Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices
by Jodi Picoult
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Read in October, 2006
Jodi Picoult's first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale, was my latest read. In it, she establishes her writing style and tendency to use multiple perspectives. Jane Jones is a speech pathologist, living in California in the shadow of her husband Oliver's fame. Oliver does research on humpback whales, and is well-known for his discovery of whale songs and their repetition. When the book begins, Jane and Oliver get into another of their fights, and Jane strikes Oliver. Confronted by h...more
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Read in February, 2007
February 2007 BotM. I tried to remain optimistic while reading this book. It wasn't one I voted for, but I read it anyway. It's been read, and I'm glad it's over and done with. It wasn't the type of book that I like, and while I usually don't give a book a bad opinion, this one, as much as I hate to say this, stank. OMG! All of it was in the first person; there were no dividing chapters, just the characters themselves. Everything was written in the first person. While you don't pay that much of ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Dawn by:
Have read other books by this author
I started this book while at my mom's and then put it down until today and then out of sheer determination, I finished it.
This was an ok book. I am glad that I read other books by Jodi Picoult before I ever read this one. I don't know that I would have read anything else by her if I had started with this one (this being her first novel).
The story centers on Jane and her daughter Rebecca as they make their way across America from California to Massachusetts to where Jane's brother Joley...more
This was an ok book. I am glad that I read other books by Jodi Picoult before I ever read this one. I don't know that I would have read anything else by her if I had started with this one (this being her first novel).
The story centers on Jane and her daughter Rebecca as they make their way across America from California to Massachusetts to where Jane's brother Joley...more
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Read in April, 2006
recommends it for:
girls
'Songs of the Humpback Whale' is one of my favorite Jodi Picoult books. It was her first novel and she did so well with it, especially considering how the novel is crafted. There are 5 different voices telling the same story from their own point of view and one of the characters is going backwards in her story! It is so complex but it's also easy to understand.
Jane marries Oliver at a young age and there is a large age difference between them but she does it anyway. Oliver is a marine scient...more
Jane marries Oliver at a young age and there is a large age difference between them but she does it anyway. Oliver is a marine scient...more
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Read in March, 2008
Everyone has their first novel, and this was Jodi Picoult's. By far, she is one of my favorite author, however this book did not do her justice. However, I should not be too quick to judge, for it was her first novel, after all.
This book was about a woman, Jane, whose past of abuse by her father had continued to haunt her. She was also in a marriage with a husband, Oliver, who was more in love with his job than his own wife and daughter. The last straw was when she hit her husband and with ...more
This book was about a woman, Jane, whose past of abuse by her father had continued to haunt her. She was also in a marriage with a husband, Oliver, who was more in love with his job than his own wife and daughter. The last straw was when she hit her husband and with ...more
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Read in July, 2008
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Read in May, 2008
This was a quick one for me, which means it could be a one day reader probably for other people. :)
I loved the story. It is about a couple with a 15 yr old daughter. The mom fell in love with the dad when she was 15 herself and they got married young and she had the daughter when she was young.
Yet he's a scientist that is famous for his research on humback whales and he lets it rule his life instead of his family.
Drama ensues, the daughter & mom take off for the east coast, ...more
I loved the story. It is about a couple with a 15 yr old daughter. The mom fell in love with the dad when she was 15 herself and they got married young and she had the daughter when she was young.
Yet he's a scientist that is famous for his research on humback whales and he lets it rule his life instead of his family.
Drama ensues, the daughter & mom take off for the east coast, ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Lindsey by:
Katy Conwayrecommends it for: People who like to read about travel and nature
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Read in October, 2007
Writen from multiple perspectives (a style Picoult seemed to favor in her eariler novels)it is harder to get into than some of her more recent works (like Tenth Circle). But her ability to create interesting characters is evident even in this first effort. I am finding her teenage character more unbelieveable than other teens she has written, but I am facinated by the fact that the teen tells the story backwards as all the other perspectives tell it forward.
I found the subject matter a b...more
I found the subject matter a b...more
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Read in June, 2008
The major themes of this novel are true love and appreciating what you have, lest it be taken away from you. I didn't like the way it ended, but I guess it was justified. The best part of the book was the structure--one character tells the story backwards, so every few chapters, you get her perspective of the events starting with the last event, while the rest of the book is in normal chronological order. It was confusing at first b/c the backwards character, Rebecca, talks about other charac...more
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Read in February, 2008
I really like Jodi Picoult as an easy, engaging read. I was enjoying this book, too, until I got to the part about Salt Lake City. In it, the main characters arrive in the post office (there's only one in a city of 180,000 people) to find none other than polygamist Mormons! I'm so disappointed that Picoult bought into an outdated stereotype like that. Anyone that has been to Salt Lake knows that, while Mormonism plays a predominate role in the area’s culture, Salt Lake is a very diverse town, ...more
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I think I should really give this a 2, but I have enjoyed Jodi Picoult's other books much more than this one, so consider this a two-star rating with an extra star because she's usually pretty good. I just don't care that much about the characters. Self-indulgent twits. Buck up, people, and try to act older than your teenage daughter. I have been trying to get through this since sometime in February, I believe. I am almost done and by golly, I am going to finish it and get it off my nightst...more
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Read in March, 2008
This is my second Picoult novel which I started reading precisely ten minutes after finishing My Sister's Keeper. I'm about halfway through it now and, frankly, I'm about to put it down...forever. I'm finding the characters annoying and absolutely unrealistic in their behavior...to the point where it's beyond what fictional people would even do. I'll probably hang in there a little while longer but...
If I do put it down, though, I will read more Picoult. So many of my friends love her wo...more
If I do put it down, though, I will read more Picoult. So many of my friends love her wo...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
hard-core piccoult junkies / those looking for a less-intense read
As far as jodi picoult books go, this one is pretty week. it is an earlier work and doesn't have the same finished quality her other books have. it lacks the mystery most of her other books have which i have discovered is something i find quite enjoyable (that and the courtroom drama) this to me reads more like a romance and is far less "deep" than many of her other works. after reading her more serious novels, i had trouble feeling as though the charactors plight was a significant...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who likes Picoult
This was Jodi Picoult's first book - It is about family, dysfunction and coming to terms with the way life is what it is. It is about running away and going home. It is about marriage to another person and marriage to your profession. I really liked this book - as I do all of her books that I have read so far. This one is a quick read - as are all of her books. I liked all of the main characters in the novel - even though not all the characters are likeable. It is told from the point of vi...more
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This was EXACTLY like "Nineteen Minutes," only not nearly as good (although I guess since this came first, it should be the other way around): the coming-of-age story of both a mom & her daughter, with domestic abuse thrown in.
The chronology was confusing--one of the five voices narrates from most recent backwards, & everyone else does the normal chronological order of events. There was WAY too much sex; I was not at all expecting a bodice-ripper, & that's really all...more
The chronology was confusing--one of the five voices narrates from most recent backwards, & everyone else does the normal chronological order of events. There was WAY too much sex; I was not at all expecting a bodice-ripper, & that's really all...more
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Read in August, 2008
An interesting novel. The writing style was unique, since its told from the point of view of 5 of the main characters. Each time the story changes to a different character though, the writing is taking place at a different point of time in the story.
This is a unique idea and Picoult manages to write this way and keep the reader interested without making them confused. The plot of the story seems a little rushed at times, as one event crashes into another, but this is forgiveable considering...more
This is a unique idea and Picoult manages to write this way and keep the reader interested without making them confused. The plot of the story seems a little rushed at times, as one event crashes into another, but this is forgiveable considering...more
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15 comments
this edition had a lot of errors in it, spelling and sentence-wise. whenever i found myself getting into the story, i was abruptly brought back out of it by a misprint. all the errors made me wonder if the editors even read the book before printing it. someone who read the book before me also was irritated by the mistakes and took to circling some of the ones they found.
looking past that, though, i thought the story was decent. i was a little disturbed by the brother that was in love with ...more
looking past that, though, i thought the story was decent. i was a little disturbed by the brother that was in love with ...more
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Read in November, 2007
A plane crash. A childhood of abuse. An unhappy marriage. An adolescent daughter. And an orchard.
A husband who prefers whale research. A wife who just wants to be loved. A daughter who is a survivor. A brother who is a survivor. And an unassuming apple farmer.
Picoult brings these incidents, voices, and situations together in Songs of the Humpback Whale. This is typical Picoult in its revelations of sordid behavior and beings. But unlike subsequent novels, she doesn’t pull any...more
A husband who prefers whale research. A wife who just wants to be loved. A daughter who is a survivor. A brother who is a survivor. And an unassuming apple farmer.
Picoult brings these incidents, voices, and situations together in Songs of the Humpback Whale. This is typical Picoult in its revelations of sordid behavior and beings. But unlike subsequent novels, she doesn’t pull any...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone
Another blue medal book by Jodi Picoult in my opinion. I love the way she dedicates particular fonts to each of her characters such that when she switches the narrative speaker from one to another it is immediately recognizable. This book is written in her usual style of seeing the story unfold from a variety of charcters' points of view. However, this time one specific character tells the tale backwards by starting with present day and working her way back to the beginning. The contrast aga...more
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