Wish You Were Here

 Jodi Picoult has written the first novel I have read chronicling the CoVid pandemic.  Wish You Were Here is the story of a young couple living in Manhattan when the CoVid pandemic breaks out.  

Diane is a young woman who is climbing the job ladder at Sotherby's just the way she always planned to.  She has her life mapped out.  Vice President at the art auction house.  Married and requisite kids by a certain age.  House in the suburbs. Her live in boyfriend, Finn is a medical intern and she is sure he will propose on their upcoming romantic getaway vacation to the Galapagos Islands.  

Just as they are getting ready to leave the country everything locks down.  New York City goes into panic mode and Finn is working around the clock at the hospital trying to save patients who are getting sick with this new disease.  Finn tells Diane to leave on the dream vacation without him.  Better she is safe and having a nice time while he is facing death in the hospital.  When she lands in the Galapagos she is on the last  ferry  and then the island shuts down.  Stranded in this beautiful exotic island is both freeing and claustrophobic.  Diane has to learn to rely on herself and to slow down for the first time in her life. 

We learn about the catastrophe unfolding in New York though emails Finn is sending to Diane.  We experience the frustration, fear and sadness of  all  the healthcare workers who were on the front lines.

Picoult has researched all the topics in this novel throughly.  She describes the CoVid pandemic in realistic terms from the viewpoints of doctors, patients, giving reader a real feel for being in the thick of the situation.  She also describes the beauty and wildness of the Galapagos Islands, the serenity and the peacefulness. It will be interesting to see if this book is recommended reading to the the future generations who did not experience the last few years in real time as a way to understand what happened in 2020.

Jodi Picoult wrote this book really quickly to get it published while we are still in the pandemic.. a little risky when we do not really know the final outcome yet. But she did a great job chronicling life as we are living it. Of course this novel has a larger life lesson about who we are, how we judge others and should we have a life plan or live more in the moment.  Diane O'Toole is following a road map for her life she has planned out in her mind.  Career, marriage and children.  But when the CoVid lock down happens and her life starts going off course, she has to reexamine all the plans and ideas she thought she had understood. Well written, entertaining though I did not really  want to read some of the details about what was happening in NY hospitals.  Too soon.  But this will be a great resource for readers years from now or those who did not watch the news every day.  For those who did live through it to get a real feeling for what 2020 was about.