Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

84 reviews

mrsjburgin's review against another edition

funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book will mess you up and set you back again like Evermore by Taylor Swift. Do not plan anything after hour five. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Self harm, Child death, Death, and Mental illness

allisonleslie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

OMG that ending. It ended on a cliffhanger that I want to be continued.. but also I love that it was left to the reader to decide what it meant. 

I started this book because Jodi told me to on TikTok, and knew nothing about it when I started it. I soon realized it takes place during the pandemic of 2020 and the way it was written absolutely drew me back into the time of quarantine, isolation, and the unknown. 

The plot twist threw me for a loop but I loved this entire story and how everything played out. There hasn’t been a Jodi Picoult book yet that I haven’t loved. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical content, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

carlytenille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Dementia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Self harm

franknovels's review

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Dementia

coffeekitaab's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Writing this in 2024, it is so strange to have relived Covid-19 through this book. A nostalgia when reading about how life generally, the way we lived it - even if we did not contract the virus itself - and the varying attitudes around the virus around the world, the medical staff who saved us, the loved ones we lost - it was a definite struggle and very difficult to carry on at times (only because of Picoult being a favourite author did I persevere). As always, this one packed a punch. There is a description towards the end, describing life during covid and how it felt everyone was holding their breath - a desperate need for a gasp - which no one released which felt/feels very true in hindsight. I'm not sure if reading this 2-3 years ago would have changed the experience I had today (and in what sense that would be) but in a way, I am glad it has been catalogued by Picoult. It is so easy to forget the time the world shutdown, especially as we are creatures of nature, rushing back to the slog and race of working life, trains now running and borders are now open, the time you spend an hour working overtime is an hour lost spending time with loved ones -  the small print should always be highlighted - remember what matters. My love for JP continues to grow with each book I read. Please do check trigger warnings before picking this up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

leahrreads's review

I couldn't finish, I read a few chapters and honestly found it boring and rambling and found myself skipping ahead. The "twist" in my opinion ruins the story for me.
The content of certain things were bothersome to me. Not sure I'm ready to go back and re-live Pandemic-era life.
The main character was also boring, shallow, and came across privileged. Maybe she changes towards the end but I wouldn't know, I couldn't finish it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Self harm

_david_'s review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I think I'm just not a fan of books in which the covid pandemic plays a big role. Nearly everyone currently alive has lived through it and witnessed its horrors or conspired that it wasn't that bad, but this book will not convince them otherwise. The plot twist was well written, but I still didn't like the story after. If you do not like the first half of the book, you will not enjoy the second.  

To me personally, the main character was very self-centered and spoiled. A big theme in the book is that she "evolved" on the island to fit in better. She barely did though. She just got lucky with some villagers. The only moments I enjoyed was her making art with Belize, but the rest of the book made my eyes roll. 

I think there was still a big clash of what the main character and I find important in life. I would have done the exact opposite of each choise she made in the end, except for perhaps the career choice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Sexual content, Outing, Alcoholism, Blood, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Addiction, Terminal illness, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: War, Infertility, Classism, and Vomit

cveeders's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I struggled a bit with this book, both to get into it and to accept certain parts of it. I was able to call plot points before they happened:

Beatriz being gay, Diane cheating on Finn

although I didn't see the big twist coming. It was also hard to sympathize with Diane at places, though cool to look back through the first part knowing what happens in the second. Not a favorite of Picoult's work but not the worst either

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Self harm

evelynritzi's review

hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I love just about anything Jodie Picoult writes and this is no exception. She has a way of taking current issues and topics and examining them from such interesting POVs. I can’t believe how quickly she wrote this book and how well-researched it was.

And the TWIST! I almost threw the book across the room.

 

Highly recommended this one! 💜 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, and Self harm

jennipea382's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Grief, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Sexual content