Jodi
Picoult is known for not being afraid to tackle difficult subject
matter in her stories, which I definitely appreciate as a a reader who
loves a good story that is well written and also teaches me something.
As one of the first novels to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic head on,
Picoult did an awesome job conveying so much of what many of us have
been experiencing over the past 18 months (and counting). Of course,
there’s no doubt that everyone’s reaction to this book will be different
depending on each person’s comfort level and “readiness” to take on a
story about a pandemic that we are all still living through. As some
one who was severely impacted by COVID in very personal ways — both as a
survivor when my entire family unfortunately got COVID back in late
2020 (we have all since recovered, but some “scars” still remain) as
well as having lost loved ones to the disease (relatives and the parents
of close friends) — I honestly wasn’t sure at first whether I wanted to
read it at this moment. But I decided to give it a try and in the end,
I’m glad I did, as it became a salve of sorts for me, especially
knowing that I wasn’t alone in some of the things I experienced. With
that said, there were also moments where the situation unfolding was
“too close to home” to the point of feeling surreal — while I expected
this given the book’s subject matter, it still jarred me a bit. That
being said, the reading experience was still a good one.
For
me, this book’s biggest draw was the subject matter, as it’s not often
that we I am able to read a book where the fictional story mimics a
reality that I (alongside so many others) am experiencing currently.
Given how fresh and raw this subject is, I was curious how Picoult would
tackle it — in the end, I definitely appreciated her approach. Having
said that, this book actually isn’t just about COVID — at its core, it
is also a story about a woman’s journey of self-reflection and an
exploration of whether the life she has is what she truly wants. The
woman at the heart of the story is Diana O’Toole, who is an art
appraiser at one of New York’s premiere auction houses while her
boyfriend Finn is a doctor-to-be currently doing his residency at a
major hospital. Together, the couple have a dream trip planned to the
Galápagos Islands, where Finn plans to propose to Diana and they can
take the next step in the plan for their mutual future. The day before
they are supposed to leave however, Finn is called back to the hospital
where the situation is “all hands on deck” due to an influx of patients
with COVID-19. Even though Finn now has to stay behind, he encourages
Diana to still go on her own so as not to put their non-refundable trip
to waste. Diana reluctantly agrees and heads off to Galapagos, however
right after she gets there, the island is locked down and she becomes
stranded, with no word of when things will re-open. On an island where
WI-FI and a working internet connection are near nonexistent, Diana is
completely isolated from the outside world — not only that, she also
does not know the language and due to the required quarantine, there are
very few people around for her to even ask for help. Diana ends up
befriending a local family that takes her in and acquaints her with the
beauty of the place they call home. Spending time with the family leads
Diana to re-examine her relationships with both Finn and her own mother
(who lives in a care facility for dementia patients) as well as reflect
upon the choices she’s made in her life his far. I actually really
liked all the characters in this story, whether major characters or
minor ones. All of them were so well-developed and truly came alive
for me, but if I had to choose a favorite, that character would
absolutely be Rodney -- not only did I love him as a character, I also
really enjoyed his chemistry with Diana...definitely made me wish I had a
best friend like him!).
This
is a book that I believe will be easy to like, as all aspects of it
were so well done. Yes, there were some parts where the writing
could've been a little tighter and I feel like there were some missed
opportunities in some spots, but overall, I enjoyed this tremendously
and wholeheartedly recommend it. Oh and I do want to mention that the
"twist" in this book definitely made my jaw drop, as I totally was not
expecting it (and that's all I'm going to say about it...you will have
to pick this one up and read it for yourself if you want to find out
more).
Picoult
has said in interviews that this book was unplanned and she was
inspired to write it about 8 months into the pandemic after reading an
article about a man who got stuck in Machu Picchu because COVID had shut
the entire place down (her editor didn't even know until she received
the draft in her email). For a book that basically came about
accidentally, this one turned out really well. Though this is
definitely a worthwhile read, I do understand that not everyone may be
ready for a book about the pandemic yet, so of course, do what works
best for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment