Your rating:
A deeply moving novel about the resilience of the human spirit in a moment of crisis. 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 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. 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. 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.
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
Wish you were here
-- this wasn't really what I expected from Picoult-- what I expected was some moral quandary, some ethical argument with people on both sides, gray areas explored
- this was interesting, but somewhat slow paced and lacked tension
- I did appreciate showing the front line worker perspective, not showing the non-believers point of view
- this wasn't interesting premise, both the 'stuck in Paradise' part and the 'ICU psychosis' part too-- I was actually surprised at the reveal
- the element with painting and that seller seemed pointless?
- the element with dementia and an absent parent felt underdeveloped?
- I did appreciate Diana's realization that it's not all about plans, and also an explanation of possibilities-- making a decisions lead to learning who you are and lead to changing who you are
- that being said, I did want Diana's final choices to be more well drawn. I understood but also it felt out of character? (For her to change so much of her life and dump her boyfriend)
0I went into this expecting to feel a sort of catharsis about the pandemic and remember how crazy it was to go into grocery stores that looked like movie sets from the apocalypse. It definitely went deeper than that — I’d forgotten about the real sense of fear at that time. Not just about how it was spread but the bigger questions: Will someone I love die? Will I still have a job? How long will this last?
It was pretty crazy to remember all of those feelings. I had to put the book down for a few days.
But I really enjoyed it. I loved the settings of the Galápagos Islands and how Diana’s story unfolded there with Gabriel, Beatriz, and Abuela. She was truly isolated, and it was bananas how differently things could have turned out if she didn’t find the support system she had.
Even though I knew there was a twist, I never saw it coming! I had a bunch of ideas and none of them were it. No spoilers — I’ve seen this twist once before, and it ticked me off. This time it was well-executed and really helped move the story forward.
This is my first Jodi Picoult book, and there was a little too much editorializing for me. I never like when an author tells me how to feel or how a character feels. Just show me, and I’ll come to my own conclusions.
I really enjoyed this overall, though! I know it’ll stick with me for a while, and hopefully someone will write a funny Covid book soon that’ll reflect the lighter side of the pandemic.
0 0