery, she would question me intensely, “are you sure that this or that didn’t happen” or, “surely so and so did this and that” and so very many other questions Re her extremely lucid memories of a myriad of things that she was positive happened, but did not !My wife was emotionally stunned and delighted with Ms Picoult,s imagery of how shockingly real her narratives described the life that she lived in her mind for 28 days. I would love to see the movie version.A very sincere thank you Jodi Picoult.

This is ostensibly a Covid story. A young woman gets the virus and nearly dies, but while she's unconscious she lives a whole different existence. When she recovers, she finds she prefers the dreamed experience to her real life.Picoult uses this vehicle to recount the very real and terrible effects of Covid in New York City beginning with the chaos and lack of understanding that characterised it. But it also gives her an opportunity to examine the nature of reality and our perception of time.I have given the book a 4 because at times I felt the research needed to write the book came across as an info dump rather than emerging organically. And I found the chief character, Diana, unconvincingly drawn and hard to like. She seemed more a collection of traits than a real person. She's a business woman, an artist, a teacher, a counselor... but very unkind to the man who stands by her when she's ill.Picault is very good at taking social issues and turning them into very readable novels. I don't think this is her best, but she's an accomplished writer and always tells a good story.

I love all of Jodi Picoults books. They always deal with heavy content material but she always finds a way to weave a story and build such great character development. I fell in love with Diana, Gabriel and Beatriz and I am so sad about the situation. Thank you for writing this story even though it was probably one of the hardest things to do.

Amazing story. Thoroughly enjoyed every word. The twists and turns had me breathless. It will be a story that I revisit again, and again.

I haven't finished this book and I probably won't. I feel I've gone far enough (just over halfway) to competently write about why I am not going to bother and why I am so annoyed. Sorry to the author but she can withstand some negative reviews I'm sure. First, I am a fan of the author. Some of her books, a lot actually, are just terrific reads. I wanted to read this because I can't think of anything more compelling than writing about the horrific pandemic we are all enduring. But what a let down. I expected more from this author. This felt contrived and as though social credibility boxes were being ticked off, one by one (Halal?) which is really just an aside so I won't even bother with more of that. First major annoyance: The obvious Yoko Ono character - seriously? Was that intentional? Bizarre. But, ok, never mind all that. What about the read and the main characters? Credit where die: I thought she did a good job portraying what it must have been like to be a healthcare worker in NYC and maybe that's where this book should have focused straight through. Perhaps it even did later but I couldn't suffer one more minute with the main character frankly, a woman who was stupid enough to walk in the opposite direction of everyone else leaving an island during the pandemic. Really? Then, as she received emails from her boyfriend, the doctor in NY who was in serious psychological anguish and horror and physical danger working the front lines of Covid, she never seemed particularly moved by what he was going through but instead writing him about turtles in the Galapagos. Hello, anyone home? Did she ever acknowledge the hellscape he was living in? I didn't notice if she did. I would have rowed home if that were my boyfriend but no, she wasn't horrified apparently. Just angry he pushed her to go but not really meaning it. Meanwhile, she's falling for another man who of course understands life so much better than anyone else because he lives it simply on an island, far from the trappings of superficiality in America. Ugh. Why is this theme repeated in so many books? So predictable. Gruff man with sensitive heart. Yawn. I just couldn't go on. The main character and her hosts on the island were so unoriginal it was brutal - the brooding but sensitive Gabriel, the lonely and misunderstood daughter, and the grandmother with the ever present food...ugh, ugh, ugh. And again, the woman with her life mapped out who finds meaning finally when she communes with nature and brooding men. So sorry, hate to trash a book. There was nothing wrong with the writing on a mechanical level and I wouldn't expect there to be. The author is a terrific writer hence her success. But it would have been nice to see the main character a bit more alarmed and unnerved while her boyfriend suffered at home then her tiptoeing through the tulips thousands of miles away, contemplating her navel and lusting over moody man. I couldn't stand the main character. That's a problem.

Unique plot twist that I wasn't expecting which was nice . Overall a good book, just not one of my favorites.

A birthday present for my book-loving daughter-in-law.

Well written and thought provoking

Al principio no me gustó, incluso me aburrió, pensé que era una novela americana gastada, lo mismo, lo mismo, hasta la imaginaba en película de Hollywood. Después ya pude ver mejor la intención de la autora y me pareció una interesante forma de rescatar las difíciles experiencias vividas durante la pandemia, de las cuales en lo personal viví y siempre quedé con muchas dudas.

This book took my breath away. The story is so good and complex. Genius. The only one I have ever read of this kind.

My first read of 2023 and a fresh plot with a completely new and different twist.Left me wanting for more when the narration ended.A 5star rating from me.

Meraviglioso

There are books you don't just read but devour and want to crawl into. Books that make you forget to eat and drink, that make you forget time and place and leave you breathless. "Wish You Were Here" by Jodi Picoult is such a book. I can say from my deepest heart that this book is definitely going to be one of the best books I have read in a long time.Plot:Diana O'Toole has it all: A handsome and successful boyfriend, a promising career at Sotheby's and all her future life goals already mapped out, like being married at 30, having two kids at 35 while at the same time climbing the professional ladder in the art auction world. What is more, she is convinced that Finn, her boyfriend, is going to propose to her on their upcoming trip to the Galápagos Islands.But then Covid19 comes along. Finn, a surgical resident, has to stay behind at the hospital but urges Diana to make the trip alone.The moment Diana arrives at theGalápagos Islands, the whole place is put under quarantine. Everything is shut down and she needs the help of a local family to find a place to stay. Stripped of almost everything - her luggage got lost and she's running out of money - she explores the beauty of the islands and meets people who will change her forever. Suddenly she starts questioning everything that has seemed so important to her, and she wonders if she will be a completely different person when she goes back home again.Well, and then a plot twist comes along that really left me speechless. I didn't see it coming and I couldn't have seen it coming. I'm not going to say anything more about it, just this: Please read this book!!!!!