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elcademia's review against another edition
1.0
i read this 10 years ago as part of required reading for english. for the first time, all my classmates could agree about something when it came to opinions on our required reading. we HATED this book. why, as 13 year olds, are we being forced to read aloud a book where a girl just sits around and feels sorry about herself AND that entire paragraph where she gets turned on by an old man’s hands?????
this book haunts me to this day
this book haunts me to this day
b0hemian_graham's review against another edition
5.0
I think I enjoyed this even more as an adult. I first read this at age 12/13 and it's still my favorite Katherine Paterson novel.
emzapk's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book multiple times as a pre-teen, and remember enjoying it and also basking in the injustices Sarah Louise experiences as the "lesser" twin. This was my first time reading this as an adult. I wasn't expecting everything this made me feel as I read. I certainly wasn't expecting to be crying on my couch as I finished this, and then sitting here thinking about it for quite a while. I love that Katherine Paterson expects a lot from her adolescent readers, and I love that I can return to this and still feel so much in such complex ways.
One of the things I especially love about this is how ordinary Sarah Louise is. Often novels focus on the extraordinary people, like her sister, or they start off with someone who seems ordinary and then does something huge or changes in some drastic way. Sarah Louise is normal and flawed and often annoying, but she is still the focus of the book. She doesn't answer some dramatic calling to "become more" or discover some hidden talent. But she grows and changes by making mistakes and listening to others and learning about herself. We can tell that some of the ways she thinks about her sister or her mother or her grandmother are dramatized because she is young - but that doesn't make them any less real to her. And when she decides to set aside her perceptions and accept the truth, she is finally able to make real changes in her life. She is no longer someone who has constantly been acted upon because of circumstance - she is able to act herself. I really needed that reminder. Sometimes I feel stuck because I'm so ordinary. I feel like I can't do the things I want to do because of who I am. But I loved the Captain's reminder: "You don't need anything given to you." I can go out and get it, even if I'm not the "heroine" I think I need to be.
One of the things I especially love about this is how ordinary Sarah Louise is. Often novels focus on the extraordinary people, like her sister, or they start off with someone who seems ordinary and then does something huge or changes in some drastic way. Sarah Louise is normal and flawed and often annoying, but she is still the focus of the book. She doesn't answer some dramatic calling to "become more" or discover some hidden talent. But she grows and changes by making mistakes and listening to others and learning about herself. We can tell that some of the ways she thinks about her sister or her mother or her grandmother are dramatized because she is young - but that doesn't make them any less real to her. And when she decides to set aside her perceptions and accept the truth, she is finally able to make real changes in her life. She is no longer someone who has constantly been acted upon because of circumstance - she is able to act herself. I really needed that reminder. Sometimes I feel stuck because I'm so ordinary. I feel like I can't do the things I want to do because of who I am. But I loved the Captain's reminder: "You don't need anything given to you." I can go out and get it, even if I'm not the "heroine" I think I need to be.
sternbergjulie's review against another edition
5.0
I can't think of anyone better at writing middle-grade novels than Katherine Paterson, and JACOB HAVE I LOVED is my favorite of her works. Like her better know BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, it won the Newbery. (Practically everything the woman writes wins some version of the Newbery.) The protagonist of JACOB HAVE I LOVED, Sara Louise Bradshaw, is stuck with a twin sister, Caroline, who is both infinitely more beautiful than Louise, and a miraculously talented singer. Louise is not just jealous of Caroline. She hates Caroline. She spends the book working through those feelings and finding an independent place for herself. I've read JACOB HAVE I LOVED many times, and I'm guessing I'll read it many more. It doesn't disappoint.
elisabethd8a's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kitsuneheart's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written, but quite sad, and perhaps not too well-received for that, given the modern focus on happy-ending love stories. Sara Louise seems always overshadowed by her twin sister, who was born with health problems and a gift for music. The house revolves around making sure Caroline is healthy and getting her music lessons, leaving Sara Louise to her own devices. The only thing she has for herself is the strange new neighbor she and her best friend have been visiting. She needs this for herself, but when a storm comes to their little island home, close quarters and natural disasters begin to tear away one of the last things she can call her own.
This would definitely come to mind if someone needed a realistic fiction recommendation. Not only the setting, but the plot feels so real. There's a happy ending, but not the kind of happy you'd want, at first. Just the kind that's needed.
The audiobook version is also fairly good, with the narrator taking special pains to convey Sara Louise's constant anger and disappointment. You certainly start feeling bad for her. Not a required listen, but acceptable, if you just want to get through the book.
This would definitely come to mind if someone needed a realistic fiction recommendation. Not only the setting, but the plot feels so real. There's a happy ending, but not the kind of happy you'd want, at first. Just the kind that's needed.
The audiobook version is also fairly good, with the narrator taking special pains to convey Sara Louise's constant anger and disappointment. You certainly start feeling bad for her. Not a required listen, but acceptable, if you just want to get through the book.
joeyanne's review against another edition
I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. It made me a little irritable and I hoped the ending would be more satisfying.
rmarcin's review against another edition
5.0
Louise has always felt inferior to her twin sister, Caroline. She feels that her sister got extra care, extra love, extra admiration her entire life. Caroline is the talented sister, with a beautiful voice, and the entire community of Rass Island loves her. Louise befriends Call, and the local man - The Captain, but Caroline enthralls them, too. Louise is envious of the care everyone shows to Caroline.
It isn't until Louise leaves the island and goes to college, and begins working as a nurse/midwife, that she meets a community that she believes cherishes her for who she is. The ending provides closure and allows Louise to come to terms with the sibling relationship.
It isn't until Louise leaves the island and goes to college, and begins working as a nurse/midwife, that she meets a community that she believes cherishes her for who she is. The ending provides closure and allows Louise to come to terms with the sibling relationship.