Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans…
Wish You Were Here is an incredibly well written and deeply touching book. Moreover, the plot in the book will totally take you by surprise. So, what more can you expect from a book?
Diana O’Toole’s career and life is just like she planned it. She will be married before she turns thirty. She will have her kids before she is thirty-five. And Diana and her family have also moved to an attractive suburb at the same time that she’ll be getting more and more responsibility in her job as an art specialist at Sotheby’s. The problem is though that she is not even engaged yet, but she is sure that her boyfriend Finn who is a surgeon will propose while they are enjoying their romantic vacation on the Galapagos – just in time before she turns 30.
Then Covid 19 hits NYC. On the night where they are to leave for the Galapagos Finn tells her the news that he has to stay home because all personnel have been called in to handle the many Covid patients. However, Finn insists that Diana travels to the Galapagos. It would be a shame to lose the money that they have paid for the trip. Hesitatingly, Diana leaves.
Almost immediately the trip goes sideways for Diana. The island where she is supposed to stay is being locked down because of the pandemic. She is now forced to remain on the island until borders open up again. And completely on her own like a castaway she must try to find something to eat and somewhere to sleep. This proves harder than she had imagined as all shops and supermarkets, but also hotels are closed. Finally, she must also try the best she can to communicate with the locals in Spanish. A language she doesn’t speak whatsoever.
However, on her journey to the island she couldn’t help observing a young girl on the ferry who kept very much to herself. The very same girl Diana meets on the island, they start talking and very slowly Diana obtains the girl’s attention and confidence. Beatriz is the girl’s name. It turns out that she has some major personal problems she reveals to Diana.
Through Beatriz Diana becomes connected to a lady who has an apartment she can stay at while she is locked down on the island. The girl’s father Gabriel who Diana randomly encounters reluctantly accepts to help Diana with some of the practical things that Diana needs to have solved. Gabriel is a former tourist guide, and he also takes Diana on trips and hikes on the island.
During the weeks that Diana is locked down on the island she undergoes a mental transformation which implies she analyses herself, her wishes and her wants and dreams. To her surprise she finds out what she really wants out of life.
This is by no means the end of this excellent novel. Without telling you anymore I can honestly say that you are in for a major surprise. Covid 19 has apparently played both Diana and the reader big time. Things are apparently not at all what they should be.
You should really look forward to reading this excellent book. It is hard to exaggerate how well Jodi Picoult writes and Wish You Were Here has rightly so been on the New York Times bestselling list.
As many of you probably know the title of the book Wish You Were Here is also the title of a very famous Pink Floyd album.
Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans is a quote from John Lennon.
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