⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review – Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult #WishYouWereHere

Diana and her boyfriend Finn are supposed to take a vacation to the Galapagos at the start of March 2020. Due to a rise in virus cases, Finn, a surgeon, stays behind in New York to take care of patients and Diana goes off on her own, until she gets stranded on a remote island without phone signal, internet or money. She befriends the locals and integrates herself into the community, and it seems like the perfect place to wait out the pandemic. Until something happens that changes Diana’s life entirely.

This story was a ghost from the past two years, from the start of the pandemic to modern day. It’s become so commonplace that we wear masks everywhere, shower as soon as we get back from being outside, disinfect any groceries or takeaway containers that come in the house, that I’ve forgotten what a jarring change that was to how things used to be. It was especially strange, like an out-of-body experience to see how we all dealt with it nearly two years ago now, with the high death tolls, lack of tests and extreme caution and panic about coming into contact with the virus.

When I started the novel, I thought the story was going to be about the pandemic in remote parts of the world, but in fact, Picoult found a very unique, interesting and heartbreaking take on the situation and how to relate what Diana and Finn were going through in their own worlds. The story comes in two main parts, and I have to say, I enjoyed the first part the most, as it felt like an escape, and the second part was a jarring shock, but, in fact, by the end of the book, I felt like I had gained the most from the latter half. There comes wisdom with experience and I believe Picoult put in not only her lifetime’s worth of experience into this book, but that of many, many different people. It was exactly the kind of thing I needed to read and experience from a first-person perspective to truly understand what Diana was going through, but it resonated with me so much more.

This blog tour review has been made possible thanks to Kate Keehan and Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with an Advance Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for taking the time to read my review and I hope you check out the other reviews on the blog tour this week and purchase the book upon publication!