Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices

A bit disappointing

I love some of Picoult's other works, so I tried this one. Maybe it's just me, but reading the same story 5 times - even from 5 different perspectives - was boring. I found myself thinking SO many times - but I know this already ... get on with the story. The last half of the book I just skimmed through to see if there was anything relevant to the plot. I won't give up on Picoult though. I plan to read all of her works because I loved the first three I read: My Sister's Keeper (I read this before I even knew a movie was coming out.), Change of Heart (really LOVED this one), and Plain Truth.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Soooooo Disappointed

I have read most of Jodi's books, devouring them with a few days and have loved them all.... That is.... until now. I had to force myself to get through it. At first I liked the idea that it was written in reverse order during Rebecca's narratives, but after a few chapters I found it kind of pointless. I really did not enjoy this book at all. I don't understand why Hadley had to die. In the end, both mother and daughter are not with the man that she loves.

2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

song of the humpback whale

That was a hard book for me to get into. I found getting very interested in sisters keeper and I couldn't put it down and the suicide pact that was another I had a hard time putting down.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Interesting Story but with Unconvincing characters

I like Jodi Picoult novels--for the most part--but this one was lacking. Jane, married at a young age to Oliver, a marine biologist, is stifled by his years of apathy toward his marriage and child. Things come to a head shortly before their daughter, Rebecca's 15th birthday, when Jane, upon learning her husband once again plans to be away working on that day, snaps and slaps her husband (bringing to her consciousness her history of seeing her own father abuse his wife and family) and she takes off with her daughter across the country from San Diego to see her brother who works on an apple farm in Massachusetts. A whiz at tracking the migration of humpback whales, Oliver follows a scientifically calculated pursuit of his family as Jane and Rebecca follow a far more meandering route (directed by letters from Jane's brother Joley)to their final destination. Along the way, each of the characters share their experiences about their trip east, (Rebecca's experience told in an annoying and at times confusing backward tale) how they grow and change, and about the ultimately devastating events that happen after they reach the farm. As is too often the case with Picoult novels, she writes a truly interesting story but with an ethereal quality about relationships that is over-the-top unbelievable. Her descriptions of a very close emotional bond between Jane and her brother Joley, reads as borderline incestuous. Jane's relationship with her daughter reads at times the same way--too close for comfort. (Why, for example, does Jane feel a need twice in this novel to put her hands on her daughter's breasts? If it were a father doing this, it would be child molestation!) Over the course of five days, we are led to believe that an at first prickly relationship between Jane and the orchard owner, Sam, suddenly becomes a sexual relationship between soul mates. I've got news for both of them--he's a diversion. And a improper sexual relationship between fifteen year old Rebecca and 25-year old Hadley is really okay, because the girl is mature beyond her years. Of course, she isn't--as is made quite clear when she willingly climbs into a truck to hitchhike with two men who have all but said straight out they plan to take advantage of her sexually (if only all would-be rapists would reveal their hand so quickly!). The problem is that it is difficult to like any of the characters--perhaps with the exception of Rebecca, who is just plain naive--to enough extent to route for anyone. Neither Jane nor her daughter seem to have the maturity to think about their actions beyond the here and now. The same seems to go for Oliver, until he experiences some sort of a mid-trip 'awakening' and realizes he really does love his wife after all but hasn't always shown it--duh! Jane is just plain selfish and inconsiderate. She uses her newly attained status as Sam's girlfriend to demand he let a long-time trusted employee go. Need anyone remind her who was the uninvited guest at this orchard? Again, this is a good story, and if you are a romantic at heart who wants to read something meatier than romance novels, then this is a good book for you. So long as you don't get caught up in the believability of the characters, you'll enjoy this read.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A thought provoking novel on change of heart

this novel follows a broken family in desperate need of repair, placing the views of each person (the mother, father, and the daughtor) into their own unique passages. Jane, the mother, after having hit her husband Oliver, flees across America with her daughtor, Rebecca, in the direction of her closely knit brother, Joley, at the apple orchard where he works. Along the way, mother and daughtor are forced to relive active memories that they have so long attempted to forget. Meanwhile,the father, Oliver, is attempting to find his family with his grand tracking skills, gained from experience in tracking humpback whales, at frist being rather smug that finding them would be a simple and easy task. As the novel continues, bonds are created and broken, as each person finds who he/she really is and the new person that they have become.

A really good, thought provoking novel, as is Jodi Picoult's trademark, and completely engrossing once you find out that Rebecca is backtracking through time. If you "stick with it", you will most definitely find that it was worth it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Easy Read, but a must!

Jodi Picoult's, "Songs of the Humpback Whale" is not what I first expected in what the title expressed.Instead it tis the story of a mother who takes her child across country to escape the abuse of her husband. She is led across our fantastic country by the letters of her younger brother and the memories that her brings back to life for her, to help heal her, and also because she has never driven outside the confines of the western coast. the book is about theamazing journey of the mother and daughter experiencing life together and when they arrive in Massachussetts, the mother meets an amazing man who teaches her what Love is really all about. The father finnaly cathes up to them and a horrific accident brings them all to their senses. The mother and child return with the father to the west coast with a renewed sense of who they are and whee they shooud head in the future.

Phenomenal

Another great story by Jodi Picoult. Such a beautiful story of love and loss. The complexity if the characters leaves you with a set of new friends and yearning to learn more.

Hard to follow

This book jumps around years forward, years back, and it's not my favorite. In fact, it's my least favorite Jodi Picoult book and I'm a huge fan of hers.

Humph...

Disappointing after her other books.

Good

Her books get better as they go. This is a good read with an intetesting telling.

An Okay book

I thought the ended was horrible but the overall story was good

Sadly, disappointing.

Disappointing and uninteresting to read and re-read the same story over and over again five times from different perspectives. The story did not move along very well and I found myself hoping and reading in order to get to the next interesting part. Sadly, the interesting parts were few and far between. I was really hoping for a substantial ending that would justify the time commitment I had made to the novel. Sadly, I was disappointed.

Slow, slow, slow

Worst of her books, and I am a fan of her books

Wonderful book brilliantly told

My only complaint is that throughout words are run together. Its very poorly scanned - needs many corrections!

Not about the Book...

I never thought I would say this...but I am so disappointed in BN. The price you are charging for Nook books is crazy. It is more than the paperback. I am an owner of the nook, and it makes me not want to use it. It is sad that people buy the nook and then are being charged ridiculous prices for books. What are you people thinking???

Favorite

I've read every single one of Jodi Picoults Books, and I love every single one of them. This one though, it really jumped out at me. It captivated me with the realness of the relationships, and I'm 99% sure I'm naming my child Hadley if he is a boy. I've read it 8 times, and every time I feel something a little different and I learn something else about these characters. I almost feel like in her new book, Sing you Home, that the main character Zoe is a little how I suspect Rebecca would be when she all grown up. I don't know maybe I'm crazy. but this book is my favorite book of all time, and I don't see that changing at all.

besr book ever!

could not put it down. suggesred it to all my friends and they love it too! well don jodi picoult!

A very dark, difficult to read novel.

Although this book was written several years ago, it is the first by this author that I have read. She is called a #1 New York Times BestSelling Author. She has written and published many books. As I said, this is my first experience with her writing. If you are a fan of stories told in the first person by the characters in the story, this is the book for you. The cover even calls it A Novel in Five Voices. If you like to read stories about human emotions dealing with tragic events, this is the book for you. This is not an easy-read novel for a summer day at the beach. Ms. Picoult writes powerfully. Each of the voices is so different, one can picture the character actually speaking. The characters deal with incest, adultery, young love, older love, love with large age differences, parent to child love, child to parent love, married love. However, I found it confusing, as the events are not told in a chronological order. The character Rebecca, particularly, seems to start at the end and go backwards, as does Jane. If you can figure out the time frame, you will understand the story being told. If you enjoy stories that present character self-discovery, questions of right and wrong that you might mull over for a while, this is the book for you.

not my favorite Picoult book

I have read many of Jodi Picoult's books. I was pretty disappointed in "songs of the humpback whale"

Let Down

At first I thought this book was interesting how the author used the a sort of flashback approach to telling the story until I got to the end when I kept hoping for a twist that never came. She completely gave away the whole ending at the very begining which left the reader disappointed when you come to find out there is no twist. Although the relationship between the 15 yr old Rebbecca and the 25 yr old Hadley was morally questionable (to say the least) it was really the only relationship I found myself going for (in a sort of half-hearted way). There weren't any real black and white characters. They were all sort of gray. I wasn't sure who I liked. It was disappointing in the end when both Jane and Rebbecca were left without the men they loved. It would have been a little better if the author made some sort of real reconciliation between Jane and Oliver. Instead, you just got the feeling that she was going to go back to her miserable life and leave behind this man she really loved (after having only taken 3 days before committing marital unfaithfullness on her husband). In the end Oliver and Jane both seemed like complete narcissists. Really come on! I don't know how I felt in the end. I guess just disappointed. I wouldn't recommend it. I will give this author another chance since I've heard good things.