Book Review- Jodi Picoult's Wish You Were Here

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of Jodi Picoult’s novel Wish You Were Here.

Diana’s life is going according to her plan. She works at an auction house and is about to orchestrate a career changing sale of a famous piece of art. Her long-time boyfriend, Finn, is finishing his residency at a local hospital and will be a surgeon. Diana is confident that Finn will propose to her on their upcoming Galapagos vacation and soon, they will be married and buying their first home. Life is perfect in early 2020.

Finn’s boss cancels all vacation requests as pandemic worries begin to grow, but Finn presses Diana to take their vacation alone. Nervous to travel solo and missing Finn, Diana arrives in Galapagos, and is forced to make an quick decision; she can either stay on the island or head back to the airport, with no guarantee of making a flight, as the world is starting to shut-down due to the pandemic. She has no cell service and is unaware of the severity of the situation. Diana decides to stay and ends up stuck on a remote island discovering that the hotel where she had reservations, has closed. A kind local woman allows Diana to stay in a small apartment that used to belong to her son.

Alone, isolated, and unable to contact Finn, Diana begins to embrace being stuck in paradise. She befriends a local teenage girl and the girl’s handsome father, who happens to be the previous tenant of the apartment where she is staying. Diana finds a second family and an alternative life in the Galapagos, while Finn is fighting on the frontlines in a New York hospital.

When I started reading Wish You Were Here and realized it was yet another pandemic story, I nearly stopped reading. It makes sense that so many pandemic stories are publishing now and that so many authors would be compelled to write pandemic stories, but it also is a subject that I don’t want to keep revisiting. However, to would-be-readers in a similar state of mind, don’t give up on this one.

Picoult presents both a twist on the pandemic story and a huge, monumental, didn’t see it coming, surprise half-way through. I was just about to stop reading for the evening and I encountered the twist, which propelled me to read for another hour. It was a huge shock and even better, it ties to intriguing themes of the story which are not strictly pandemic related. Wish You Were Here is far more broad thematically and would have been a different story if the pandemic had not occurred, but likely still would have been written.

I’ve read many of Picoult’s books and I’m a fan, but Wish You Were Here, just may be her best one yet.

Book Review- J. Michael Straczynski's Together We Will Go

Thank you to Gallery Books for providing me with a copy of J. Michael Straczynski’s novel, Together We Will Go, in exchange for an honest review.

A little over a dozen strangers reply to a cryptic newspaper ad aimed at attracting people who wish to commit group suicide by plunging over a cliff in San Francisco. The author of the ad, Mark, is an unpublished writer who has lost hope and he promises the others in the group a fantastic bus ride across America, filled with excitement, as they head to their final destination.

A motley bunch joins this quest, including Karen, a young woman with a devastating medical condition, Vaughn, a senior grieving for his deceased wife, and Zeke, a drug addict who is traveling with his dying cat. The travelers agree to sign a waiver and to upload their stories and thoughts on their journey, both in verbal and written form, to a cloud-server, which they will leave behind as a type of art project from the beyond.

Together We Will Go is emotional and affecting, yet often hilarious and unexpected. I have to confess that I am usually triggered by stories of suicide. My father killed himself when I was four and I still carry deep anger and resentment towards both him and the situation. I find it difficult to find compassion or reason in suicide, yet Straczynski’s story allowed me to connect with his characters and their very individual reasons for making this choice. It’s hard to see their suffering and decisions as a simple, black and white issue. This gave me perspective.

I’ve never read a novel quite like Together We Will Go. I could not have anticipated the twists or the ending, all of which were satisfying. I cried and even had to stop reading over Zeke and his beloved cat. (I’m a cat person and it hit close to the heart.) Straczynski’s biggest strength is in the way he developed the relationships between the characters, some are very unexpected, yet all feel real. This was an especially big feat, as Together We Will Go has a large ensemble cast. Early in the story, I did get the characters a bit muddled, but I quickly was able to keep everything straight in my mind. Each character and their individual story is necessary and important. I felt connected to all of them and a bit crushed when the story ended.

Together We Will Go is simply a beautiful story. I finished it a week ago and it is still at the forefront of my mind. Straczynski handles a very complicated and difficult subject with grace and care. I highly recommend adding Together We Will Go to your TBR list.

Also, on a personal note, I was very happy that “Karen” is a likable and empathetic character, not like the “Karen” memes that have been going around the last few years. As a fellow Karen, this was nice to see!

Book Review- Rebecca Hardiman's Good Eggs

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Rebecca Hardiman’s Novel, Good Eggs, in exchange for an honest review.

Eccentric eighty-three year old widow, Millie Gogarty, has just been arrested for shoplifting, and to make matters worse, her middle-aged son, Kevin, is called to retrieve her from the police station. Worried about his mom’s behavior, Kevin pretends to strike a deal with the police, which includes canceling Millie’s upcoming holiday, and having a young American woman named Silvia employed as a part-time carer.

Initially, Millie is livid at the arrangement, and vows to give Silvia a difficult time, however, Silvia’s charm and friendship quickly melts Millie’s tough exterior. The two women form a bond, and Millie even loans Silvia a large sum of money. The relationship turns sour, when Silvia leaves Ireland, and Millie can’t contact her. Soon, Millie realizes that Silvia may not be the friend that she imagined.

Kevin is dealing with his own troubles, including a marriage that’s on the rocks, and a troubled teenage daughter, Aideen. Aideen’s angry attitude and unpredictable behavior have pushed her parents to send her to a strict private school, where she boards on school nights. Aideen find solace in the other back sheep of the family, her grandmother, whom she helps solve the mystery of the missing Silvia.

Good Eggs explores what it truly means to be a good person, and how we can both seek and give forgiveness, even when tremendous transgressions have occurred. None of Hardiman’s characters are perfect, yet they are all very much human, and I’m certain that all readers can find themselves in one or more of the characters.

I was most drawn to Aideen, who at sixteen, is struggling to figure out her personal identity. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with her family or society, causing her to lash out and make some terrible judgements in error. Yet, despite her troubles, she has a good heart.

One of the more surprising plot twists involves Aideen unwittingly poisoning her headmaster. Another classmate and Aideen steal a bag of fish eyeballs from biology class and put a few in their headmaster’s breath mint jar, intending on a disgusting prank. However, the girls do not realize that the eyeballs have been preserved in formaldehyde, which sends the headmaster to the emergency room. Aideen doesn’t know the extent of her headmaster’s injuries, yet she immediately disregards any repercussions, and fesses up to the crime in efforts to help give information to help her headmaster’s recovery. The other girl stays silent.

Aideen is filled with these moments, mistakes made and regrets. She desperately wants to make the right decisions, but she is also conflicted over how to navigate social situations. I could definitely see aspects of my teenage-self in Aideen.

Good Eggs was an unexpected read filled with plot twists, delightful characters, and a big dose of heart. I fell in love with the Gogarty family. Good Eggs is Hardiman’s first novel and I look forward to her next!