Customer Reviews

Jacob Have I Loved

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I highly recommend this novel. It deals with difficult, but very real and raw emotions between siblings. The author Katerine Paterson is one of the best story tellers that young people of this generation can read and understand. The story has everything! A tale of family relationships, and rivalry between twins, set in the 1940's era in the Chesapeake Bay. I enjoyed this book for it's dramatic intensity, fullness of the characterizations, believability, and honest dealing with many teen issues. Also, it took place in a locale that we don't usually read about. I will never forget these characters. Paterson is a wonderful writer. I read this book to catch up on children's lit for the age group I will be teaching this coming school year. Fifth graders on up should really read this book. They will certainly come away enriched. I discovered Paterson after reading her riveting "Bridge to Terabithia", another must read.

Jacob Have I Loved is an excellent children's story that is loosley based on the biblical account of Jacob and Esau. It is about the turbulent relationship between a pair of twin sisters. Louise, who is the narrator and the character of Esau, is unable to recognize her own talents because she is constantly comparing herself to her beautiful and gifted sister Caroline. Katherine Paterson's book is well written and very understandable. One of its main strengths is that it is written from Louise's perspective. Because Louise is the narrator, the reader is better able to understand why she is so jealous of Caroline. Another strength is that Paterson explores other relationships in Louise's life besides just the one between her and Caroline. The story focuses on how the sisters' parents, grandmother, friends, and neighbors react to Caroline and her sister. These other relationships affect the way Louise views herself and her sister as much as what Caroline says and does.

Every child should read Jacob Have I Loved, especially those who resent their siblings because they think their sisters or brothers are smarter, more attractive or more talented then they are. The story will allow children in that situation to empathize with Louise and better understand that they have talents that they may have not yet recognized. Paterson's book was intended for children, but it would be a good book for parents and teachers to read also. It will help adults to understand children who may have not yet reached their full potential and are jealous of those who have.

I thought this was a very good book, which dealt with sibling rivalry very well. I won't summmarize the plot, because that's been done already, but it really delves deep into Louise's feelings. One of the main strengths of the book was that Caroline was not a bad person, she was actaully very sweet and smart and gifted. It made me wonder, if these people were real, and I had met them, if I would have also chosen Caroline over Loiuse. THat was one of the strengths of the book. IT would have been so easy for the author to just demonize Caroline, and she didn't. Also, I don't understand why everyone finds Louise's crush on 70 year old Hiram revolting. There were very few men on the island, and the only two who actually cared for her were Hiram, Call and her father. Looking at it that way, it's not surprising that she chose Hiram. I found this book a very compelling read, that explores emotion- hatred between siblings- that our society doesn't really allow children to feel. That it did it so eloquently only made the point stronger. This was a great book, and it's totally appropriate for children, because the eleven year old child you're trying to protect might actually be experiencing this issue themselves, and thinking it's abnormal. THis was a very good book.

"Jacob Have I Loved" takes place in the 1940s on a tiny island in the Chesapeake Bay called Rass Island. Sara Louise "Wheeze" Bradshaw is the young teen who narrates the story. She's forever feeling inferior next to her beautiful, talented twin sister, Caroline. And she's conflicted by her "sinful" feelings for the 70+ year-old stranger, Hiram "the Captain" Wallace, who's returned to his hometown half a century later. Without anyone to confide in (even her one and only friend, McCall "Call" Purnell, doesn't understand her), Louise feels as isolated as the island she lives on. Her fate seems to be filled with misery and loneliness compared to her sister's, especially after her religious grandmother spitefully recites a passage from the Bible: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated". (Jacob and Esau were twins like Louise and Caroline--and like Esau, Louise was the least favorite twin.)

I had a hard time starting this book. The beginning was a little rough, but once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I read half the book in one sitting, until I reached the part where Louise, Cal, and the Captain were preparing to drown more than a dozen cats--which were pets, by the way, not just strays. I was totally turned off by this, but when I read further, the cats were spared and adopted by various families on the island. (Ironically, a storm later wiped a lot of them out.)

The book won the Newbery Medal in 1981 and was later made into a TV movie in 1989. I never saw the movie, but I would definitely recommend this book to 13+ year-old girls who can relate to Louise and/or love the East Coast, particularly the Chesapeake Bay area.

This is one of my favorite books. I cried harder while reading it than anything else I've ever read or seen, but it's ultimately very uplifting and sweet. This is the story of Sara Louise and her twin sister Caroline, who grow up ona a tiny fishing island in the 1940s; specifically, it is the story of Sara Louise's resentment of her talented, pretty sister, and of her struggle do discover who she is apart from Caroline's shadow. Caroline is not really cruel, or even very selfish; she is one of those shining, talented people who do everything well and whom everyone loves, and who come to take it for granted. Without meaning to, everything Louise wants seems to come to Caroline. The way Louise deals with this and, ultimately, transcends it is a truly hertwrenching and uplifting story.

I have been a writer for 25 years. I have an 8-year-old daughter who loves to read, and I've recently been reading books to see if they are beyond her reading abilities. I was incredibly moved and amazed at this book. I don't think that my daughter can read it on her own yet, and I may try to read it with her....but I know that in a few years this book can open her heart in the same way that it did mine. This is the kind of book that is life-changing and life-affirming. It's honest, gorgeously written, funny, unbearably sad, and ultimately uplifting. A true classic.

The title makes perfect sense after reading the book (a biblical reference to the brother Jacob, who was favored over Isau), but I orignally thought this book would be about a lost love or something.

Anyway, the story deals with the resentment one twin sister, Louise, feels towards the other, Caroline. Yet both are portrayed sympathetically - one can't help but like Caroline at least a little, even though you feel how justifiably Louise is jealous and resentful of her. But through the relationships Caroline has with others, you see how fundamentally decent she is, even as Louise is never able to respond to that.

Caroline is a gifted musician/singer, and grows up to be supremely successful and even marries Louise's childhood friend. The real beauty of this book is that Louise ultimately finds her unique and satisfying place in the world. It is vastly different from where her sister ends up, but then, she was always vastly different from her sister.

The story is also quite interesting for its portrayal of a life on a small Maryland island.

is the quote that carries through Katherine Paterson's heartwarming novel Jacob Have I Loved. This extremely well-written, descriptive book is perfect for the adolescent reader. It captures the feelings of an under appreciated teenage girl who lives in the shadow of her beautiful, shining twin sister. The book presents a wonderful message about the trials and importance of love and relationships. At one point in the text, to emphasize how Caroline received more love and attention than Sarah Louise, Caroline was given the opportunity to go to a very wonderful, very expensive school. Meanwhile, Sarah Louise was confined to her tiny island home. The story's most thought-provoking lessons are illustrated as Sarah Louise stands on her own, outside of Caroline's influence. We thorougly enjoyed Jacob Have I Loved and wholeheartedly recommend it because of the realistic situations that one can easily imagine.

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson is a novel of greatness. I have read many books, but this one stands out. Something about it just draws you in.
I found this book in my school library last year. I checked it out, but did not read it. A year later, I bought the book. I am glad I did.

Mrs. Paterson writes so eloquently a novel of a story older than the hills; the biblical struggle of twin brothers Jacob and Esau. Esau was the elder one, like Louise. Caroline is exactly like Jacob, stealing poor Lousie's glory.
The novel is set in the isolated Rass Island. I tried to look it up on a map of Maryland, but I couldn't find it at all. That solitary setting really keeps the plot together. After all, it wouldn't be as good if it was in a huge city.

All throughout the novel is the cornering of Louise's problems. Caroline is smarter than her, Caroline is prettier than her, Caroline is more talented than Louise would ever be. Hearing all of this makes Louise not only jealous, but a bit separated and annoyed. Louise must find a way to break free.

All in all, I find this a very enjoyable novel. I hope others will read this as well.

This book was given to me long ago by a friend of my family. I never read it because I felt that is looked boaring and was a waste of time. I was dead wrong!

The book starts out with two friends fishing on the bay. Louise (twin sister to caroline) and call. Both are sort of out-cast of the school children there age being as Louise is a tomboy and call a'little too heavy for his age. They both live on a small island set back in the 1940's and are relavently poor. Louise has always been in her perfect sisters shadow ever since the day that they were born. Louise being the healthy one was over looked at birth while caroline being so small and close to death was poored over with love and attention. As they grew older Caroline was the model girl of her time. She was thin, beautiful, kind, and most of all had the most beautiful voice. While Louise was boyish, rough, and enjoyed working with the guys just to get away from her perfect sister.

This book made me so angrey with the way Louise was treated by all her family and so called friends that I just couldnt stop think about how sorry i felt for her. Her parents constantly choose Lousie to do the rough work around the house while Caroline was considered delicate and was subjected to playing the piano or more lady like work. And her friends did everything that was posiable to help caroline further her singing career while they just shrugged Louise's pain for attention away. And it further got worse when Louise's best friend call came back from the navy and announced his marrage to Caroline and not Louise who desperatly cared for him. In the end she becomes a nurse and moves far out west were she finally becomes happy. It just pained me to think that how could she ever be happy with a childhood like hers.

This book made me think about how often does this happen to children? Were one is douted on while the other cast aside. And how often people have to leave everthing behid just to find happiness or love? If you want a book that really sticks in your mind and heart then I suggest this one.