Lizzie Recommends Books

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for sending me an advance reader copy through NetGalley of Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
Publishing Date: November 30, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Fiction (could there be recent past historical fiction?)
You’ll enjoy it if you love reading complex stories about how events can change someone’s path.
Content Warning: This book is set during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re looking for escapism, this book may not be for you.

Our main character thinks she has her life figured out. She has a plan and knows what she wants, who she is, and what her future will hold. Yet a virus (COVID-19) hits New York City, and everything is at a standstill. Her boyfriend tells her to take the vacation they had previously planned without him, so she goes and gets stranded on the island for two months.

Her life in New York is so drastically different from the one she lives in the Galagapos Islands. It’s worlds apart, and the vacation has ultimately changed our main character. Nothing will ever be the same for her now that she knows what she does.

This book is full of twists that had my jaw dropping at certain parts I won’t spoil. The pure, raw human experience we all felt during the beginning of the pandemic is entirely on display throughout the novel. Lives changed drastically for so many of us, and it’s easy to identify with the characters in this story.

I loved Jodi’s writing, world-building, and character development. I felt like I was inside the main character’s head the entire story, making it enjoyable to read. Also, the MC is not much older than me, which made it even more exciting and had me identify with her many aspects. That was one of the best parts of this story, honestly. I can get hooked to a story as long as I feel like it could have been me living it.

I’m rating this 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the overall plot of the story and how our main character grew throughout it. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves heavy character development and seeing the outcomes of their struggles.

This was my first Jodi Picoult novel, so I’m unsure if she has current events in many of her other stories. My personal preference for books is that they’re mostly fiction, or so far in the past, I don’t feel like I’m actively living it. I prefer my books be used for escapism from reality.