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18th out of 19 books
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Songs of the Humpback Whale
by
Jodi Picoult
"Sometimes finding your own voice
is a matter of listening to the heart...."
Jodi Picoult's powerful novel portrays an emotionally charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment....For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Jane turns on him with an
...morePaperback, 346 pages
Published
October 2nd 2001
by Washington Square Press
(first published January 1st 1992)
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Some said that Jodi Picoult's early works were not as good as her present novels. Which I do agree that in fact I'm still in a process of discovering her own world of writing. What I mean is, I'm not quitting, I have the feeling that her present works were better and she's still in a process of discovering her own inner ideas to write a book. I don't believe that her books were written badly and in fact, I find it okay but the problem with this book is the strangling minds of the characters. I c...more
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This book is awful. Jodi Picoult has written too many books too quickly - she's lacking a good story and apparently doesn't research her material. The book is written from five different perspectives - which would be fine but she doesn't go in chronological order and she doesn't consistenly date the entries. You have to guess the time frame.
Next, when the mom and daughter arrive in Salt Lake she gives an AWFUL description of the people and the main attraction - the Great Salt La...more
Next, when the mom and daughter arrive in Salt Lake she gives an AWFUL description of the people and the main attraction - the Great Salt La...more
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 her past...more
I've been reading some of Jodi Picoult's books and generally find them fairly entertaining, on the trashy side with some good lines thrown in every now and then. this one, reprinted due to her recent popularity, however, is not a winner. it took me forever to read and the style was annoying and inconsistent. supposedly told backwards from five different perspectives, it's actually in a jumbled chronology with confusing skips back and forth between characters, resulting in the reader not feeling ...more
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I just had a few issues with it. It bothered me that often times I felt like the dates/ages of people didn't match up. Rebecca (the daughter) was 15 and Jane (the mother) was 35 in the book. This means that Jane had Rebecca when she was 20. Jane's age when she got married was never actually mention, but she started dating her husband at 15. Later on in the book it says that Jane had Rebecca after she was married for a while, got her masters, etc...more
I need to start this review by saying that Jodi Picoult is one of my absolute favorite authors. Two summers ago I borrowed nearly every book she'd ever written from the library, and devoured them all. The way she writes - the subjects she writes about - they're real, and timely, and relevant. Her kind of fiction is the kind I would want to write... if I were a fiction author.
To my knowledge, Songs of the Humpback Whale is the first novel that she published. Having read most of ...more
To my knowledge, Songs of the Humpback Whale is the first novel that she published. Having read most of ...more
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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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Very much intrigued by the title, I was somewhat disappointed in the book as a whole. I like Picoult's use of multiple narrators and the way in which she presented Rebecca's perspective "...backward. Like a rewinding movie." However, the title and the prologue of this book promise more depth than Picoult actually delivers.
The characters are, at times, inconsistent and not always believeable. The character of Joley is a good example. In the beginning he is very much i...more
The characters are, at times, inconsistent and not always believeable. The character of Joley is a good example. In the beginning he is very much i...more
I recently became a Jodi Picoult fan, and have since snatched up every book out there with her name on it. Oddly enough, I wasn't able to get my hands on a copy of her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale, until after I had read all fifteen of her other novels. I decided that it would be worth it just to see what kind of beginnings Picoult had and to see what began her career.
Songs of the Humpback Whale follows the journey (both literally and figuratively) of a woman and her daught...more
Songs of the Humpback Whale follows the journey (both literally and figuratively) of a woman and her daught...more
I would put this in the middle of the road Piccoult, maybe more on the better side, if I really really had to choose a side, but defiantly middle of the road. It's a story that is told from various points of view, most going forward except for the daughter's whose is going backwards, so that makes is kind of interesting. The cast is very small which I always like, even though it still took me a bit to figure out who was who. When people's ages are all over the place, I get confused, even though ...more
As with her other books, Picoult chooses an interesting topic with which to develop her story. As the title reflects, it is the songs of the humpback whale. Oliver is a famous marine biologist married to Jane, a speech pathologist, and they have a daughter, Rebecca. Jane has a troubled childhood in her past which shapes her life choices and reactions and leads her to travel to Massachusetts to visit her beautiful brother Joley. While there, Jane meets Sam and Hadley, two men who forever change h...more
Jane Jones is a speech pathologist living in California with her famous husband, Oliver. Oliver researches songs of the humpback whale and find repetitions and when they sing. He has become world renown. Oliver has become so immersed in his research, he has little time to devote to his family.
When Jane gets into another one of their arguments, she actually hits Oliver this time. Horrified because she had an abusive father, she runs away. Her daughter, Rebecca , age 15, accompanies her....more
When Jane gets into another one of their arguments, she actually hits Oliver this time. Horrified because she had an abusive father, she runs away. Her daughter, Rebecca , age 15, accompanies her....more
I believe this is Jodi Picoult's first novel, it's not the first one I read, but nonetheless this novel can make you fall IN LOVE with her.
Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, with every book I read she doesn't cease to amaze me.
You always learn something new, (like in this one where you learn about humpback whales, something I never thought I'd read about.)
So, let me be more clear on what this book is actually about, because it isnt only about humpacks, :D
The mai...more
Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, with every book I read she doesn't cease to amaze me.
You always learn something new, (like in this one where you learn about humpback whales, something I never thought I'd read about.)
So, let me be more clear on what this book is actually about, because it isnt only about humpacks, :D
The mai...more
I found this to be a very readable book, whilst on the other hand, feeling able to criticise its structure and some of its characterisation. Having recently included my thoughts on the structure of a novel at a presentation, I felt qualified to make this judgement.
After a crisis at home, Jane leaves Oliver, taking her teenage daughter with her. Because, ostensibly, she’s no good at finding her way across America, her brother, Joley, feeds her information via letters, a device which e...more
After a crisis at home, Jane leaves Oliver, taking her teenage daughter with her. Because, ostensibly, she’s no good at finding her way across America, her brother, Joley, feeds her information via letters, a device which e...more
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I'd been avoiding this book because I had heard it was not very good. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised!
Picoult is clearly feeling out her writing style. She struggles a bit with the multiple perspectives that now are such a trademark of hers - a few too many people with very sharp cuts that become a little hard to follow. But these characters are as true to life as in her later books, and the plot is actually less formulaic than some of her more recent novels - she hadn't fo...more
Picoult is clearly feeling out her writing style. She struggles a bit with the multiple perspectives that now are such a trademark of hers - a few too many people with very sharp cuts that become a little hard to follow. But these characters are as true to life as in her later books, and the plot is actually less formulaic than some of her more recent novels - she hadn't fo...more
SICK and tired of reading the same convos and scenarios again and again from each person's perspective. A LOT of it was crazy repetitive and not incredibly enlightening as to each individuals point of view. Maybe fun for Picoult to write, I don't know. Made me weary to keep reading.
Also, the characters trip to Salt Lake... Do people swim in the Great Salt Lake? And she inserts these supposed polygamists into the story... Trying to make them nice, I guess. A man and his three wives, ...more
Also, the characters trip to Salt Lake... Do people swim in the Great Salt Lake? And she inserts these supposed polygamists into the story... Trying to make them nice, I guess. A man and his three wives, ...more
Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her renowned husband, Oliver Jones for years. The two has a rocky relationship and struggles to keep their love strong and the forgiveness in tact, but to no avail. Oliver is devoted to his career and he spends less time with his wife and his teenager daughter Rebecca, one that he neglects to spend quality time with. After a heated altercation, Jane leaves with her daughter and with the help of her affectionate brother Joley, she is guided to his Massachuset...more
Told from five perspectives, and in different orders, Songs of the Humpback Whale shows a remarkable depth of insight into the way in which events are different for every participant.
The at-times-confusing decision to write events backwards for a character and forwards for others helps avoid the tedium that could arise from retelling the same events multiple times, but unfortunately, at times, leads to difficulty in remembering where in the story one is with regard to everyone else's timel...more
The at-times-confusing decision to write events backwards for a character and forwards for others helps avoid the tedium that could arise from retelling the same events multiple times, but unfortunately, at times, leads to difficulty in remembering where in the story one is with regard to everyone else's timel...more
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I'm a big Jodi Picoult fan, so I'm trying to read all of her books. This one came, and i looked at the premise and thought - eh? I started reading and thought eh! Skimming forward and reading the reviews i thought EH! And decided there was no need to finish it. Usually her books center around a moral problem that make you think, mostly with a kind of twist. This book is just about a woman who is leaving her husband, who works too much, taking her daughter with her. They are driving from CA to Ne...more
I am normally a big JP fan, but this book just didn't do it for me. I know it was her first, and in my opinion, she vastly improved over time. First, I thought it was VERY difficult to be sympathetic to Jane's character. I know her backstory was supposed to make this happen, but in the end I just thought she was a whiny immature woman who didn't have the decency to just make up her mind already.
Second, I thought the Hadley-Rebecca relationship was super odd. I see the type of rel...more
Second, I thought the Hadley-Rebecca relationship was super odd. I see the type of rel...more
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I keep telling myself that I will not read another Picoult book. When will I ever learn?
This book was a monumental waste of time. There were so many things I disliked about it, and very few things I actually liked. Here's what I disliked:
1. The narrative had 5 different voices, and a couple of them weren't necessary or even interesting.
2. One of the voices was Rebecca's story, written BACKWARDS. Meaning, the things that happened last in the story were...more
This book was a monumental waste of time. There were so many things I disliked about it, and very few things I actually liked. Here's what I disliked:
1. The narrative had 5 different voices, and a couple of them weren't necessary or even interesting.
2. One of the voices was Rebecca's story, written BACKWARDS. Meaning, the things that happened last in the story were...more
I don't even know what to say about this book. Meh. I didn't feel like any of the characters were very well-developed, consistent or believable. Joley totally creeped me out. There were editing errors in the book and that always rips me right out of the story. I just kept wondering "what's the point?" as I read. I typically like Picoult's books when they're written from various perspectives and I did like it again in this one but hated the jumping around in time. Picoult did break from...more
This book screams 'Product of a Creative Writing Workshop'. I can appreciate how difficult it must be to get into 5 different characters heads and tell the story well, but I don't think the author had enough life experience to accomplish it. An egg creme soda on a reservation in the South West? A mother who fawns over the underage girlfriend of her late 26-year-old son and doesn't appear to be grieving just days after the accident that killed him? Another mother of a 15 year old girl who doesn't...more
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Did you easily get confused with the stories? | 6 | 17 | Jan 19, 2012 07:06pm |
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Picoult was born and raised in Nesconset on Long Island, New York. Her first story, at age 5 was "The Lobster Which Misunderstood." She studied writing at Princeton University, graduating in 1987, and had two short stories published by Seventeen magazine while still in college. Immediately after graduation, she took on a series of miscellaneous jobs, from editing at a textbook publishing...more
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“You can run but you can't hide... but I can try. I feel air catch in my lungs and I get a cramp in my side and this pain, this wonderful physical pain that I can place, reminds me that after all I am still alive. ”
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“I believed the reason there was a God was to prevent such atrocities from happening to the same person twice. But nothing prepared me for this: I have done what I've sworn I could never do; I have become my own nightmare... I have lost control. ”
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