[Review] Wish You Were Here - Jodi Picoult

Summary: Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. 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 cutthroat art auction world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they’d booked is shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different. (Pub Date: Nov 30 2021)

 

Diana is set on fulfilling her life goals on schedule. And she might check more than one this time—she can finally go on a trip with her boyfriend, who seems to be about to propose to her, after closing a big deal that will earn her a promotion at work. But her plans fall apart one by one when the Covid pandemic starts. That's how she ends up without the promotion or the proposal, alone in one of the Galápagos islands, which was closed down due to the pandemic.

3+, just not enough to round up to 4 because of the second half.

The read itself was super quick, it kept you curious about where Picoult was leading us with all that. Even though I started the book on my busiest day of the week, I read exactly half of it and then finished it the next day. Picoult's books just has this magic that sucks you and glues you to the book until you reach the end and gives it a shake to see if there really isn't anything else.

The thing is... it was too early to talk about the pandemic. I'll skip the trauma from it all, the topic itself felt too alive in my head. While Diana is in the Galápagos she gets some emails from her boyfriend, who happens to be a doctor having to deal with all the patients. It's an obvious tribute to the healthcare professionals, made more prominent as the book goes deeper into the topic. You can pay tribute in other ways other than books, to be honest. It was way too soon.

Again, I'm trying not to go into how open the wound still is, I'm also saying it wasn't interesting. Each of the cases I'd read were still too fresh on my mind for it to be. All the treatments, all the precautions, it's still all part of our daily lives. Aside from from almost going into the nonfiction ground, it was also a cold shower every time the topic surfaced in the middle of a paradise like the Galápagos. I was reading the book to escape reality and not to be reminded of it every second. It almost made me feel guilty of taking a trip (via reading) to the Galápagos while people were going through hell. 

This book brings up a major plot twist that still didn't make it all worth it. Actually, when it happened, I was so sure there would be another twist that I was disappointed about the whole thing. I know that's my fault for creating expectations out of nowhere, but as interesting as the revelations were, they were also another cold shower. So much for enjoying the end of summer in the Galápagos, huh? So when we finally understand the point of the book, it becomes even less appealing. It had been an almost 4-star read until way further than halfway and then it started dying.

If you want to finally read some fiction that deals with the Covid, instead of pretending 2020/21 were just your every year as most books are doing, this could be the thing for you. I just can't imagine anyone finding it interesting enough this early. I'll love to read this book again in ten years, though. To remember all this other-reality-like days we're going through, hopefully while living more ordinary days. Nonetheless, as I said, the read is super quick and will keep you turning pages as all Picoult's books do.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.