Wish You Were Here

I was as impressed with the author's note as I was with the book and that was very impressed.

I didn't think I would like a pandemic-themed book because, well, I'm living the pandemic—STILL. Boy, was I wrong!

This book definitely has three acts. It's a little hard to describe them all without giving away the plot, so if my review sounds vague, it's intentional.

ACT 1 - The book begins just as the pandemic is starting and before anyone knew what COVID was or how it would impact our lives. (Remember those days?) The main character, Diana, has a surgeon boyfriend named Finn. They had planned a trip to the Galapagos Island, where Diana is sure he will propose, as planned. In fact, she basically has her life planned and so far, it's playing out just fine. However, at the last minute, he must stay in NYC to care for the increasing number of COVID patients at his hospital, but he encourages Diana to go on the trip without him. She does and manages to be quarantined there, making her one week trip last several months. Life back home goes on without her and there are several “life events” that happen that she has no control over. It doesn't help that Internet connectivity is nearly non-existent.

ACT 2 - By some miracle, she ends up back in NYC, but she's not the person she used to be. Her time in the Galapagos changed her. Poor Finn is the same, only horribly exhausted and struggling to cope.

ACT 3 - Sorry, I can't give details. All I can say is I loved the ending.

Picoult does an excellent job of taking her pandemic-weary readers to a tropical island for a break and then taking them back to the pandemic and letting them know they are not alone. All and all, an amazing read.

Earlier, I mentioned the author's note. It helped to know that the author was as paralyzed by the pandemic as a lot of us. And that, before she could even write again, she managed to start reading. . . but only romances, because she could only handle happy endings. I feel less embarrassed by all the Hallmark movies I watched because I needed stories that had happy endings.