This month’s pick for my book club was “Wish You Were Here,” by Jodi Picoult. Published in 2021, the rights have been sold to Netflix for film adaptation.
I have yet to read a Jodi Picoult book that I didn’t sit back and say, Wow! “Wish You Were Here,” brought me the same result.
This is the first book I have read with a setting during the lockdown of Covid.
Based on the true story of a traveler stranded on a remote island, and taking place in the early days of Covid-19, Picoult gives you a human look at the isolation, pain, loss, loneliness and grief that took hold of us as the world shut down.
The amount of research Jodi Picoult did in this book is much like her others, extensive.
Although the first half of this book moved slow for me, overall, as with all Jodi Picoult books, I enjoyed it, I learned some interesting info (no spoiler alert here), it made me think, and I will definitely pick up another of her stories.
Seeming to have it all, Diana is set to celebrate her 30th birthday with a vacation trip. But, what happens instead is she finds herself alone in the Galápagos islands, her boyfriend (a surgeon) thousands of miles away fighting to save people with COVID, when the island is put on lockdown. With no way to get home, Diana luckily is offered a room by a local and becomes immersed in the island culture and the locals’ way of living.
She then becomes involved in the lives of local businessman, Gabriel, and his daughter, Beatriz. Through these new friendships and interactions, she begins to question what she had thought she wanted from her life, the path she is on and whether it is the right one.
