Jodi Picoult
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes 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.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.
Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.
My Opinion
(4.5 / 5) You know, I did not want to read a book about Covid. It’s still affecting our lives so much that I felt it would be too heavy. But when Libro.FM offered the audio to me, I couldn’t pass it up. Jodi Picoult is very hit and miss for me, but when I like her stuff, I really like it. I figured I’d give this a chance.
I’m so glad I did. Diana has her whole life planned out and it’s going perfectly until a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Her boyfriend had planned on going with her but work kept him home as Covid was just starting. As soon as she gets there, the island shuts down and she’s stranded. This is where her journey begins.
We follow Diana on the island but also get quite a bit about Finn, her boyfriend, who is a medical student in the middle of New York, fighting on the front lines of the pandemic. It ends up being a beautiful story of life, love, mistakes, and mostly self-discovery. I loved this aspect! It was emotional but endearing. There was a lot of healing along the way and it was hard not to love. It took me through many emotions but still felt hopeful and optimistic. I really just loved this book and all the feels it gave!
What I didn’t realize was how healing it would be. Covid has shaken so many of us to the core. Whether we’ve lost someone or not, it has affected us all negatively. This book brought in hope and happiness that can happen with this pandemic. I think that positive spin was so essential and why I believe many will love this book.
Content Summary: F words: 20+, language, self harm, talk of suicide, infidelity, small sex scene with few details, details of medical patients, Covid deaths and disposal of bodies, family member death.
Thank you to Libro.FM for the gifted audio in exchange for an honest review.
The book released November 30, 2021.
**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I debated about this one! You’ve tempted me to add it to Mount TBR 🙌
I’d be curious to read your review! I was pleasantly surprised.
And now again we are all hands on deck
It’s horrible! I can’t believe it’s getting so bad again. Bless you and your coworkers.
Great review! I have a hard time with Picoult’s books. They are too intensely real for me. I’m glad you enjoyed this one.
It’s true! I can only do her books here and there but this one surprised me in the best way.
I have a couple pandemic related books that I have put off because of the pandemic. I understand the feeling you described.